🍽️ Luoji Zongzi

Pork-yolk rice dumpling, Danzhou Dragon Boat food.

Luoji Zongzi is a savory rice-dumpling specialty from the Luoji area of Danzhou, Hainan. Hainan zongzi are on the large side, wrapped in broad banana or lotus leaves around glutinous rice, salted pork belly, salt-cured egg yolk and dried shrimp. Wrapped dumplings are slow-boiled over wood fire for hours, so the leaf fragrance steams into the rice and the grains turn oily and clumped; biting in, the oily sand-like yolk flows out and the pork belly is rich without being greasy. Almost every Danzhou household wraps zongzi for the Dragon Boat Festival, and Luoji zongzi are famous far and near. They can be eaten hot as a meal or cold as a snack and travel easily. In Hainan's hot climate, savory pork-and-yolk zongzi keep well and are filling, making them common both at festivals and in everyday life across the island.