Last week, by chance, a literary friend of Hechi invited me to Dahua to taste the local specialty: Ma Yemo.
Speaking of which, I have no idea about steamed buns. It always feels like steamed bread. As for hemp leaves, I don't know what they are.
So, at the beginning, when I talked about going to taste sesame steamed buns, I was a little lacking in interest.
Xiaoxiang Xun Wei
It took me more than three hours to get to this Ningjiemayemo snack bar, which is located in the depths of an obscure alley.
The door is fully enclosed transparent glass. Through the glass window, you can see that the stove is steaming. I smelled it, and it smelled a little fragrant. Is it zongzi?
I stood in front of the glass window hesitantly, and my friend in literature and art said, Go in and have a look!
Pushing open the sliding glass door, a faint scent came from the hot air, which seemed to be slightly different from the taste of zongzi leaves. What could that be? I am very interested.
The shopkeeper Ning Jie and his wife are busy making steamed buns in the house. Seeing us, Ning's brother-in-law smiled at us and went on with his work. There are some steamed buns on the table. Sister Ning stood up and greeted us very gently: "Come, eat steamed buns". She greeted us very kindly and naturally, as if we were old friends for many years.
She went on working while talking to us. There are many banana leaves on the table, which are cut into squares as if measured with a ruler.
"Let's have a look first!" Wenyou picked up his mobile phone and continued to take pictures. Now, he says, there are few authentic and clean local specialty shops.
I don't like taking pictures, so I squatted next to Sister Ning and watched them make buns.
Lovers mo branch
Bi Yingying's glutinous rice flour, wrapped in peanuts and sesame seeds, is oval, just like the green jiaozi in my hometown. But it's a little different. Sister Ning and others wrapped this wrapped bun with banana leaves before steaming it in the pot. Moreover, before taking it out, press it with a towel to remove the water. A chubby green jiaozi turned into a flat cake after being cooked.
Sister Ning said that there are more than 20 processes to make this steamed stuffed bun. Early in the morning, you have to go out and pick fresh hemp leaves and banana leaves, and take them home and clean them first. Then blanch the hemp leaves with boiling water for later use. Banana leaves are cut into small squares of the same size.
Wait until the glutinous rice is washed, dried, ground into powder with a blender together with the blanched hemp leaves, then add water, knead into rice flour balls, and sober up for a while. In the process of sobering up, sesame seeds and peanuts are crushed into fine powder by a crusher and mixed with sugar.
It's not complicated to start making buns, just like making buns. However, before you wrap banana leaves, you should coat them with a thin layer of oil. It is to prevent steamed bread from sticking to banana leaves and destroying the integrity of steamed bread.
Rice with sesame leaves and glutinous rice
Peanut and sesame stuffing
treasured scrolls of calligraphy
Banana leaf packaging
Cage loading
In a blink of an eye, the steamed stuffed bun in the pot is ready. Sister Ning quickly put down her work and went to the hearth to turn off the fire. She pressed the water neatly and bagged it. I turned my head and saw someone waiting for the steamed bread to come out of the pot at the door!
After the steamed bread buyer left, Sister Ning brought some steamed buns and warmly invited us to eat them.
Gently tear open the wrapped banana leaves, and the hemp leaf steamed stuffed bun is presented as a rare treasure wrapped inside. Dark green, bright, with a hint of cannabis leaf fragrance. Take a bite. It's soft and slippery with a little Q-bomb. It's sweet. There seems to be an attractive magic that people can't stop. Sister Ning said that when it is cold, it will be more resilient. But glutinous rice is not easy to digest, so friends with bad stomachs should pay attention. Ma Yemo tastes good, but you can't be greedy.
It is said that hemp leaves can reduce blood pressure and reduce fire, which is a rare medicine. Drugs and food have the same origin. Adding herbs to food can not only improve the taste, but also have certain disease prevention and treatment effects.
Come out of the cage
Mayemo
Before I finished eating a steamed stuffed bun, Sister Ning answered the phone and ordered it again. She smiled apologetically, bagged it, tied it, put it in a bamboo basket, and drove the battery car out for delivery. It rained, and Sister Ning rushed into the rain curtain without hesitation.
Looking at her thin figure, I muttered, "It's so hard!" "
"Yes!" Who would have thought that Ning's brother-in-law who had been silent took over the topic.
It turns out that Sister Ning's family has been making hemp leaf steamed buns for generations. Husband and wife, who get up early and get greedy every day, turn around hemp leaf steamed bread. Picking hemp leaves, banana leaves, grinding and making steamed buns, a series of procedures, fine and cumbersome. At the end of the day, they were so tired that they could only make about 400 buns. Apart from the cost, the two earned only hard money.
"Since it's so hard, why not change careers!" I asked him.
"This is the craft left by our ancestors! How can you lose it? " Ning brother-in-law's tone, with a hint of pride, that is the ancestral craft, absolute pride! However, the second half of the sentence is vaguely sad and self-deprecating. Every day's hard work and income did not make their family embark on the road of getting rich.
In this materialistic world, the phenomena of cutting corners and shoddy goods emerge one after another. Ning Jie's family, adhering to their own conscience, insists on not adding pigment to ensure fresh green. In their minds, there is an idea that we must never smash the signboard left by our ancestors.
This idea, perhaps, is a cultural heritage!
In fact, they could have chosen an easier job just because they couldn't give up the legacy. Although it is bitter, it is practical in my heart.
Time does not deceive people, and good things often stand the test of time. Ningjiema is also a profound precipitation of years!
When I left, I looked back at the small restaurant hidden in the alley, which carried the hopes of generations. Surrounded by tall buildings, it looks so small and insignificant.
The wave of economic development is sweeping every inch of Guangxi in full swing. On the one hand, it is rich, on the other hand, it is an inheritance that cannot be discarded. I don't know how long this small shop can last.