Chinese pinyin for rice cakes: nián-gāo

English for rice cakes: rise cake; New year cake

[rice cake] A cake steamed with sticky rice or rice flour is a seasonal food in the Lunar New Year.

during the spring festival, many areas in China pay attention to eating rice cakes. There are two colors of rice cakes, yellow and white, which symbolize gold and silver. Rice cakes, also known as "Niannian cakes", are homophonic with "high every year", implying that people's work and life are improving year by year. Therefore, there was a poem by predecessors that called the rice cake: "The meaning of the rice cake is a little deep, and the white is like silver yellow gold. I hope that when I am old, I will be profitable, and I sincerely hope that my wealth will come. "

[ Edit this paragraph] The history of rice cakes

As a kind of food, rice cakes have a long history in China. In 1974, archaeologists found full-grain and well-preserved rice seeds in Hemudu site in Yuyao, Zhejiang Province more than 7, years ago, which shows that our ancestors began to grow rice as early as 7, years ago. People in the Han Dynasty called rice cakes "rice cakes", "bait" and "glutinous rice cakes". In the book Dialect written by Yang Xiong in Han Dynasty, the title of "Gao" was already popular in Wei, Jin, Southern and Northern Dynasties. The ancients also had a development process from rice cake to rice cake. In the 6th century AD, the cookbook Shiji contained the method of making rice cakes "white cocoon candy", which said, "If rice is cooked and cooked, and it is hotter than Chu Jiu's, it must be cooked extremely well, so as not to have rice grains ..." That is, after the glutinous rice is steamed, it is boiled into rice, and then cut into peach pit sizes. As early as the Liao Dynasty, it was said that on the first day of the first month in Beijing, every family had the custom of eating rice cakes. By the time of the Ming and Qing Dynasties, rice cakes had developed into a perennial snack on the market, with different flavors from the north and the south. The rice cake is delicious, sweet and mellow, with a strong historical flavor.

[ Edit this paragraph] The origin of rice cakes

There is a very old legend about the origin of Spring Festival rice cakes. In ancient times, there was a monster called Nian, who lived in the mountains and forests all year round. When he was hungry, he caught other animals to satisfy his hunger. But in the severe winter season, most animals hide and take a rest. When Nian was hungry, he went down the mountain to hurt the people, snatched people as food, and made the people miserable. Later, a clever tribe called "Gao Clan", every winter, when the monster was expected to go down the mountain for food, he made a lot of food with grain in advance, twisted it into strips, put it outside the door, and people hid at home. When "Nian" came, people couldn't find anyone to eat, so they were hungry, so they filled their stomachs with food strips made by people and went back to the mountains after eating. When people saw the monster go, they all went out to congratulate each other, glad that they had escaped the "Year of the Year" and were safe and ready for spring ploughing again. In this way, year after year, this method of avoiding animal harm has been handed down. Because the grain strips were made by Gao, in order to feed Nian, Nian and Gao were linked together, and they were called rice cakes (homophonic).

[ Edit this paragraph] Legend of rice cakes

It is said that rice cakes spread from Suzhou. There is a legend about its origin: It is said that during the Spring and Autumn Period and the Warring States Period, Wu Zixu helped He Lv to seize the throne of the State of Wu, and helped him to become strong and prosperous throughout the year. But later, He Lv was full of ambition and ordered Wu Zixu to build "He Lv City" to show his merits.

after the completion of the city wall, the king of Wu held a feast to celebrate. During the dinner, the ministers indulged in wine and music, thinking that with a solid city, they could sit back and relax. Seeing this, Wu Zixu, China's prime minister, was deeply worried. He called in his personal entourage and said, "The civil and military officials of the Manchu Dynasty now think that high walls can protect the peace of the State of Wu. Although the city wall can resist the enemy soldiers, the people inside will be equally restrained if they want to go out. If the enemy encircles and doesn't fight, wouldn't Wu be trapped in a cocoon? If you get carried away, you will be in trouble. If anything happens to me, Wu is trapped and food and grass are scarce, you can go to Xiangmen City to dig three feet to get food. " The entourage thought that Wu Zixu had drunk too much, but he didn't take it seriously.

