用历史包裹出的美味

按照中国的农历，一年之中排满了各式各样的节日，有的以某种传统美食为标志，有的是为了纪念某位英雄人物。在端午节（又名龙舟节）来临之际，笔者为大家推荐香甜的粽子。

The lunar calendar is filled with festive days marked by food and heroes. We will soon celebrate Duanwu, or the Dragon Boat Festival, and Pauline D. Loh suggests some sweet dumplings for the occasion.

记忆中挂在房椽上的一串串粽子仿佛某种来自异国的奇特水果，我们从下方经过的时候常常要小心，偶而会有水珠滑过竹叶滴落下来。

The rafters sprouted dangling bunches of dumplings like some strange exotic fruits and we would tread carefully underneath, avoiding the occasional dro of water sliding off the bamboo leaves.

那时候，祖母的厨房里总是传来令人垂涎三尺的香气——蒸过的竹叶散发出隐约的泥土气息，红烧肉咸香的味道，红豆沙甜甜的气味，还有蒸莲子的醉人清香。

My grandmother's kitchen would be redolent with a bouquet of drool-inducing aroma -- the slightly earthy smell of steamed bamboo, the salty spiciness of soy-braised pork, the musky sweetness of red bean paste and heady floral scent of steamed lotus seeds.

这是以往在端午节前一周常常出现的场景。农历五月初五为端午节，又叫龙舟节。每到这个时候，祖母就会给最小的孙辈讲起屈原的故事。屈原是战国时期（公元前475至公元前221年）的一位诗人，他热爱自己的国家，因为对腐败的宫廷极度失望而投河自尽。我们今天所吃的竹叶包裹的粽子就是为了纪念这位诗人。

This would be a week before Duanwu, the Dragon Boat Festival, on the fifth day of the fifth lunar month. And as always, Granny would be telling the youngest grandchild all about Qu Yuan, the patriot poet of the Warring States Period (475-221 BC) who jumped into the river because he was so disappointed with the corruption in court. It is to his memory that we are eating all these bamboo-wrapped dumplings.

屈原死后，起初人们只是简单地把大米和其他供品投入河中来祭祀他。然而有民间传说记载，屈原曾给一名村民托梦，说他的祭品都被河中的一头恶龙吃掉了，要求村民们用竹叶把祭品包裹起来，以防再招来恶龙。

Originally, the people simply threw rice and other offerings into the river after his death but folklore says he appeared in a dream to a villager and said a delinquent dragon in the river was eating up his offerings, so they needed to wrap it up in bamboo to deter the creature.

作为中国的传统节日之一，端午节的庆祝方式充满了色彩、喧嚣和美食。色彩和喧闹来自于河面上举行的划龙舟竞赛。龙舟是一种船身狭长低矮的独木舟，以龙头的形象作为装饰。人们通常欢呼击鼓为自己喜爱的龙舟队伍加油助威。

Like all festivals of pedigree in China, Duanwu is celebrated with a lot of color, noise and food. The color and noise comes from boat races on the river in long, low-slung canoes decorated with a dragon head. There is usually a lot of cheering and drum-beating to urge the favorite teams to the finishing line.

激情燃烧过后，人们喜欢尽情享用各种口味的粽子。根据地域的不同，粽子也有甜咸之分。

After expanding all that energy, the crowds would feast on rice dumplings, and depending on which end of the country you are in, they would be sweet or savory.

我来到北京已有七年之久。在此之前，我只吃过咸味的粽子。我们南方的粽子大多呈完美的金字塔形，形状饱满，里面裹着栗子、一个咸蛋黄、分量十足的肥肉、红烧肉、海米和一朵味道浓郁的香菇。

Until I arrived in Beijing about seven years ago, I only tasted savory dumplings. Our southern rice dumplings were fat, perfect pyramids stuffed with chestnuts, a single salted egg yolk, lots of fat, soy sauce-seasoned pork, dried shrimps and an intensely fragrant dried mushroom.

经过这么多年，我已经习惯了北方人做粽子时加入大量的豆类、谷物、莲子、大枣和豆沙。

After all these years, I have gotten used to the northern dumplings that use a lot of beans, cereals, lotus nuts, dates and sweetened bean pastes as filling.

说到不加肉的甜味粽子，我丈夫特别喜欢红豆沙口味的。红豆也叫赤豆，是一种褐红色的味道香甜的豆子。

There is something to be said for the meatless sweet dumplings. My husband particularly enjoys dumplings made with red beans, the fragrant maroon seeds that are also known as adzuki beans.

我在粽子中加入一些事先泡好的莲子，煮的时候会散发出美妙的清香，这是纯天然的味道。

I add some pre-soaked lotus nuts to the dumplings and when they are cooked, they are beautifully fragrant, and it's all natural.

在云南的家里，我们常常会买一种叫做“糯米香”的茶叶。这种茶叶的名字恰恰归结了优质糯米所具备的特点——香糯可口。

In our Yunnan home, we often buy a tea that's called nuomi xiang -- named after the fragrance of glutinous rice. That just about sums up what good glutinous rice should be, really aromatic and wonderfully sticky, of course.

以上我提供的做甜味和咸味粽子的食谱，简便易行，在家里就能做。如果你包不出完美的圆锥形也不要着急，关键还是看粽子里面包裹的馅料。再说，无论如何你还可以把不成形的粽子用碗盛好蒸熟，做一道可口的八宝饭。

Here are my recipes for simple sweet and savory dumpling that you can make at home easily. Don't worry if you cannot get a perfect cone for your dumplings, what matters is what's inside. And there's nothing to stop you packing it into a bowl and steaming it to make a lovely rice pudding either.

(China Daily contributed the story, translated by Li Xiao for China.org.cn June 5, 2011)