Puffed Rice

Puffed Rice

　　Puffed Rice

　　On the shrine, there are two tower-shaped foods sealed in red paper placed on the left and right, adding even more festive cheer to the freshly cleaned home. These are made on a sunny day before the New Year by selecting high-quality glutinous rice, steaming it in a bamboo steamer, dyeing half of it red with a red paste, then mixing the red and white glutinous rice with sesame oil and sun-drying it until dry and hard. On New Year’s Eve, after the family dinner, mom would light the charcoal stove and pan-fry them batch by batch until they puffed up and became fluffy. Then she would boil a pot of syrup, mix the fried rice into it, spread the mixture out in a tray, press and flatten it—or simply shape it into balls. It makes for a worthy snack, and could even pass as a proper staple. Pour hot water over it, and the sweet aroma of sugar and the crispness of the rice burst forth, unfurling like blooming flowers—hence, we call it puffed rice.