After a while, Cen Jiahua suddenly smelled a strong scent of glutinous rice wafting out of the kitchen of Old Chen's house, soft and glutinous, very pleasant.

Lao Chen and his son-in-law Tan Xiaosong worked together to lift a utensil that was steaming from the kitchen and came to the side of the stone mortar. The utensil was about half a meter in diameter and about 80 cm high. It looked a bit like a huge wooden barrel, but it was wide at the top and narrow at the bottom, which was very strange.

Chen Yang and Cen Jiahua, who were standing aside, explained that this was a utensil specially used for steaming rice, called the "wooden steamer". The "wooden steamer" is made of thick wooden boards, and a bamboo strip is placed at the bottom to make the shaped partition of the hat-shaped plate, which not only prevents the rice from sticking to the water in the pot, but also facilitates the entry of steam.

This utensil is required to steam glutinous rice every time. Just put it on a large pot with water boiling water, and the rice inside can be steamed in a very short time. The time is short, the efficiency is high, and the steamed rice is dry and loose, and there will be no clumping and sticky appearance.

The folk superb traditional skills can make the "wood steamer" into a airtight level, and the steamed rice will not be cooked thoroughly due to air leakage. Among them, the "wood steamer" made of wood chips has another good feature, that is, the wood can absorb the water droplets condensed by water vapor, preventing the water droplets from falling into the rice, making the rice too sticky.

In addition, some families with good conditions can use slightly fragrant wood to make a "wooden steamer". In this way, the steamed rice will have a slight fragrance of fragrant wood, adding a flavor.

There is a "ceramic steamer" on the market now that it is made of clay. Although it does not require trouble and has a good sealing performance, if you want to steam the best glutinous rice, you still have to use a "wooden steamer".

Old Chen opened the lid of the "wooden steamer", and saw a stream of hot steam rising up, condensed into water mist in the slightly cold air, and emitted a stronger fragrance. Old Chen and his son-in-law worked hard together, pouring the opening of the "wooden steamer" onto the stone mortar, and Cen Jiahua saw a crystal clear rice ball falling into the stone mortar one day.

The glutinous rice, which was originally neatly formed, slowly fell to both sides under the influence of gravity, and the glutinous rice grains did not stick together. At this time, the entire yard was filled with steaming heat, and the soft and glutinous fragrance reached the heart and lungs, making people reluctant to wake up for a long time.

Lao Chen and Tan Xiaosong, who put down the "wooden steamer", each picked up a stick that was as tall as a man and started to chisel rhythmically at the rice balls inside the stone mortar. Cen Jiahua recognized the material of this wooden stick. This kind of oak tree is very hard, and the texture is very heavy, the structure is tight, and the wood is dense.

In rural areas, this kind of branch is usually used to make wooden handles of sickles, axes and other tools. It is durable and is very popular with farmers. Cen Jiahua recognized it because some of his tools have wooden handles made of these materials, otherwise he would have to meet and not know each other.

Old Chen and the other two stood aside, with oak sticks as thick as their hands and arms rising and falling one after another, like a storm, but they didn't crash at once. Seeing Cen Jiahua's puzzled eyes, Chen Yang, who was standing by, explained to Cen Jiahua what he was going to do today? Why did he do this?

The glutinous rice steamed in the "wooden steamer" just now is the raw material for making glutinous rice cakes. This local specialty slender glutinous rice has strong stickiness and has become the best ingredient for making glutinous rice cakes. After steaming glutinous rice until nine minutes of cooked, it must be put into a stone mortar and made into rice paste, and then it can be made glutinous rice cakes.

Although this process is simple and clear, it contains a lot of skills. Only when the details in each link can be handled well, can the glutinous rice cake be called authentic.

The first thing is to choose the raw materials. The glutinous rice you choose must be the local small glutinous rice that was newly produced from late rice that year. If it is other varieties or aged rice, the taste and viscosity will be greatly reduced. The selected glutinous rice must be soaked in clean water the night before, so that the rice grains can be completely soaked. After the water is permeable, filter the water and steamed in a "wooden steamer".

The heat of steaming glutinous rice also requires good grasp, because it is easy to make the rice paste too wilt and not elastic; if it is not cooked thoroughly, the glutinous rice cakes will have half-baked rice hearts, which will affect the taste.

Therefore, the glutinous rice is cooked when it is nearly 90% mature, and then use the residual heat to make it cook thoroughly during the pounding process, so that it can produce rice mud with good elasticity and sufficient toughness.

The technique of beating glutinous rice is also very particular, because glutinous rice itself is very sticky. If it is not a person with good beating skills, it is easy to fight against wooden sticks and rice mud.

The wooden sticks in the hands of Lao Chen and Tan Xiaosong were flying up and down, and they were deeply impressed by the four-word tips of "fast, accurate, stable, and ruthless". Cen Jiahua was dazzled.

