Sanzhen Rice Cake rolls

Sanzhen Rice Cake rolls

　　Sanzhen Rice Cake rolls are a uniquely flavorful local snack from Sanzhen Town in Jiaoling County. They are richly aromatic, soft, and delicious—so much so that anyone visiting Sanzhen always buys a few pounds to take back for their family and friends to try.

　　The fame of Sanzhen Rice Cake rolls also comes from a touching story.

　　Once, in the Sanzhen market town, there lived an elderly grandmother and her granddaughter. The grandmother was over seventy years old and still in relatively good health, except she had very few teeth left. Her granddaughter, Ashan, was twenty years old that year but led a hard life. When she was three, both her parents passed away one after the other, and she had been dependent on her grandmother ever since. As she grew up, she took great care of her grandmother. Seeing that her grandmother had no teeth and couldn’t chew food, Ashan made congee for her every day. She would alternate between pork congee, chicken congee, beef congee, and pickled vegetable congee to vary the flavors.

　　But even the most delicious food can get tiresome if eaten every day. Before long, Ashan noticed her grandmother’s appetite getting worse day by day. At first, she thought it was because she hadn’t put enough care into the cooking or that the seasoning didn’t suit her grandmother’s taste. One day, she specially bought a fresh grass carp, minced it, strained out the bones with a cloth, and cooked congee with newly harvested rice. When she served it to her grandmother, the old lady took a couple of bites and said it was tasty, but before finishing half a bowl, she stopped and said she was full. Ashan knew in her heart that her grandmother still had no appetite—the compliment was just to comfort her.

　　How could Ashan stimulate her grandmother’s appetite? Once, while visiting relatives, she tried something she had never seen before: a dish with a jelly-like skin wrapped around minced pork and dried pickles, which turned out to be refreshingly delicious when steamed. Suddenly, Ashan remembered that her grandmother loved sticky rice cakes. What if she used glutinous rice flour for the skin and filled it with meat? Her grandmother would surely love it. So, she hurried home, ground the family’s glutinous rice into powder, bought half a pound of lean meat, finely minced it, and mixed it with ingredients like bamboo shoots. She then steamed the mixture, let it cool, and served it to her grandmother. After tasting it, the grandmother beamed with joy, ate three in a row, and finally patted her belly, asking Ashan what this delicious thing was. Ashan thought for a moment and called it “glutinous rice pork cake.” The grandmother said, “Good, good. I could eat this every day and never get tired of it.” With the glutinous rice pork cake, her appetite improved, and the nourishing properties of glutinous rice gradually helped her regain her strength.

　　Not long after, one afternoon, a heavy rain began to pour. Just then, a traveler suddenly came to Ashan’s house, asking to take shelter from the rain. Seeing that the man was drenched, Ashan let him in, brought him a stool and tea, and even offered him a dry towel to wipe off the rainwater. The guest, touched by the family’s kindness, mentioned he was hungry and asked if there was anything to eat. Moved by the guest’s pitiful state, Ashan brought out a plate of glutinous rice pork cakes for him. The guest’s eyes lit up at the sight of the snow-white, jade-like rice cakes. In no time, he polished off the entire plate, grease glistening at the corners of his mouth, repeatedly praising how delicious it was. The grandmother proudly laughed and said, “Of course the guest says it’s delicious. I’m old and have a greedy mouth. My granddaughter came up with this glutinous rice cake to please me.”

　　Deeply moved, the guest learned more about Ashan and her grandmother’s situation. Seeing that Ashan was young, unmarried, and taking care of her elderly grandmother, he wanted to help. He took out a pouch of silver coins and said, “Young lady, I can see your cooking skills are excellent. The food you make is no less delicious than that of a big restaurant chef. Your house faces the street, so take this silver and open a small shop to sell these glutinous rice cakes. That way, your grandmother won’t have to suffer with you anymore.” Then, he took out a pen and ink from his belongings and asked Ashan to find some paper so he could write a sign for her new shop. Ashan’s home had no paper, so the guest looked around, spotted a wooden board in the corner, wiped it clean, and said, “I came to Sanzhen for a visit, and the scenery here is beautiful, the fish plump, the rice fragrant, and fruits abundant—it’s truly a paradise on earth. Your glutinous rice cakes are made with local ingredients, and the preparation method is very similar to stuffed tofu. How about we call them ‘Sanzhen Rice Cake Rolls’? The name sounds impressive and pleasant.” He then wrote the bold characters “Sanzhen Rice Cake Rolls” on the wooden board. Without waiting for Ashan to stop him, he put down the brush and left in a hurry.

　　Later, Ashan felt the visitor’s advice was very sound, so she cleared out the front room facing the street, hung up the sign with the visitor’s writing, added tables, chairs, and utensils, and opened a small eatery dedicated to selling rice cake rolls. Some who saw the writing on the sign claimed the visitor was Song Xiang, a famous scholar from Meixian, while others believed it was the charming Li Wengu. Ashan figured it didn’t matter who he was—he had been kind to her, and she would not let him down. So she worked diligently from dawn till dusk, ran an honest business, treated everyone fairly, and her shop’s business grew better day by day. Later, she even took in a son-in-law who helped support her grandmother, and life became more and more comfortable.

　　Method for making Hakka-style Rice Cake Rolls:

　　Main Ingredients

　　Two packs of glutinous rice flour, one pack of sticky rice flour

　　One pound of minced meat

　　Secondary Ingredients

　　Half a pound of dried old radish

　　1. The ratio is two pounds of glutinous rice flour to one pound of sticky rice flour;

　　2. Mix the two types of flour evenly, then decide whether to add a touch of magenta (a food coloring)—common during the New Year, but not usually otherwise;

　　3. Then add boiling water and quickly stir with chopsticks;

　　4. Then mix evenly;

　　5. Knead into a dough and set aside;

　　6. Stir-fry the minced meat and dried old radish;

　　7. Pinch a small piece of dough and flatten it into a thin circle;

　　8. Add the filling;

　　9. Seal the two ends of the wrapper by pinching them together securely;

　　10. Arrange the shaped rice cake rolls in order, bring water to a boil, place them in the pot, and steam for 20 minutes—your dish is complete.

　　Tips

　　1. The ratio of glutinous rice flour to sticky rice flour is 2:1; 2. The key to this snack is mastering the thickness of the dough skin—the skin should not be too thick or the texture will suffer, nor too thin or it may break and leak the filling.