Buckwheat Cake

Buckwheat Cake

　　   Buckwheat cake is a summer snack in Beijing, made from buckwheat flour and usually sold alongside cold mung bean jelly. When eating, it is cut into small pieces, then shaved into long, thin slices that are thin at both ends and thick in the middle. These are placed in a bowl and topped with a sauce made of sesame paste, soy sauce, and good vinegar, along with shredded red salted carrots. It can be served with mustard, chili, or minced garlic.

　　  Buckwheat cake is a small round lump made from buckwheat flour and elm bark flour, about the size of a baked flatbread. In the summer, it is chilled on ice; in the winter, it is heated in a pan with oil and stir-fried—this is called hot stir-fried buckwheat cake.

　　  In the summer, buckwheat cakes are often sold together with cold mung bean jelly, including jelly blocks, jelly sheets, and small noodles. All are soaked in a large wooden basin filled with cold water (the basin is flat and round, two feet in diameter, and less than half a foot deep). Like those selling blood sausage or fermented mung bean drink, they set up a canopy and seating. On the counter are jars of seasonings: soy sauce infused with Sichuan peppercorn oil, sesame paste, vinegar, garlic juice, mustard, chili oil, shredded carrots, etc. The seasonings are added on the spot when a customer comes to eat. There are only one or two vendors, constantly calling out: “Chewy buckwheat cake, tangy and spicy cold mung bean jelly, come try some, sir!” or “Chewy buckwheat cake... tangy spicy mung bean jelly...”