The Dragon Boat Festival is approaching, and traditional Dragon Boat Festival customs are rich in herbal and plant elements. By combining ingredients in innovative ways, eating vegetarian food not only follows the midsummer season but also adds a festive touch! Lan Yang Foods has compiled a list of essential vegetarian ingredients for the Dragon Boat Festival, adjustments to folk taboos, and reveals how to use commercially available ready-to-eat products to make "Japanese-style two-color healthy rice dumplings" with only 1/3 the calories of traditional meat dumplings.
I. Recommended Vegetable Ingredients for Dragon Boat Festival: Following the Season and Exorcising Evil Folk Customs
Midsummer is a hot and humid season, and traditional customs emphasize "warding off evil spirits and toxins" and "clearing heat and detoxifying." Among the vegetarian dishes served during the Dragon Boat Festival, the following three types of ingredients are most representative:
Food categories | Recommended ingredients | Festival symbolism and nutritional value | Cooking Application Suggestions |
Traditional "Five Sons" | Eggplant, long beans, bottle gourd, lychee, peach | Taiwanese folklore is rich in plants that symbolize longevity (long beans) and good fortune (peaches). These plants are also rich in antioxidants and cooling properties. | Steamed eggplant slices, stir-fried long beans with wood ear mushrooms, and gourd soup to cool you down in the summer. |
The soul of classic vegetarian rice dumplings | Xinshe mushrooms, chestnuts, lotus seeds, chickpeas, vegan meat, and sausages. | Delicious and sweet sources (shiitake mushrooms, chestnuts), high in fiber and low in calories (chickpeas and lotus seeds can reduce bloating). | After being braised in soy sauce and five-spice powder, it serves as the core filling of traditional vegetarian rice dumplings. |
Tea for dispelling filth and clearing heat | Bitter melon, winter melon, mugwort, mint | It clears heat and dampness, regulates qi and dispels summer heat, making it suitable for the hot summer climate after the Dragon Boat Festival. | Bitter melon and winter melon are used as side dishes; mugwort is made into grass cakes or brewed as mint and mugwort tea. |
II. Restrictions and Modern Adjustments to the Custom of Eating Vegetables During the Dragon Boat Festival
There are no strict taboos regarding eating vegetarian food during the Dragon Boat Festival, but fromReligious vegetarianismandTraditional folk customsWhen approaching the issue from a particular angle, the following three points need to be noted and modernized:
- Restrictions on the Five Spices (Religious Vegetarians Please Note):
- Traditional custom: It is customary to use garlic to kill germs and detoxify (such as garlic and eggplant).
- Modern adjustment: Buddhist vegetarians should avoid garlic and may use alternatives.Ginger, sesame oil, celeryIt enhances flavor and also has the effect of warming the stomach and dispelling cold.
- Gift-giving taboos (do not give whole strings):
- Traditional custom: It is traditionally believed that "a whole string of zongzi" carries an unlucky symbol (related to folk customs of seeking salvation).
- Modern adjustments: Whether it's a meat-filled or vegetarian zongzi, be sure to...Cut the cotton rope into "loose" pieces.Place it in a gift box or cooler bag.
- Digestive burden (glutinous rice is difficult to digest):
- Traditional customs: Both savory and sweet rice dumplings are made with glutinous rice. Traditional Chinese medicine believes that glutinous rice is warm in nature and can cause bloating.
- Modern adjustment: It is recommended to adjust daily.OneLimited to this, and paired with seasonal bamboo shoot soup or high-fiber vegetables (sweet potato leaves, cabbage) to promote gastrointestinal motility.
III. Celebration Menu: Midsummer Japanese-Style Dragon Boat Festival Vegetarian Feast
If you'd like to try something different from the traditional festive atmosphere, you can incorporate a refined Japanese side dish style, presented as a "Japanese set meal" or "appetizer platter," to create a refreshing Dragon Boat Festival feast:
- Appetizer (Japanese-style double platter):
- Tsukudani black beans: A must-have in Japanese Osechi ryori (Japanese cuisine), these beans are smooth, sweet, and delicious, perfect as an appetizer or a dessert to finish off the meal.
- Wasabi-flavored king oyster mushrooms: spicy, cool, and crisp, perfect for boosting your appetite in summer.
