Dumpling Festival with Glutinous Rice Dumpling from Cintra Food Corner, Penang

Happy Duan Wu Festival to everyone!

The Duan Wu festival is celebrated on every 5th day of the 5th month, and for this year, it falls on June 23. During this festival, many will be busy preparing the chang themselves (glutinous rice dumpling), and also many will be buying them from the shops.

In Penang, the chang is sold commercially all year round in a number of places, and one such place is Cintra Food Corner. For generations, the Lor’s family has been dishing out the chang for customers to dine-in and take-away. Once located at the road side of the bustling Cintra Street, owner Lor Onn Kee has since shifted the business to a nearby shop house in 2006.

There are various types of chang with savory fillings. Besides the tau chang and bak chang which are sold throughout the year, there is also the giant dumpling which is available only during the dumpling festival.

The pyramid-shaped bak chang (pork dumpling) is made with a filling of fried glutinous rice seasoned with dark soya sauce, mushrooms, Chinese chestnuts, pork belly and a salted egg yolk. The savory chang is steamed to a sticky chewy texture and comes with an accompanying sweet chili sauce.

The pillow shape ‘tau chang’ consist of glutinous rice and plenty of mung beans. Other fillings for this Cantonese bean dumpling is fat pork and salted egg yolk.

Back by popular demand every year during the Duan Wu Festival is the giant glutinous rice dumpling which originated from Guangzhou, China. The wrapping for this squarish chang is the lotus and bamboo leaves. This dumpling weighing almost 1kg cost a whooping RM40. The size is great for sharing between a family of four to six.

The quarish chang comes with a great variety of ingredients, roast duck, roast pork, chicken, Chinese chestnuts, mushrooms, dried oysters, dried shrimps, two salted egg yolks, mung beans and soy-flavoured glutinous rice. The steaming time is much longer – a total of eight hours.

Sharing-size dumpling @RM40

Cintra Food Corner also offers assorted snacks – steamed yam cake and soothing red bean tong-sui (sweet dessert) prepared with hints of dried mandarin orange peel.

This family business is into its third generation (Onn Kee and his son, K.F)

Cintra Food Corner
40 Lebuh Cintra
10100 Penang, Malaysia

Tel: 012-4803308

Business Hours: 9am – 6pm (Monday to Saturday)

Closed on Sundays

GPS Coordinates: N 05.41859 E 100.33381