Jung is a name given to a traditional oriental dish consisting of glutenous rice and a selection of fillings made of either mung beans, seeds, nuts, egg yolks and meats. Always wrapped in a broad bamboo leaf/dong leaf/banana leaf of whatever leaf you have at hand. This dish is usually past down through generations. Depending on your region, ethnicity or taste this dish can vary from recipe to wrapping method. In Hong Kong this dish is made during the end of May for the Dragon Boat Celebrations. I remember my mum making this for Chinese/Lunar New Year. It really depends on the region your family is from.
| Servings |
| 24 Pieces |
| Cook Time |
| 1.5+ |
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Jung is a name given to a traditional oriental dish consisting of glutenous rice and a selection of fillings made of either mung beans, seeds, nuts, egg yolks and meats. Always wrapped in a broad bamboo leaf/dong leaf/banana leaf of whatever leaf you have at hand. This dish is usually past down through generations. Depending on your region, ethnicity or taste this dish can vary from recipe to wrapping method. In Hong Kong this dish is made during the end of May for the Dragon Boat Celebrations. I remember my mum making this for Chinese/Lunar New Year. It really depends on the region your family is from.
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Ingredients
- 4 Chinese Rice Bowl Glutinous Rice
- 1 Chinese Rice Bowl Split Mung Bean Optional
- 2 Pieces Chicken Thighs Meat
- 6 Pieces Shiitake Mushrooms Optional
- 12 Split in 1/2 Salted Duck Egg Yolks Optional
- 2/3 Chinese Rice Bowl Small Dried Scallops Optional
- 12 Split in 1/2 Sweet Chestnuts Peanuts/Any nut optional
- 1/2 T-Spoon Salt (For Rice) Optional
- 1/2 T-Spoon Salt (For Mung Bean) Optional
- 1/2 T-Spoon Salt (For Chicken) Optional
- 4 T-Spoon Soy Sauce (Light or Dark) Optional. If you use dark then just put a few drops otherwise it will turn too dark.
- 1 T-Spoon Sugar Optional
- 1 T-Spoon Chicken Stock Powder Optional
- 3 T-Spoon Oyster Flavoured Sauce Optional
- 1/2 Cup Water for Sauce Optional
- 1 T-Spoon Oil Optional
- 6 T-Spoon Water (For Corn/Potato Starch Optional
- 1/2 T-Spoon Corn Starch/Potato Starch Optional
- 1 Chinese Rice Bowl Dried Shrimp Optional. I didn't use.
- 4 Sticks Chinese Sausage Optional. I didn't use.
Instructions
- Chicken Jung You will need : String, roughly 1 foot to 1.5 foot long ,24 pieces. Bundle of Broad Leaf Bamboo Leaves otherwise between 46-69 leaves depending if you are going to use 2 or 3 leaves per Jung. Prepare to have a few damaged or small leaves. Deep pot of water with lid. Colander and bowls for washing and preparation of ingredients. Pair of Scissors. I am right handed so my technique might be slightly different from yours.
- Either do this the day before you wrap the jung or on the day. Boil the the leaves and grass/reed in hot water for 15 minutes. Drain the water and wash both side of the leaves with the rough side of a dish sponge. Rinse with hot water and then cold water to to make sure they are clean. Cut off the tips of the leaf on both ends. If you are preparing this a day in advance you can put the leaves in a zip lock bag and in the fridge. Otherwise you can freeze it but make sure it is brought up to room temperature before use. Thaw at least 1-2 hours. Don't put into water to speed up the process, you will run the risk of the leaves cracking.
- Soak the glutinous rice and split mung beans overnight. Make sure you put it in a large bowl with at least 2 inch space from the rim. The water should sit about an inch above the rice and beans. Overnight the water will be soaked up and the rice and beans will expand a little.
- On the day separately soak the shiitake mushrooms, dried scallops, Chinese sausages and dried shrimps in hot water to rehydrate them. This may take 45 minutes to an hour. Drain the water and give it a quick rinse of clean water. Some people actually keep the water from soaking the scallops to put in the sauce but I didn't.
- Remove the chicken skin and slice the meat into small pieces. I roughly cut mine to around 2-3cm chunks. Just make sure there is at least 24 pieces.
- Chop the nuts if you want to. Slice or chop the shiitake mushrooms. Cut the Chinese sausages into 24 pieces. Cut the salted duck egg yolks in 1/2 if you haven't already done so.
- Turn on the heat to medium/high. Put a frying pan or wok on the cooker and add the oil when it is hot. Add the chicken around 10-15 seconds later. Stir fry until the meat is cooked evenly. This should take around 5 minutes. Add the rest of the seasoning, salt, sugar, chicken stock powder, and soy sauce. Give it a few stirs then add the scallops, nuts, mushrooms and shrimps and 1/2 cup of water. Cook until the sauce starts to bubble. Now add the oyster flavoured sauce. Give it a few stirs until it starts to bubble again.