- Main course side dish (braised gluten with bacon):
- Use roasted gluten containing crisp bamboo shoots, fresh and sweet shiitake mushrooms, and wood ear mushrooms; heat it up and sprinkle with a little...Japanese seven-spice powder and seaweed powder (or green tea powder)It was transformed into the Japanese Chikuzen-ni style.
IV. Hands-on Teaching: No-Fry "Japanese-Style Two-Color Light and Healthy Rice Dumplings"
Traditional glutinous rice dumplings are high in calories and require complicated preparation. This recipe uses healthy, low-calorie "cauliflower rice" and "mushroom rice" as a base, combined with Lan Yang Foods' thawed ready-to-eat products, eliminating the need for long cooking times and allowing you to make delicious and creative vegetarian dumplings for the Dragon Boat Festival.
[Prepare Materials]
- Rice base and filling products: Golden Sunshine Mushroom Rice, Fiber-Rich Cauliflower Rice, Red Gluten Bacon, Shile Quinoa Chickpeas, Tsukuda Black Beans, and Wasabi-Flavored King Oyster Mushrooms.
- Packaging materials: Traditional bamboo leaves and cotton rope (washed, scalded and dried before use).
- Shaping aid (key): Because cauliflower rice lacks stickiness, please prepare... 1-2 teaspoons of psyllium husk powderMix (or cooked glutinous rice flour) into the rice base to help it hold its shape. (Alternatively, you can shape it directly in a bowl and then wrap it in bamboo leaves to decorate it as a "Japanese-style scattered sushi rice dumpling").
[Two Styles Production Steps Guide]
Style 1: Japanese-style braised mushroom and gluten rice dumpling (savory and rich flavor)
- Prepare the rice base: Combine "Superior Fiber Light Pea Coconut Rice" and "Golden Sunshine Mushroom Rice" with 1:1 ratioMix (the mushroom rice contains king oyster mushroom pieces and corn to enhance the texture), add a little psyllium husk powder and stir until slightly sticky.
- Prepare the filling: Thaw the "Braised Gluten and Bamboo Shoots" and remove the gluten, bamboo shoots, and shiitake mushrooms inside as the core filling (reserve the sauce for later use).
- Wrapping and shaping the rice dumpling: Fold the bamboo leaves into a funnel shape, first spread a layer of mushroom and cauliflower rice, then add fillings such as roasted gluten, drizzle with 1 teaspoon of braising sauce for flavor, and finally fill and press the bamboo leaves with mushroom and cauliflower rice, fold off the bamboo leaves and tie them tightly with cotton rope.
- Electric cooker heating: Since all ingredients are already cooked, place them in an electric rice cooker (add half a cup of water to the outer pot) and steam for approximately [time missing]. 10 minutesSimply let the aroma of the bamboo leaves permeate the bamboo leaves.
Option 2: Light Quinoa and Black Bean Mixed Rice Dumplings (Refreshing and slightly sweet / Suitable for serving cold)
- Prepare the rice base: Combine "Shile Quinoa Chickpeas" with "Youxian Light Pickled Cauliflower" 1:1 ratioBlend. This base is rich in quinoa, edamame, and diced red and yellow bell peppers, with aromas of extra virgin olive oil and black pepper.
- Prepare the filling: Scoop out a few "tsukudani black beans" and slices of "wasabi-flavored king oyster mushrooms," using the slightly spicy wasabi flavor to create a wonderful "Japanese sweet and spicy" combination with the sweetness of the black beans.
- Wrapping and shaping the rice dumpling: Fold the bamboo leaves into a funnel shape, fill them with colorful quinoa and edamame rice, bury black beans and wasabi king oyster mushrooms in the middle, and finally cover them with quinoa and edamame rice, shape them, and tie them with string.
- Heating and eating: Steam in an electric cooker 8-10 minutesThis style is highly recommended.After steaming, let it cool slightly, or even chill it a little, before eating.This best highlights the sophisticated feel of cold dishes made with extra virgin olive oil and Japanese side dishes.
The "Japanese-style Two-Color Healthy Rice Dumpling" breaks the stereotype that traditional vegetarian rice dumplings are greasy and hard to digest. It uses cauliflower rice, quinoa and ready-to-eat Japanese side dishes to make rice dumplings. It not only completely eliminates the complicated process of braising meat and frying rice, but also has only 1/3 of the calories of traditional meat rice dumplings. It is the most innovative Dragon Boat Festival diet solution for modern vegetarians.
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