"Yellow steamed bread and oily steamed bread" are all foods made by millet. Northern Shaanxi is rich in glutinous rice. Simply put, the steamed bread made of glutinous rice flour is called "yellow steamed bread" and the oil cake is called "oil steamed bread". From the southernmost county to the northernmost county, the whole northern Shaanxi region is no exception.
There is a lot of attention and knowledge about the production and consumption of glutinous rice steamed bread and glutinous rice cake.
There are two kinds of millet, one is called hard millet, which is generally called millet after processing and is mostly used to cook millet porridge; One is called soft millet, and it is called soft yellow rice after processing. This kind of soft yellow rice is needed to make "yellow steamed bread and oily steamed bread". There are also soft yellow rice mixed with hard yellow rice. For example, the yellow buns in Hengshan County are made of new hard yellow rice and a little soft yellow rice. Let's talk about "oil steamed bread", which is oil cake. In northern Shaanxi, oil cakes are made of soft yellow rice, but there are different differences between "soft" and "hard". In northern Shaanxi, people usually eat "hard" oil cakes; Several counties in the south near Guanzhong, including huangling county, Fuxian, yijun county and Luochuan, all eat "soft" oil cakes.
An obvious difference between the so-called "soft" oil cake and "hard" oil cake is that "hard" is thick and "soft" is thin. There is a saying that the oil cakes in the north of Ganquan are "soles" and the oil cakes in the south of Ganquan are "insoles". But this is only a formal difference between the two. The main essential difference is that "hard" is not fermented when it is cooked, but soft. Therefore, "hard" oil cakes are easier to digest and can be eaten more; Soft oil cakes are not easy to digest. Although delicious, you must not eat too much.
The production technology of "soft" oil cake is complicated. The first step is to grind and filter soft millet into fine powder. Peel it first, soak it in clear water until it can be rubbed into flour by hand, take it out and drain it, and then grind it into millet flour. At this time, the millet flour is still rough, so it should be weighed slowly with fine reeds. Soak in clear water and grasp the time. If the time is too long and the soaking is too sticky, you can't grind it or pass the reeds. Generally, it takes about seven or eight hours on the first night; It was polished in the early hours of the next morning. Before the reform and opening up, most of them were ground on the common stone mills in rural areas, or covered with donkeys or pushed by people. It is much more convenient to transfer to a small steel mill now, but it is generally considered that it is not as delicious as before.
The second step is to steam the cake. The process is not simple. First, take out a quarter of the flour and crush it into a "soft" cake, stir it into a thick paste with boiling water, and steam it on a steamer for half an hour. Cage cloth must be put on the cage drawer. Then, the steamed quarter-cooked dough and the immature three-quarters cooked dough are evenly mixed, put into a pot, put on a hot kang, cover with a quilt and let it ferment. After fermentation, put it in a steamer, steam it, take it out and dry it. When it is not hot, roll it into a hand-arm-shaped strip and let it cool thoroughly. This is a soft millet cake.
The above steaming process is very particular, and there are some interesting sayings. The process of steaming a quarter of flour is called "steaming corners". Why? Because the raw powder is semi-dry and semi-wet, it can be piled on the chopping board to make a cone. Just cut off a corner and it's a quarter.
The third step is to fry the oil cake. Cut the soft millet cake into pieces about half a centimeter or thinner, fry it in an oil pan until it reaches Huang Liang, and then take it out. At this time, the shape is like a comb, and the upper part is oval. Because the texture is very soft, put it in the middle with chopsticks and lift it to fold naturally; It is sweet in itself and can be eaten without sugar or with honey.
The method of making "soft" cakes is "oil steamed bread", and then the method of making "soft" steamed bread is "yellow steamed bread".
This kind of "soft" steamed bread, namely "yellow steamed bread", is actually a kind of steamed bread. Bean paste is generally used for steamed stuffed buns. Or light green tendrils, which turn into jujube red after cooking. Or green red beans, which turn red when cooked. The land rich in big red dates is convenient to wrap red dates in mud. Knead the fermented broken flour into the shape of steamed buns, wrap the stuffing and steam it in a cage. When steaming, be sure to put a pear leaf under the bun. And corn husk, pear leaves are the best. Why do you want to pad? Because this kind of "soft" steamed stuffed bun is too sticky, if it is not padded, it will be difficult to take it off the steamer, and it will be even more difficult to pick it up and eat it. So this cushion should follow the "soft" buns until people eat the "soft" buns. Why is pear leaves the best? Because the leaves of this pear tree are round, big, flat and thick, with smooth surface, solid texture, no peculiar smell and no deformation after drying, its advantages are very rare in the leaves, and it is very suitable for making "soft" buns eaten by people in northern Shaanxi. This is absolutely unique. Therefore, in several counties near Guanzhong, when pear trees shed leaves, people always pick them up, put them on and hang them in a dark and ventilated place to make "soft" buns. It is conceivable that people used many other things before using pear leaves, including the leaves of various trees, and finally found that pear leaves were the best. There is a long process of understanding the world here.
People in Huangling and other places eat soft oil cakes and soft steamed bread during the Spring Festival and Tomb-Sweeping Day, that is, "yellow steamed bread and oily steamed bread". Therefore, the production of these two kinds of food is almost simultaneous, always using fermented ground flour, some making "soft" cakes and some making "soft" buns. Its purpose is to eat for oneself, visit relatives and friends, and pay homage to ancestors. At other times, people don't make and eat it. In the past, ancestors were enshrined in graves. At this time, it is also a gesture to pick up the "soft" cakes and "soft" buns and throw them away. The second is to serve as a sacrifice in front of the ancestral temple or family ancestors, and then eat it yourself after the sacrifice is completed.
There are several situations that are particularly noticeable. First, apart from the Spring Festival and Tomb-Sweeping Day, there is no cooking, which shows that "soft" cakes and "soft" buns are largely combined with ancestor worship. The second is to pile up a cone similar to a mausoleum in the middle of the production, which reminds people of the Mausoleum of the Yellow Emperor in huangling county, the admiration and nostalgia for the ancestor of the Chinese nation, and of course the ancestors of their own family.
It should be pointed out that in some other places in northern Shaanxi, this kind of food is often made and eaten at weddings and funerals, and is not limited to the Spring Festival and sacrifices. In northern Shaanxi, this kind of food is not only folk food, but also high-grade food because of its fine raw materials and exquisite production. With the development of reform and opening up and economic construction, this kind of high-grade folk food in northern Shaanxi has been introduced into large and medium-sized cities from northern Shaanxi. Now there are many restaurants specializing in northern Shaanxi cuisine in xi 'an, and such "yellow buns and oily buns" can be eaten at any time.
Above, the production and consumption of "soft millet" oil cakes and buns in some counties in southern Shaanxi are mainly provided by Mr. Bai. There are also Ji Tan, Fan Juncheng, Mr. Li Fangru and Ms. Han, all of whom are members of Yan 'an Folklore Society. Many members of Yan 'an Folklore Society are knowledgeable and experienced, and the work of the Society is quite active. In recent years, they have edited and published many works, such as Exploring the Origin of Northern Shaanxi Folklore, Gathering Interest in Northern Shaanxi Folklore, and Han Qi Detailed Road. Their in-depth investigation and study of folk customs in northern Shaanxi and detailed materials are admirable.