Sticky Rice Cake Pounding

Sticky Rice Cake Pounding

　　Sticky Rice Cake Pounding is a specialty dish of Zhangjiajie in Hunan. In Tujia and Miao villages, there is a widespread tradition of "pounding cakes" during the New Year. These cakes can be made purely from glutinous rice, millet, a mixture of glutinous rice and millet, or corn mixed with glutinous rice. Additionally, sticky rice and glutinous rice are ground into flour, which is then poured into wooden molds carved with patterns and designs, commonly known as "molded cakes." Some Tujia people who pay more attention to detail wrap the cakes in pairs using smartweed leaves, adding sesame and sugar inside, resulting in sweet and fragrant treats commonly called "smartweed leaf cakes."

　　The Tujia people often say, "On the 28th day, we pound cakes." As the Spring Festival approaches, at the end of the lunar December, every household pounds glutinous rice cakes. According to local chronicles, pounding glutinous rice cakes involves "pounding steamed glutinous rice in a stone trough until it turns into a paste, then pressing it into a round shape resembling a full moon. The larger ones have a diameter of about one foot five inches, while the common ones are around four inches in diameter, with thicknesses ranging from three to eight fen." Pounding glutinous rice cakes is a labor-intensive task, usually carried out by young men. Two people stand opposite each other, first kneading the dough and then pounding it—this even causes them to break into a sweat even on snowy days. Making the cakes is also a meticulous process: hands are coated with beeswax or tea oil, first forming the dough into lumps, then pressing them by hand or with a wooden board to make them smooth and perfectly round, emphasizing aesthetics.

　　There is also an art to eating the cakes. Typically, they are roasted over charcoal, called "roasted cakes," served with vegetable soup as "boiled cakes," or stir-fried with cured meat as "stir-fried cakes." When too many cakes are made and cannot be eaten all at once, they are soaked in water in a large jar, allowing them to be stored for two to three months without spoiling, ensuring there are cakes to eat during the rice planting season.