Not long after, He Lv, the king of Wu, died. Fu Cha succeeded to the throne and listened to the slanderers. Wu Zixu urged the king of Wu to refuse the peace of Gou Jian, the king of Yue, and was rejected and given death. After Wu Zixu committed suicide, Gou Jian, the King of Yue, attacked Wu in dispatch troops, surrounded Gusu City, the capital of Wu, and Wu Jun was trapped in the city, and the women and children in the streets were crying. At this time, the attendant remembered Wu Zixu's previous instructions, and quickly called the neighbors to dig outside Xiangmen to get food. When he dug three feet deep under the city wall, he found that the city brick was made of glutinous rice flour. Suddenly people were so excited that they knelt down toward the wall and thanked Wu Zixu. These glutinous rice noodles saved the people in the city. So under the auspices of Wu Zixu's family, it was distributed to the hungry people in the city, and everyone spent the famine temporarily. Suzhou people admire Wu Zixu's spirit of patriotism and caring for the people. Since then, every winter, they have prepared rice cakes to show their nostalgia for Wu Zixu, and to share them with relatives and friends during the Spring Festival. Therefore, the shape of Suzhou rice cake is similar to that of city bricks, and it is not greasy after cooking, does not crack after drying, and is not bad after long storage.

[ Edit this paragraph] Making of rice cakes

The method of grinding glutinous rice into cakes is also very early. This can be proved by Qi Min Yao Shu written by Jia Sixie in the Northern Wei Dynasty. The production method is that glutinous rice flour is sieved with silk, and then added with water and honey to form a hard dough, and dates and chestnuts are attached to the dough, and then wrapped with bamboo leaves and steamed. This kind of glutinous rice cake has the characteristics of the Central Plains.

rice cakes are mostly made of glutinous rice flour, and glutinous rice is a special product in the south of the Yangtze River. In the north, sticky corn (commonly known as millet) was first promoted in ancient times. This kind of millet hulled powder, after steamed with water, is yellow, sticky and sweet, and it is a delicious food for people in the Yellow River valley to celebrate the harvest. The article "A Brief Introduction to the Scenery of the Imperial Capital" published during the Chongzhen period of the Ming Dynasty recorded that Beijingers at that time would "eat millet cakes on the New Year's Day of the first month and celebrate the New Year's cakes". It is not difficult to see that "New Year's cake" is a homonym of "sticky cake" in the north.

An experienced rice cake master said that the most important thing to make a good rice cake is to pay attention to the use of water and oil. In addition, whether glutinous rice flour is pure or not is also very important. Most glutinous rice flour bought in the general market is mixed with other rice flour, so it is not soft enough to eat. Therefore, rice cakes should be made directly from glutinous rice, in order to ensure the purity and original taste of rice cakes. Making rice cakes is very simple. Rice cakes can be made into many flavors, but all of them are based on the most basic original rice cakes with other materials that people like.

The rice cake is not only a kind of holiday food, but also brings people new hope with the passing of the year, which means that everything goes well every year. As a poem in the late Qing Dynasty said, "People's hearts are high, and food is made in harmony, so that the year is better than the year, so as to pray for the year."

[ Edit this paragraph] New Year's cakes in different places

China has a vast territory, different customs and habits, and various kinds of New Year's cakes. The representative ones are white cakes in the north, yellow rice cakes from farmers in Saibei, Shuimo rice cakes from water towns in the south of the Yangtze River, and glutinous rice cakes in the southwest. Taiwan Province's red turtle cakes, etc. Rice cakes have different flavors from north to south. There are two kinds of steamed and fried rice cakes in the north, both of which are sweet; In addition to steaming and frying, southern rice cakes are also fried in slices and boiled in soup, which are both sweet and salty.

Beijing's rice cakes are the representatives of the northern rice cakes. They are yellow and white, symbolizing gold and silver, and have the auspicious meaning of "high every year". Therefore, there was a poem by predecessors that called the rice cake: "The meaning of the rice cake is a little deep, and the white is like silver yellow gold. I hope that when I am old, I will be profitable, and I sincerely hope that my wealth will come. " In fact, tracing the history of rice cakes was recorded as early as the Zhou Dynasty in China. "National Zagreb? The "powder meal" of "eating at the edge of shame, making a meal with powder" is the cake food steamed with rice noodles. The rice cakes in Beijing snacks are steamed with yellow rice or glutinous rice noodles and various accessories. There are many kinds of rice cakes, such as jujube rice cakes, bean rice cakes and rice cakes. Fine rice cakes are ginkgo, assorted, crystal, ruyi, etc. The cooking methods are mostly steaming, and they are also fried and dipped in sugar, all of which are sweet and sticky.

