Cotton Grass Cake

Cotton Grass Cake

　　Cotton Grass Cake

　　 In the past, during the Dragon Boat Festival and the Double Ninth Festival, the people of Jiangkou placed great importance on making Cotton Grass Cake to celebrate the holidays. It is a traditional and delicious snack from Jiangkou, with a dark green color, soft fragrance, not sticky or glutinous, and a comfortable texture. Since cotton grass also has the effects of clearing heat, detoxifying, and reducing inflammation, it has become even more favored by people.

　　The main ingredients of Cotton Grass Cake include glutinous rice, sticky rice (in a 1:1 ratio), white sugar, sesame seeds (or tofu, pickled vegetable meat), cotton grass (white mugwort), peanuts, pickled chili peppers, fine salt, and cooked lard. In Jiangkou, you can purchase this uniquely flavored Cotton Grass Cake at any time.

　　Ingredients

　　 Glutinous rice, white sugar, sticky rice, sesame seeds, cotton grass (white mugwort), peanuts, tung leaves, pickled chili peppers, fine salt, cooked lard.　 Production Method

　　 1. Wash the glutinous rice and sticky rice separately, soak them in warm water, then pound them into rice flour. Sift the flour through a fine sieve and mix it evenly;

　　 2. Clean the cotton grass, remove the bitter juice, chop it finely, and boil it in a pot. Then pour in one-third of the rice flour and mix it with the cotton grass—this mixture is called “nián qiàn” (glutinous paste). Then scoop the fully cooked paste into the remaining two-thirds of the rice flour, gradually kneading it like rolling a snowball until the sticky paste is well mixed. Then divide it into pieces weighing about 120 grams each;

　　 3. Toast the sesame seeds and peanuts separately, grind them into powder, chop the pickled chili peppers into small pieces, and mix them with white sugar and cooked lard. Stir-fry them again in the pan with cooked lard, then add fine salt and stir well to make the white sugar and sesame filling;

　　 4. Take a piece of dough, wrap the filling inside, then wrap it with a tung leaf, and steam it in a steamer for 60 minutes to finish.

　　 Note: Besides the white sugar and sesame filling, you can also use cured meat filling or red bean paste filling. For the cured meat filling, choose half-fat, half-lean cured meat, steam it, peel it, chop it into pieces, and mix it with finely chopped salted vegetables. For the red bean paste filling, boil mung beans until soft, filter out the beans and residue, then stir-fry with cooked lard, brown sugar, and white sugar.

　　 Snack Features

　　 Soft, fragrant, and with a comfortable texture.