Remember to order your "bak chang" (glutinous rice dumplings, 粽子) soon because a lot of the famous stalls have stopped taking orders, including my favourite at Hoo Kee [$4.20]. This year, I also ordered dumplings from Kim Choo Kueh Chang at Joo Chiat, the original stall that has spawned off several "pirated" brands with similar sounding names.
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Some of us may recall the days when as a little boy/girl we sat at the table with lots of rice, helping grandma separate the good rice from the bad, till late night, and only the good ones went into making dumplings. Surprised to know these old school dumpling stalls still do this. Dedication to quality indeed.
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Notice there are different types of leaves here - darker green leaves are pandan leaves, light brownish green ones are bamboo leaves. Kim Choo Kueh Chang insisted on using pandan leaves for their nonya chang, so that there would be the smell of pandan in its dumplings.
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Pictured is the X.O. dumplings [$7], with five spice flavored glutinous rice, pork, shitake mushrooms, chestnuts, salted egg yolk, Japanese scallops and mussels. But at Kim Choo I'll recommend the Nonya Chang instead [$3.20]. A peranakan auntie I know told me that their nonya chang tastes closest to that made by her beloved grandma.
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If you know of any other chang that you really like, let me know so that I can try them as well :)