Generally, rice cakes in Beijing are supplied to Muslim snack bars. Besides the Spring Festival, they are also available at ordinary times, but the quantity and variety are less than those during the Spring Festival. The rice cake is a Muslim snack, and it is also a sacrifice used by Manchu people to jump. Manchu's name is Feishi Heiafeng. In the Qing Dynasty, Shen Zhao wrote a poem: "The cake is named Fei Shi Hei A Feng, and it tastes greasy like fat. Xiangjie must know that God is paid, and Jane is with Jin Ju and Furong. " The note said: "The offerings of Manchu jumping gods include flying stones and black peaks, and sticky rice cakes. The color is yellow as jade, the taste is greasy as fat, the oil powder is miserable, and it is quite fragrant with honey, so as to give partial feedback to the neighbors. Jin Ju and Furong are both cakes. " It can be seen that rice cakes were Manchu snacks at least in the Qing Dynasty.

But the rice cakes in the south are different. Fuzhou rice cakes are called Baiguo. Guangdong rice cakes are generally made of glutinous rice flour, sticky powder, raw oil, melon seeds and bamboo leaves. Its color is golden red, soft and sweet, and it tastes delicious. Hainan rice cake has smooth surface, yellow and soft color, and sweet taste. According to local customs, every household makes rice cakes as holiday gifts to celebrate the New Year in the twelfth lunar month. Its main raw materials are glutinous rice, sugar, sesame, red dates and water. Hainan rice cakes can be eaten in various ways, such as baking or soft eating, burning cake soup, and slicing and frying. New Year's custom in Jiangsu and Zhejiang must have rice cakes, and there are many kinds of them, such as sweet-scented osmanthus sugar rice cakes, lard rice cakes, water mill rice cakes and eight-treasure rice cakes. Jiangsu's rice cakes are typical of Suzhou's, which are made of glutinous rice, mainly sweet-scented osmanthus sugar rice cakes and lard rice cakes; Zhejiang's rice cakes are common in Ningbo, mainly made of late japonica rice. Taiwan Province compatriots also eat rice cakes every year. When making rice cakes, they first mix and wash glutinous rice and Penglai rice, soak them for three hours, grind them into rice pulp, press them dry, add sugar and banana oil, and knead them evenly. Place a layer of cellophane on the bottom of the steamer, put the kneaded rice flour on it, and put a bamboo tube at each corner for ventilation. Steam for about two or three hours, insert chopsticks into the rice flour to see if there is raw flour, and add water to the pot at any time until it is cooked, then cut the rice cake into pieces and keep it for eating slowly.

[ Edit this paragraph] How to make rice cakes

1. Eight-treasure rice cakes

Ingredients: 1, grams of glutinous rice, 2 grams of sugar, 2 grams of hemp seeds, 2 grams of green plums, 2 grams of raisins, 2 grams of preserved peaches, 2 grams of wax gourd strips and 2 grams of white lotus.

Practice:

1. Wash 1, grams of glutinous rice first, soak it in water for 24 hours, then steam it in a drawer, take it out, mash it with a wooden stick and spread it for cooling.

2. Stir 2g of white sugar, hemp seed, green plum, raisin, preserved peach, wax gourd strips and white lotus to make stuffing.

3. Brush a layer of lard in the square dish, spread the mashed 1 cm thick glutinous rice, put a proper amount of stuffing in each layer, and spread three layers.

4. After steaming in the pan, cut it into small pieces with a knife and serve.

second, the sandwich rice cake

raw materials: 1, grams of glutinous rice, 5 grams of adzuki beans, 5 grams of green silk, 5 grams of red silk, and appropriate amount of sugar.

Practice:

1. Wash 1 grams of glutinous rice, soak it for 24 hours, steam it in a drawer, take it out and mash it with a wooden stick, then spread it out and cut it into two pieces.

2. Boil 5g of adzuki beans, add 5g of sugar and 5g of green shredded pork to make stuffing.

3. Sprinkle the stuffing on the surface of one piece, then place the other piece on the stuffing and compact it, and then cut it into pieces with a knife.

third, fried white strip cake

ingredients: 1 grams of glutinous rice and 5 ml of oil.

