What might make a healthier substitute for egg yolk in rice dumplings?
Pumpkin, perhaps.
Rice dumplings, a traditional food for the Dragon Boat Festival, are made with sticky rice and fillings, then wrapped in lotus leaves. Fillings usually include pork fat and egg yolk - considered too heavy for those concerned about their diet.
Clara Pi Lee Ming, food services manager at Pamela Youde Nethersole Eastern Hospital, said a 200-gram rice dumpling contained 450 to 600 food calories, equivalent to the energy needed per meal for an adult woman. She suggested using pumpkin as a substitute for egg yolk, and chicken for pork fat, to reduce cholesterol. High-fibre rice could also replace sticky rice, to aid digestion.
Other possible fillings include red bean, shiitake mushroom, carrot, oats and taro, all high in fibre.
Using less oil, less meat and more vegetables could reduce the food calories in a dumpling to just 125 per 100 grams, Pi said. She also suggested not pre-cooking the fillings before stuffing them into the rice, to reduce energy consumption.