Ezhou Glutinous Rice Cake

Ezhou Glutinous Rice Cake

　　Ezhou Glutinous Rice Cake

　　　　is a traditional food commonly used in celebrations among the people of southern Hubei. It is made by steaming premium glutinous rice, pounding it into a paste, forming it into round cakes about the size of a pot lid, drying them, and then storing them. When needed, they are cut into strips or pieces. It can be used as both a side dessert or a staple food; it can be pan-fried, steamed, baked, or used in soups; and it can be served sweet, savory, or plain. There is also another type of “cake” made from glutinous rice flour, filled with ingredients such as white sugar, wrapped in bright green “cake leaves” (a type of leaf from a short bamboo plant, large and wide, about seven or eight centimeters wide and nearly twenty centimeters long), and then baked in a stove.