On the eve of the anniversary of "Boluo's birthday", women from the Miaotou Community in Huangpu District gather in the ancestral halls and make Boluo glutinous rice dumplings. The Boluo Temple Fair is coming soon, and these special dumplings will be readily available in the market at that time..
It has been a customs for years in the community to make Boluo dumplings. The cuisine is well-known around the Pearl River Delta for its fine-selected materials, exquisite processing, delicate and non-oily taste. "A pair of Boluo dumplings is 1 jin and 3 liangs (0.65 kg) by weight. '3' is a lucky number as it literally means vigor in Chinese", says Aunt Zhang.
There are two kinds of Boluo dumplings: salty dumplings with pork fillings and dumplings served with white sugars. Materials for making the salty ones include green beans, glutinous rice, Chinese bacon, ginger, white wine, sugar, oil, and salt. The packed dumplings should be boiled in a big utensil for 6 to 7 hours to bring out the fragrance.
It is a custom for each household in Huangpu District to make Boluo dumplings once a year to celebrate "Boluo's birthday". People eat the self-made dumplings and send some to their friends and relatives as gifts. In the Miaotou community, the original place of Boluo dumplings making, people gather and make about 70,000 dumplings. They sell most of the dumplings and keep only a few of themselves for the worship ceremony, so that people outside Huangpu can also enjoy the tasty cuisine.
It takes 15 yuan to buy a pair of salty pork dumplings whose cost is already 13 yuan. Fresh made Boluo dumplings are currently now on the market.
(Translated by Guangzhou Association of Foreign Affairs Translators)
