Rice dumplings are a traditional food to celebrate the Dragon Boat Festival. Apart from the common savory rice dumplings, there is a sweet version popular in southern China called kansui-zong or lye dumplings (kee-chang in Taiwan). They usually don’t have any fillings but are enjoyed dipping or sprinkled with cane sugar, thus are also known as sweet dumplings.
Lye is an alkaline liquor leached from wood ashes, typically used in making soap or preserving food. In our story here, however, it is leached from orchard ashes—best kept secret from the local Hakka traditions—for making kansui-zong or ash-water rice dumplings.
Homemade Kansui-Zong
This year around the Dragon Boat Festival, our reporters visited a group of Wai Tau locals and Hakka villagers around Yuen Kong area along Kam Sheung Road in Yuen Long to explore authentic homemade kansui-zong.
Homemade Hakka-style “orchard-ash-water (lye) dumplings” have a unique aroma one can’t find elsewhere. As you unwrap the bamboo leaves, glittering and translucent golden grains are revealed, the fragrant and succulent taste definitely sets it apart from kansui-zong made commercially with chemically treated rice.