- Make a water and corn/potato starch mix in a separate bowl. Stir it just before you pour it into the wok to thicken the sauce. Keep stirring the meat mixture to help thicken the sauce. If the sauce is too thick just add a little more water. If the sauce is too thin just add a bit more water/starch mixture.
- You can now start preparing the work table. Put all the ingredients in front of you. Tie up the string to make it easy to access and makes life much easier to tie the Jung.
- Prepare 2 leaves minimum. If you use 3 leaves the parcel will be much stronger and hold its shape better. Whatever you do just treat 2 leaves as one. I tend to use 2 leaves on top. Here I demonstrate using 2 leaves. This part is important. Place left leaf over right leaf. (If you are left handed then you do the opposite. Use a mirror next to the monitor to view the picture if it helps). Making sure the tip of the leaves are pointing inwards like the picture. The distance between the left edge of the leaf and the right edge of the leaf is around 18 inches. The top/front of the leaf is smooth while the underside/back is slightly rough with a centre vein running through it. There isn't much difference which side you want facing out. Some people say the top/front side is more non-stick and prefer that touching the rice. I find that if you wrap the Jung tightly the rice won't stick to the leaf.
- I flipped the leaves over to show you the under/vein side of the leaf. Where my hand is you need to level the leaves together. This edge will become the pointed part of the cone so it needs to be strong. I angled the leaves slightly so that the bottom edge is align between my hands.
- I rearranged my hands so my thumbs are now on the top and the inside/underside/back of the leaves is facing you. Now the align edge is on the top edge. Bend the top edge up to form a cone shape. Hold this with your left hand.
- This part is important. If you are right handed fold the right handside leaf on top (in front) of the left handside leaf to form a cone shape. (Opposite if left handed). The cone needs to be around 3 inches deep. Make sure there is no hole at the bottom of the cone.
- Both pointed top parts of the leaves should be the same length or close. It is ok if the right hand side one is longer as long as the back layer is longer you are fine.
- Start spooning the glutinous rice first. Around 1-2 teaspoon should be enough. A teaspoon of mung beans goes in next but I usually just do a sprinkle because I don't like it very much. The beans I tend to not let touch the sides, then the cooked filling is placed in the centre. More mung beans on top. There is not rule so do as you wish with the order but I usually put the rice at the start and end so the whole content is wrapped in rice with the mung beans and meat in the middle. This also helps the parcel hold its shape once opened. The mung beans are not sticky so if you laid a layer of beans from edge to edge the content will fall apart.
- Finally spoon more glutinous rice until it fills to the brim. Pat it down with the back of a spoon.
- Holding the cone firmly in the left hand, use your right hand and press down where the rice line is. Press flat with your right hand.
- Using your right hand thumb press down the leaf on the left edge. Once down replace your thumb with your left hand thumb.
- Using your right hand fingers start to press down the other edge of the parcel to form a triangle.
- If you are lucky you might have the leaf vein on top as a guide. This doesn't always appear due to the size of the leaf. Just make yourself a corner. Pinch the front.
- (Apologies for the bad picture) Pinch the front corner and fold the rest of the leaf to the right or left depending on the remaining leaf.
- (Apologies for the bad picture) If the left surface of the leaf is greater then fold to the right and vice versa.
- (Apologies for the bad picture) Get a string and wrap around at least twice to secure the Jung and tie with 2 knots. The string goes over the top and the back of the Jung. If this doesn't work for you just do your best. Wrap the string any how you like until it is secure.
- The first time you might not succeed. Don’t worry if you need to go crazy with the string or even wrap the string around all directions. I am not here to judge. Besides it is what’s inside that counts.
- You should end up with something like this. Put in a deep pot and cover with water and lid. Make sure it is fully submerged. Boil on high heat until it starts bubbling. Then turn down the heat to a simmer. Boil for 1-1.5 hours for cooked chicken. Longer for raw meat. Some people go beyond 2-3 hours to give it a more stickiness to the rice.
- Serve on its own or with condiments. This is straight out of the boiling pot.
- You can microwave, steam or reboil it in the leaves to reheat. I like to pan fry mine with a little oil after heating it up to give it a crispy edge. Bon Appetit x
- If you keep it in the fridge for a few days the rice may become hard. Just reboil 15 -20 minutes and it's ready to eat. Freeze the Jung if you are not going to eat it within 4-5 days. I haven't kept it in the freezer for longer than a month before.
Recipe Notes
Tools & Equipment:
String, roughly 1 foot to 1.5 foot long ,24 pieces.
Bundle of Broad Leaf Bamboo Leaves otherwise between 46-69 leaves depending if you are going to use 2 or 3 leaves per Jung. Prepare to have a few damaged or small leaves.
Deep pot of water with lid.
Colander and bowls for washing and preparation of ingredients.
Pair of Scissors.
Please note: The ingredients used is how I like my Jungs. The ingredients have been adjusted for you to make roughly 24 Jungs but depending on how much filling you will be using or the size of the Jung you are making, you might end up with less or more.
A lot of the ingredients are optional. You can leave out without the flavour being affected too much except it tasting a little bland. Remember to replace certain ingredients with another to help bulk up what will be missing. It is down to personal preference.
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