Time "bak chang" (rice dumpling) or the Chinese Dragon Boat Festival is coming again on May 31 and I have been having a craving for "bak chang" for the last several weeks. The report carried by The Star on the RM59 "bak chang" at Shang Palace triggerred yet another round of craving. So off I went to Petaling Street to get my fix of "bak chang"

The history behind the festival dates back a few thousand years and is celebrated on the fifth day of the fifth month of the Chinese lunar calendar which happens to fall on May 31 this year.

The Dragon Boat Festival commemorates the then popular Chinese patriot, Qu Yuan, who committed suicide by drowning himself in a river in protest of the corrupt government of his time. The legend states that his loyalists and friends threw rice dumplings into the river to prevent the fish from eating his body. But for more of the history - you can check out other sites that deal much better with the subject. This is after all, a site about food.

"Bak Chang" is usually made of glutinous rice wrapped in bamboo leaves and stuffed with green beans (which actually turn yellow once it's been steamed), lotus seeds, pork, salted egg, chestnuts and mushrooms. The hokkien style "bak chang" has soy sauce added to the glutinous rice for flavouring resulting in a brown stain to the rice. The cantonese style "bak chang" called a "chung" uses less soy sauce in the glutinous rice so it remains a relative white.

Back to the Petaling Street "bak chang". The store has been operating here for quite a long time now, I think for more than 10 years. It's one of the few places where I can still get the Cantonese "chung" which I prefer. The "chung" here is one of the better ones but maybe it's because it's the only Cantonese "chung" that I can find. If anyone out there can tell me where to find them, please do let me know.

The "chung" here costs between RM3 to RM8 depending on their size and their content.

Bak Chang stall
Jalan Hang Lekir (between Jalan Petaling and Jalan Sultan)
50000 Kuala Lumpur

non-halal

terms: cash

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