Cloudy
To meet the festivals, to meet the festivals. This seems to be on everyone's mind. Be it a f&b company or a lunching individual, we all have promotions to make this time of the year, as if it is a duty we put onto ourselves.
So everyone will start to look at each other, or at their possible patrons' creations. Nowadays it is common to sight dessert, tutti-frutti or chilled rice dumplings. Sweet pudding in dumpling shape. Probably wanting us to feel how it is like when we first saw and behold a snowskin mooncake; a rice dumpling's era earlier.
The bak chang is considered to be one's comfort foods. One has scoured the island to look for new creations, enjoyed its brown rice jasmine, and has been concerned with the rising prices of the black mushrooms before. Therefore the Dragon Boat Festival, or rather the common eating part of it is rather meaningless to me. Luxury groups and hotel talking about the numbers of grain of rice, etc.
Nevertheless at Shangri-La Hotel Singapore, (probably because we only know Shangri-La Hotel, our Shangri-La,) it is said to house a very special rice dumpling. Yes, sweet rice dumpling. Green tea. Now you'd probably act like what you did when you first saw a snowskin mooncake a few years ago. How does it look like? How does it taste like? Is it green outside, inside or what?
Sweet Green Tea Dumpling (SGD 7.50)
You want to tear it open now and see its true face. Ok, so it is a kee chang! Of all sweet rice dumplings, weren't they a kee chang also, concealing sweet bean paste inside?(!) Yes so of course it is a kee chang, but ever so bright and luminous like an inside out sunrise, the colours of a rainbow inverted, with the murky green inside.
P.S. Or maybe before you realise it is a kee chang, or even ask what a kee chang is, you started eating it already. This is one of the best alkaline rice dumplings, the rice mound silky and tender, because the rice is so severely fine, and pearly like cotton! The alkaline taste is gentle and pleasing. Seeing the cream white with a green-filled centre, instead of the usual dark red bean kee chang, it is like owning a limited-edition toy, the batch now in another shade besides the changed taste!
