Rat (Glutinous) Rice Cake

Rat (Glutinous) Rice Cake

　　“Rat (Glutinous) Rice Cake” refers to Qingming cake. It is an exquisitely crafted snack delicacy made by the people of Gutian.

　　 Mouse ear grass, also known as rat ear grass or white-flowered anemone in traditional Chinese medicine, is a wild plant that grows in winter fields and uncultivated land. Its tips bear small white flowers, and both flower buds and leaves have cotton-like white fibers. After being collected from the fields, the tips and leaves are selected and boiled in a pot. The bitter water is drained, then the mixture is pounded in a stone mortar. Glutinous rice flour is then mixed in and kneaded into a dough to form the cake wrapper. The dough is divided into smaller pieces, shaped into rounds, and either steamed on banana leaves in a steamer or pan-fried until cooked.

　　 Rat (Glutinous) Rice Cake gets its name from using mouse ear grass (rat (glutinous) rice grass) as the main ingredient. This grass has a faint sweet fragrance and offers heat-clearing, detoxifying, cooling intestinal, and cooling blood benefits. It is a common traditional Chinese medicinal herb. The people of Gutian have long recognized the unique sweet aroma and medicinal properties of this grass, using it as an ingredient to make snacks.

　　 Try it for yourself: When you hear “rat (glutinous) rice cake,” some younger people may find it a bit unfamiliar. But when it’s described as a green glutinous cake, they’ll likely understand right away. Compared to the white or yellow glutinous cakes sold in markets, the green “rat (glutinous) rice cake” stands out with its natural color and the fragrant aroma of mouse ear grass, making it very appealing.

　　 “Rat (Glutinous) Rice Cake” is a seasonal snack because mouse ear grass is at its tenderest and most suitable for eating only from early spring to the Qingming Festival. As a result, cakes made during this season taste particularly good. Mouse ear grass, a member of the Asteraceae family, has small, slightly round, alternate leaves covered with white fuzz on the surface, and yellow flowers clustered at the tips. However, it has many other names—over forty in total—including rat ear grass, yellow flower fruit, white head grass, and Qingming vegetable. Hence, there are also various snack names such as rat (glutinous) rice cake, Qingming cake, and yellow flower wheat fruit.

　　 “Rat (Glutinous) Rice Cake” can be cut into pieces and stir-fried with seasonings. People especially enjoy frying slices of the cake in oil and then dipping them in white sugar. The sugar-coated “rat (glutinous) rice cake” is crispy, fragrant, refreshing, sweet but not greasy, offering a uniquely delicious flavor. That’s why “rat (glutinous) rice cake” has become a snack beloved by many locals.

　　 Learn to Make It: The distinctive “rat (glutinous) rice cake” primarily uses non-glutinous rice as its main ingredient, with mouse ear grass as the secondary component. The traditional method of making it involves washing the harvested mouse ear grass, removing the roots, blanching it, draining the water, and chopping it finely. Then it is mashed together with freshly steamed hot non-glutinous rice in a stone mortar until it forms a dough, which is then pressed into cake shapes.

　　 Tasty Tip: The fragrant and sticky “rat (glutinous) rice cake” is generally suitable for everyone. Since mouse ear grass has medicinal benefits such as expectorant, cough-relieving, wind-dispelling, dampness-removing, and detoxifying properties, those suffering from wheezing, coughs, gastrointestinal ulcers, or rheumatic pain may benefit from eating more of it.