Instead of meat, eateries add mock meat (made of soya beans) and tau kee (tofu skin) into vegetarian rice dumplings.
At Eastern Rice Dumpling, a 20-year-old rice dumpling chain, vegetarian dumplings are mainstays on the menu. This year, it has launched a new vegetarian flavour of dumplings — five spice vegetarian dumpling ($3). The moreish parcel has a five spice-infused mixture of mock duck, chestnuts and mushrooms nestled in an equally fragrant glutinous rice parcel.
Other vegetarian rice dumplings include Nonya vegetarian (mock meat fried with coriander powder and candied winter melon), kee zhang (plain rice dumpling made with lye water) and kee zhang with red bean paste. These are part of the Singapore chain’s offering of 14 types of rice dumplings.
Best-selling dumplings include Hokkien-style bak zhang, Nonya zhang and Nonya zhang with salted egg. Prices range from $1.40 for a kee zhang to $3.60 for a Nonya rice dumpling with chili shrimp.
Lim Cheng Hwee, 52, owner of Eastern Rice Dumpling, notes that while vegetarian dumplings only make up 7% of its daily production, demand for these meatless dumplings is growing. He says: “Some customers eat vegetarian dumplings for religious reasons, while some are more health-conscious and want a break from eating meat.”
To ensure that the food preparation is strictly vegetarian, the rice dumplings are cooked in a separate stainless steel tanks from the regular dumpling. Garlic is also omitted during the frying of the filling, which makes the dumplings suitable for Buddhist customers.
Rice dumplings are eaten to celebrate the Dragon Boat Festival or Duan Wu Jie. The festival falls on the fifth day of the fifth month of the lunar calendar. It commemorates the death of a renowned Chinese poet called Qu Yuan, who is said to have drowned himself in a river to protest against government corruption. To prevent fish from eating his body, villagers threw parcels of rice into the river.
However, Lim does not just rely on traditional tastes. Over the past few years, he has introduced new flavours of rice dumplings. Last year, he launched a rice dumpling that was fashioned after the classic dish of steamed pork belly with preserved mustard greens. Three years ago, he introduced a a wholesome Hokkien-style bak zhang made with a blend of brown jasmine rice and glutinous rice, after research revealed that white rice consumption is linked to diabetes.
He also launched a black pepper chicken dumpling as popular alternative to pork a few years ago. Both dumplings are on the menu permanently.
Making rice dumplings runs deep in the family. In the 1940s, Lim’s grandmother started a thriving home business after learning how to make Nonya dumplings from her neighbours who lived in Katong. The recipes were passed on to his father, who supplied rice dumplings to food peddlers along Bugis Street in the 1960s.
The sixth of seven children, Lim recalls that making rice dumplings was a rambunctious family affair. He reminisces with a chuckle: “Our home was like a crowded and oily factory. I remember the roar of the kerosene-fuelled stove at 6am every day. Sometimes, my siblings and I would be so busy making rice dumplings that we forgot to do our homework.”
He started out washing bamboo leaves when he was in primary school before progressing to fry the fillings and wrap the dumplings. “We could make 300 to 500 rice dumplings at home daily during the festive season,” he recalls.
In 1998, the mechanical engineer decided to strike it out on his own with his family’s dumpling recipes. He opened the first Eastern Rice Dumpling shop in Balestier Road, which still operates as a 24-hour shop.
Besides expanding the business (its 10th outlet in Oasis Terraces in Punggol will open this month), he has also brought in machines such as industrial-grade cooking mixers to streamline the production process. It takes around eight hours to make a batch of dumplings.
These days, he has roped in his younger son, Lim Yu Jie, 21, who is waiting to attend university, to help out in the family business. The older Mr Lim shares: “If we do not continue this business, our culture of eating rice dumplings will diminish over time.”
10 locations including 300 Balestier Road
Call +65 6352 6283 or email lim@dongyuan.com.sg
