Waterwheel Sticky Rice Cake

Waterwheel Sticky Rice Cake

　　Sticky rice cake is made by mashing cooked glutinous rice into a paste and is a popular dish in some regions of southern China. People usually make it before the Spring Festival, as it symbolizes harvest, joy, and reunion — an essential treat for the New Year. Sticky Rice Cake Ribs is a new rustic-flavored dish where soft sticky rice cakes wrap around tender, flavorful ribs, which are then deep-fried until golden. The result is a crispy exterior with a soft, smooth interior that oozes rib juice, offering a rich and layered texture.

When the Spring Festival approaches, at the end of the lunar calendar’s twelfth month, every household makes glutinous rice cakes. According to local chronicles: “The steamed glutinous rice is pounded in a stone trough until it turns into a paste, then pressed into round shapes resembling a full moon. The larger ones have a diameter of about 1.5 chi (approximately 50 cm), while the common ones are around 4 inches (about 10 cm), varying in thickness from 3 to 8 fen.”

The glutinous rice is dried, washed, and placed in a wooden steamer to be steamed. When it is about 90% cooked, it is taken out. Two people lift the steamer handles and quickly carry it into the courtyard, pouring the contents directly into a huge stone mortar. Two sturdy men then lift thick jujube wood clubs as thick as wrists and start pounding with rhythmic shouts. There's great technique involved in making sticky rice cakes, focusing on four key principles: fast, accurate, steady, and forceful. The two men stand on opposite sides of the mortar, swinging their clubs down swiftly and lifting them just as quickly — the glutinous rice is highly sticky, and you must avoid having the clubs get stuck to the rice. Precision is crucial: the two clubs must strike the same spot alternately to ensure the rice is evenly and firmly pounded. Steadiness refers to holding the club tightly and applying even force — you can’t start off pounding with the vigor of a storm only to weaken and falter midway, or the entire batch will be ruined. As for forcefulness, well, it goes without saying that you need to put all your strength into your wrists and arms, channeling power smoothly... After all this effort, the men are drenched in sweat, and the glutinous rice in the mortar has been transformed into a sticky, cohesive mass. The clubs are used to lift the mass onto a floured board, where it is divided into unevenly sized portions, stuffed into carved wooden molds, and thus shaped into cakes.

Freshly made sticky rice cakes are soft. Once removed from the mold, a quick flick of the wrist sends the cake spinning through the air before it lands softly on a bamboo mat, then covered with a cloth. Once cooled, it’s done. Making sticky rice cakes requires finesse: hands are coated with beeswax or tea oil to prevent sticking, and the cakes are first hand-rolled or pressed flat with a wooden board to achieve a smooth and attractive finish. After the smaller cakes are made, the most skilled women in the family craft a few larger ones, ranging from three to five jin (1.5–2.5 kg), or even over ten jin (5+ kg). These are called “Cage-Breaking Cakes,” symbolizing “a bumper grain harvest” and showcasing the generosity of farming families.