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Xu Longqian makes his signature rice cakes in Jiading, Shanghai. [Photo/jiading.gov.cn] |
During the recent Spring Festival, people from Jiading district took part in their favorite celebration – making the area's signature rice cakes.
Xu Longqian is a local celebrity known for making the dainty, soft and sweet rice cakes for over 30 years, and those seasoned with brown sugar are one of Xu's most popular varieties.
Although a common snack, Xu makes his rice cakes with patience and care.
"I first choose the best raw materials, soak them in water, filter the flour, add more ingredients, finely blend them, filter them again, weigh the raw cake, and cook it in the steamer," Xu explained.
He added that making the cakes requires him to focus mostly on huohou, which means "the duration and degree of heating" in Chinese, because this directly affects the taste and quality of rice cakes.
Aside from brown sugar rice cakes, those seasoned with white sugar, lard, red beans, red bean paste, corn, black rice and pumpkin are also on Xu's special menu.
The cakes are best eaten fresh from the steamer. You can also try them when the cake has cooled down but has not yet hardened.