Danzhai Rice Cake

Danzhai Rice Cake

　　Rice cake is a traditional delicacy that the people of Danzhai must make during the Lunar New Year. However, with the improvement in living standards, rice cakes are no longer exclusive to the holiday season and can now be bought hot and fragrant from the market at any time. The process of making rice cakes is as follows: soak glutinous rice in a bucket of clean water until it is fully soaked and swollen, then transfer it to a special steaming vessel called a “zeng” to steam it until cooked. Quickly transfer the steamed rice to a stone mortar and pound it until it becomes soft and elastic. While still hot, take the pounded rice cake out of the mortar and place it on a winnowing basket that has been pre-lined with a layer of soybean flour for the final processing. Apply beeswax or tea oil to your hands, take a small piece of the rice cake, roll it into a ball, then flatten it, and wrap it with fillings such as red beans, soybean flour, sesame seeds, and yeast (also known as suma). A warm and freshly made rice cake is now ready. Take a bite, and the hot, chewy glutinous rice paired with sweet and aromatic fillings is truly irresistible and hard to stop eating.