Ye'er Ba

Ye'er Ba

　　Ye'er Ba is one of Chongqing’s famous snacks, boasting a rich mountain-flavor taste. It has a slightly greenish-yellow hue and a moist, refreshing texture. The fillings come in both savory and sweet varieties. The savory filling is made with fresh cooked meat, monosodium glutamate, salt, cooking wine, and four or five kinds of spices. The sweet filling is also meticulously prepared—deliciously sweet, not cloying, and melts in your mouth.

Making Method:

1. Rice Selection and Ratio: Use glutinous rice with 100% amylopectin as the standard, then adjust the proportion of non-glutinous rice based on its quality. For high-quality non-glutinous rice, use 60% glutinous rice and 40% non-glutinous rice; for lower-quality non-glutinous rice, use 70% glutinous rice and 30% non-glutinous rice. This ratio is key to achieving the desired soft and sticky texture—if not properly balanced, the final product will be coarse and sticky in the mouth.

2. Soaking: Wash and clean the selected rice to remove impurities, then soak it in cold water. Change the water 1–2 times per day. In summer, soak for 2–3 days; in winter, soak for 5–6 days, allowing the rice grains to fully absorb water.

3. Grinding and Drying the Slurry: Grind the soaked rice into a slurry using a stone mill at a slow speed—“fast pounding, slow grinding” (grinding too fast can cause “burnt slurry,” making the final product foamy and lacking toughness). Then drain or press the slurry to form a semi-dry flour paste with controlled moisture content (commonly called “hung slurry”).

4. Making the Wrapper and Filling: Mix the hung slurry, brown sugar, and lard in proportion and knead thoroughly into a dough for wrappers. Shape each portion into a wrapper base for later use. The fillings can be varied, including rose, sesame, sweet bean paste, sprouted vegetables, meat, golden hooks (dried shrimp), shrimp, and crab roe.

5. Wrapping in Leaves and Steaming: Wash the banana leaves and wrap the wrapper bases along the leaf veins, then arrange them in a steamer basket. Steam over high heat (until the water in the pot boils vigorously)—large baskets take 40–50 minutes, small ones 20 minutes.