Why eat Ai at Qingming Festival
As early as a thousand years ago, Ge Hong, Bao Gu couple will be the use of Ai grass for medicine, Bao Gu use red foot Ai made into Ai stripes to heal the people. The traditional snack - Ai Wei, which has been passed down to this day, is made of mugwort, which has certain medicinal and health care functions. In the Hakka region, there is a popular saying: "Eat moxa around the time of the Ching Ming Festival, and you will not get sick throughout the year. Ai Wei, also known as Qingming Wei, has a strong fragrance of mugwort leaves and has the effect of dispelling dampness and warming the stomach, etc. It is a local snack, which is made by almost every family, and it is also a unique Hakka culture of Qingming. Made with traditional ancient method, the inheritance of Ai Zhi is not only the flavor, but also the culture of health preservation. Around the Ching Ming Festival, when mugwort is at its most tender, Hakka people go out to pick mugwort and make mugwort with glutinous rice flour. The weather during the Qingming Festival is cloudy and humid, and mugwort has the effect of dispelling dampness and strengthening the spleen and stomach, so eating mugwort is just right for dispelling dampness and warming up the body, which is why eating mugwort makes the body strong and healthy," he said.
What is Ai Wei
Ai Wei is essentially a glutinous rice product, a kind of Hakka rice, belonging to the local characteristics of traditional snacks. Whenever the Qingming Festival comes, Hakka people in every household will pick natural mugwort on their way to worship and make such a flavorful snack. Nowadays, mugwort is not only a traditional Hakka snack, but is also widely popular in Fujian, Jiangsu and Zhejiang, where it has been incorporated into the special practices of Fujian and Jiangsu and Zhejiang, and has become a local specialty with a new name - "Qingduan".
How to do it
1, first of all, prepare the raw flour, glutinous rice flour, fresh young shoots of mugwort and sugar, water. Mix the raw flour and glutinous rice flour in the ratio of 1:1 into a large clean plate and mix well. 2: Boil a pot of water. When the water comes to a boil, pour the fresh mugwort leaves into the pot, do not cover, and continue to cook until the water boils, then fish out and drain. When the mugwort leaves cooled, wring out the excess water, placed on the cutting board, with the back of the knife will be chopped mugwort leaves on a plate spare (do not use the blade of the knife to chop, chopped out the texture is not good). 3, will be dealt with mugwort, glutinous rice flour, cornstarch, sugar (sugar plus the right amount, according to personal taste increase or decrease) mixed into a large plate, slowly add water to the rice flour, a small number of times, while kneading the dough while adding water, the rice flour and mugwort fully mixed until the dough molding (the dough can not be too soft nor too hard, in order not to stick to the hand as appropriate). 4, the fried peanut kernels, sesame seeds ground into coarse powder. 5, the ground peanut kernels, sesame seeds and appropriate amount of sugar mixed as a spare filling. 6、Wash the banana leaves, cut them into small pieces and spread them flat on the steamer. The banana leaves are used to hold the ai yee to the point that they don't stick to each other. 7: Take a small ball of dough the size of a ping pong ball, knead it into a cake (not too thin or the filling will leak), pour in two teaspoons of the filling, and wrap the filling like a bun. 8, wrapped in the filling of Ai Zhi cognitive stick with banana leaves and put with the steamer basket to steam for 25 to 30 minutes on it.
Where is the speciality of Ai Weiqi
Ai Weiqi, one of the Ching Ming Weiqi, is a kind of delicious traditional Han Chinese snack, belonging to the Hakka cuisine. It is made of sticky rice flour, glutinous rice flour, mugwort, etc. Because of the addition of mugwort, it has certain medicinal health functions. Mugwort pastry is widely popular in China's Jiangsu and Zhejiang regions, Hakka region, southern Fujian region and Chaoshan, Guangfu region of traditional pastries, Jiangsu and Zhejiang region called "green dough", Guangdong East and Taiwan Hakka region called "Ai met", Guangdong North and Jiangxi region generally called "Ai rice fruit", "Ai fruit". It is called "Ai Mi Guo" or "Ai Mochi" in northern Guangdong and Jiangxi, "Ai Kuei Teow" in southern Fujian and Chaoshan, and "Ai Cake" in Guangfu. The production methods and related customs are similar in all regions, with different ways of serving them: sweet or savory filling, steaming or deep-frying. Jiangsu, Zhejiang and other areas are usually wrapped in bean paste filling or other sweet fillings made of dough; while the Hakka people usually press the Ai into a flat round shape, the sweet flavor is dominant; the Jiangxi region likes to wrap the meat filling and kneaded into the shape of dumplings.