Mugwort glutinous rice dumplings are called "Qingtuan" here. It is a traditional snack that must be eaten before and after the Qingming Festival. As a classic snack in the Jiangnan area, the traditional method is to mix mugwort juice or cooked and chopped mugwort leaves with glutinous rice noodles to make the dough.

It has its own green color, divided into small portions, stuffed with red bean paste filling, and steamed to make the classic red bean paste green dumplings.

Mugwort is a seasonal ingredient and can only be picked from March to May every year. In the later period, the mugwort leaves are older and are not suitable for making mugwort glutinous rice cakes.

As a relatively simple method of making it at home, we can choose dried mugwort leaf powder instead of fresh mugwort leaves. This way, we can make it whenever we want to eat it, without being restricted by the season.

When I make mugwort glutinous rice cake (green dumpling), I usually add some sticky rice flour in addition to glutinous rice flour, and blanch it with hot water (the method of scalding noodles) to gelatinize the flour to increase the toughness of the dough.

Sticky rice flour itself has no stickiness, and can also be used to reduce the stickiness of glutinous rice flour, keeping the texture soft and glutinous while making it delicious and non-sticky to the teeth.

This method, which is a change from the traditional recipe, has made mugwort glutinous rice cake (Qingtuan) that has been unanimously recognized by the family.

I will share the method with you below, hoping to give you some reference!

Ingredients: (14 quantities) mugwort powder: 8g, warm water (for mugwort powder): 90g, glutinous rice flour: 150g, lard: 15g, fennel (wheat starch): 45g, boiling water (for fennel)

: 100g, warm water (used to adjust the hardness of the dough): appropriate amount.

Bean paste filling: 280g.

1. Slowly dissolve mugwort powder with warm water and stir evenly.

2. Pour boiling water into the powder all at once, stir constantly, and scald it until it becomes translucent.

This step is called "scalding the noodles". The flour is gelatinized, which can increase the toughness of the dough.

3. Pour the glutinous rice paste into the glutinous rice flour, first pour in half of the mugwort juice, and stir evenly.

Then slowly add the remaining mugwort juice and slowly knead the dough into shape. If the dough does not form a ball, add appropriate amounts of warm water until it becomes a smooth dough that does not stick to your hands.

4. Slowly knead the lard into the dough and let it be completely absorbed.

5. Roll the dough into a long shape, cover with plastic wrap and rest for 20 minutes.

6. Divide the dough and bean paste filling into 14 portions, wrap the fillings in each portion and roll them into balls, seal them downwards, and try to repair the cracks, otherwise they will easily crack when steamed.

7. Place the green dumplings in the steamer, brush the surface with lard, steam the steamer over high heat for 15-20 minutes.

8. Immediately after taking out the oven, brush a layer of lard on the surface to prevent drying and cracking. After cooling slightly, wrap each one with plastic wrap.

1. Different brands of glutinous rice flour and rice flour have different water absorption properties. During the process of kneading the dough into a ball, the additional warm water should be added slowly, depending on the actual situation. The final dough will be neither soft nor hard.

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2. If the green dough is out of shape, deformed or collapsed, there are generally two situations: the mugwort dough is too soft or the steamer is not well sealed, and the water vapor will flow back to wet the green dough embryo, and the final product will be

Unsightly.

Solution: Finally, adjust the amount of soft and hard warm water for the dough and add it slowly.

The steamer can be wrapped with a large piece of gauze to prevent water vapor from flowing back.

3. Brush lard twice to prevent the surface of the green dough from cracking and drying. Don’t forget it!

4. The steaming time of the green dumplings depends on the actual situation. If the green dumplings are larger than mine, it is recommended to increase the steaming time.

This is how I make "Ai Ye Ciba". If you like it, hurry up and learn it. I believe you will make it better than me!

Friends, how do you make mugwort glutinous rice cake in your hometown?

Welcome to share your exclusive food experiences in the comment area!

Welcome to communicate and experience traditional Chinese food and culture!

mugwort leaves.

It grows in March in spring, and the best time to pick it is around April, around Qingming Festival, when the leaves are the most tender.

Mugwort leaves have high medicinal value and can be eaten or used externally.

Mugwort leaves have the effects of regulating qi and blood, warming meridians, removing dampness and cold, relieving cold pain, etc.

In our south, mugwort leaves are usually put on the table as an ingredient.

Mugwort leaves can be made into: mugwort leaf omelette, mugwort cakes.

These are relatively common to see.

Moxa Ci, we Hakka people pick mugwort leaves in March and April, when they are at their tenderest, and use them to make moxa glutinous rice.

The production method is also relatively simple.

1. Wash the relatively tender parts of the picked mugwort leaves and set aside.

2. For the fillings of Ai Ci, we usually use peanuts, sugar and sesame seeds.

Crush the peanuts for the fried meat. You can use a food processor, but don't crush them too much. A grainy texture is best.

Stir the crushed peanuts and candied sesame seeds evenly and set aside. 3. Boil water in a pot with the washed mugwort leaves, put in the mugwort leaves, blanch them for one minute and take them out.

4. Put the removed mugwort leaves into a food processor, add a little water, and beat into mugwort leaf juice.