Every time the beating was like a dragonfly squinted, it was collected when touched. The wooden sticks in their hands did not stay in the stone mortar for too long. Cen Jiahua, who was standing aside, was surprised that Lao Chen and his two wooden sticks were beaten on the rice ball every time, and no time it was hit on the stone mortar itself.

Looking at the blue veins and white fingers on the two of Lao Chen's hands, Cen Jiahua knew that the two were not as relaxed as they showed on their faces. This work of making glutinous rice cakes is really a job that requires both skills and physical strength.

From beginning to end, the speed of Lao Chen and Tan Xiaosong did not change at all, and there was no situation of being fast or slow. This situation indicates that they both have extremely rich experience. If someone who does not know the skills comes to beat him, it is probably like a storm in front of him, and then he will be soft and powerless.

Gradually, the originally crystal clear glutinous rice grains slowly deformed under the constant beating of two oak sticks, losing their own characteristics and being confused. The mixed rice mud itself has a milky white, but it also emits a very crystal light, a bit like milk jelly.

Finally, Old Chen felt that it was almost done, so he stopped and leaned on the corner of the wall. Old Chen breathed a sigh of relief, wiped his sweat and said to Cen Jiahua: "This pounding rice cake is about one thing, and there is no pause in the middle. Once the rice mud is cold and has not been prepared, this pot will be considered useless."

The aunt Chen family, who had been waiting aside, hurriedly reached into the stone mortar with her hands soaked in cold water, dug out the rice mud that had been beaten into a ball, and put it into a porcelain basin that had been prepared.

After taking the basin to the table on one side, Aunt Chen cleverly pulled out a small ball of rice from the rice mud with both hands, pinched it for a while, then wrapped the prepared filling, and then threw the wrapped glutinous rice cake into a dustpan full of light purple powder.

Aunt Chen was wrapping the glutinous rice cakes and shouting: "Ayang, hurry up and make a glutinous rice cake for you Brother Jiahua to taste the taste."

Chen Yang, who had been impatient, heard this as an imperial edict, immediately threw it into the kitchen and took out a few pairs of bowls and chopsticks. Cen Jiahua took the small bowl containing a glutinous rice cake, picked it up with chopsticks, put it in his mouth and bit it.

The soft glutinous rice paste is very elastic. When it is put on, it is as elastic as QQ sugar. The layer of unknown powder wrapped on the outside tastes very much like beans, but it is not soybeans, and it has a very sweet taste.

After savoring it carefully, Cen Jiahua found that except for Aunt Chen, everyone was already eating.

"Uncle Chen, what raw material is this layer of powder wrapped outside?" After swallowing the glutinous rice in his mouth, Cen Jiahua began to become a curious baby.

"Haha, this is the purple beans that are locally specialty here. The taste is better than soybeans, but the output is very small and it is rarely sold on the market." Comrade Chen, who was on the other side, also had a lot of fun eating. After a long time of pause, he answered Cen Jiahua's words.

Cen Jiahua started to bite the filling in the second bite, and a stronger fragrance suddenly circulated in his mouth, and he was reluctant to dissipate for a long time. The crispy peanut kernels, refreshing diced winter cucumbers, sesame with a strange fragrance, and hot and soft glutinous rice intersected, and thousands of flavors gathered into two words - "delicious"!

Cen Jiahua, who was very edible, suddenly killed four fist-sized glutinous rice cakes, and then stopped this feast without any satisfaction. The main reason was that each glutinous rice cake was full of weight. After four, Cen Jiahua felt that his belly was almost about to burst.

After eating the glutinous rice cake and drinking a bowl of hot tea, Cen Jiahua felt that the weather seemed not so cold and her whole body was warm.

Sitting in the living room, Lao Chen told Cen Jiahua about the origin of this Double Happiness Festival and some of the significance of making glutinous rice cakes.

Since Brotar, the ancestor of the Zhuang people, set the Double Happiness Festival, every day, every household will kill chickens and ducks to worship their ancestors. Among them, this glutinous rice cake is an indispensable food in the sacrificial process, because glutinous rice represents a spirit of harvest and reunion. In addition, the sticky glutinous rice symbolizes people's hope for family affection, and love is like being stuck by glutinous rice and never separated.

There is a saying near Rongshu Village: "If you catch glutinous rice, you can't even get rid of it!" It tells this simple truth. Making glutinous rice cakes made of glutinous rice in the harvest season represents people's hope that the wealth in the coming year will be like a ghost catch glutinous rice, and you can't get rid of it again.

That night, Cen Jiahua had another big drink at the Chen family. The custom of drinking and drinking from the soup made the banquet scene more lively. Everyone could devote themselves to it and enjoy the joy brought by this year's harvest.

For Cen Jiahua, every time he was approached with some local folk activities at close range, he felt extremely fresh. He had never known that in the eyes of many people, he was poor and backward in the countryside, he actually had so much spiritual food.

Farmers can always express their beautiful vision for life and the future in a very simple and simple way, and show a positive attitude towards life. In this regard, it is a very strange phenomenon that city people with huge wealth can never do it.

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