Practice:

1. Wash and soak 1 grams of glutinous rice, drain the water, steam it in a drawer until it is cooked, take it out and mash it with a wooden stick, and crush it into pieces.

2. First, cut the rice cake into small pieces of about 5g with a knife, then put 5ml of oil in the pot to boil, then add the rice cake, and when the rice cake floats, take it out.

fourth, fried rice cake

raw materials: 1, grams of glutinous rice, 25 grams of japonica rice, 5 grams of lard, 5 grams of sugar, 5 grams of osmanthus sauce and a little peanut oil.

Practice:

1. Wash and soak 1 grams of glutinous rice and 25 grams of japonica rice, then add water and grind them into slurry, and put them into a cloth bag to dry the water.

2. Put the slurry into a basin, add 5g of lard, 5g of sugar and 5g of osmanthus sauce, and mix well.

3. Brush peanut oil on the square plate, put the stirred dough into the plate and spread it flat. Steam it on the drawer for about 3 minutes.

4. Cool and cut into cubes, then put them in a peanut oil pan and fry them thoroughly over medium heat.

5. Soup rice cake

Ingredients: rice cake, red beans, tremella.

Practice:

1. Wash tremella in soaking; After washing the red beans, soak them in hot water for half an hour.

2. Add a bowl of water and stew for half an hour.

3. After half an hour, add tremella to start cooking, and stew for another half an hour.

4. After the rice cake is steamed, slice it or knead it into balls and add it to the soup.

6. Bean paste rice cake soup

1. Boil the water in the pot, cut the Ningbo Shuimo rice cake into pieces and cook it in water, then heat it on low heat and wait for the second process. If you are willing to eat a little more, you can cut the rice cake thicker.

2. add water to the bean paste in a bowl to dilute it like flour, slowly pour it into the pot where the rice cake is cooked, mix it well with a spoon, and add some sugar according to everyone's taste, and it will be ok.

VII. Stir-fried rice cake with shredded green vegetables

Ingredients: shredded green vegetables (generally rape), rice cake

Practice:

1. Grab the shredded green vegetables with tender meat powder, and put the cooking wine and oil in and mix well; Cut the vegetables into appropriate lengths

2. Put oil in the pan, stir-fry shredded pork and vegetables, add some salt, stir-fry and take them out for later use

3. Put oil again, add rice cakes, stir-fry quickly, and constantly add some water to prevent the rice cakes from sticking to the pan, stir-fry until the rice cakes become soft, add the fried shredded pork and vegetables, add some salt and chicken essence, and add some water until the soup is basically dry.

Eight, crispy fried rice cakes and purple vegetable rolls

Material: appropriate amount of rice cakes, several pieces of laver, and appropriate amount of fried rice paste

Practice: first cut the rice cakes into squares of any size, then wrap them with laver, dip them in fried rice paste, fry them at about 17 degrees until crispy, and serve.

tip: control the oil temperature, not too high or too low.

IX. Rice cake syrup

Materials: 15g of two-color rice cake, 4g of ginger slices, 45g of water and 75g

Practice: first cut the two-color rice cake into squares with arbitrary size; Boil water and ginger slices; Add the rice cake and cook for about five minutes.

tip: the sweetness can be reduced according to your preference. Cooking rice cakes should not take too long.

1. Crispy fried Gillette water chestnut cake

Ingredients: appropriate amount of water chestnut cake, appropriate amount of bread crumbs, 1 egg, and appropriate amount of raw flour

Practice: firstly, cut the water chestnut cake into pieces, cover it with raw flour, then paste it with bread crumbs, boil the oil for about 17 degrees, and fry until golden, then serve.

tip: you can eat it with tomato juice, so that it doesn't feel greasy.

Xi. Guangdong-Hong Kong flavor rice cakes

Material: appropriate amount of all kinds of rice cakes and appropriate amount of cooking oil

Practice:

1. Fry-cut all kinds of rice cakes into slices with arbitrary size. Add a little oil and fry the rice cake until golden.

2. steaming-cut all kinds of rice cakes into pieces and steam them thoroughly.

tip: the above practices keep the original flavor of the rice cake, and the taste is delicate and smooth.

XII. Crab Rice Cake

Materials: crab, rice cake, onion, ginger, low sodium salt, sugar, soy sauce, monosodium glutamate, cooking wine and water starch

Practice:

1. Cut the crab in half, put it in an oil pan and fry it until it is cooked.

2. What's left