Xi'an people's breakfast has always been based on carbs, the form is also relatively uniform, whether it is peppery soup or beef cake, or the time bun dish and steamed buns, early in the morning can make people eat full of spirit, these breakfasts are loved by Xi'an people. Of course, there is no shortage of "small fresh" such as tofu brain and oil tea twist flower as a spice.
However, if you want to treat dessert as breakfast, all Xi'an people will definitely answer in unison - "koshiki cake".
This dessert as an early breakfast seems simple in fact, but it also has a lot of beginnings, has always been a representative of the streets and alleys, and has never entered the menu of a large hotel before, but it is a lot of Xi'an wa from snacks to large delicacies, which can be said to be an inseparable feeling.
Up to now, Xi'an people will stubbornly call this dish according to their own name, even in various encyclopedias, this dish has its own official name: the koshiki officially calls it "zeng gao", but the Xi'an people have always knowingly called it "jing gao".
<h1 class= "pgc-h-arrow-right" > food with a story</h1>
Speaking of the history of koshiki cake, it is also a long history, and the cooking utensils used to make koshiki cake are also very powerful, and the koshi cake is made by using an appliance called "koshiki":
Koshiki is an ancient cooking utensil with a small hole in the bottom that can be placed on the pot to steam food, which is called "Lingbao" in ancient times, commonly known as Jinzi, so the koshi cake is also called Jin Cake. Koshiki has been produced in the late primitive society, and in the Neolithic Age, there was a pottery, the Shang and Zhou Dynasties developed into copper koshiki, and later became iron, since then, the cookware of iron koshi has been passed down from generation to generation and has been passed down to this day.
The same is now used to make koshiki, which is shaped like a cylinder and has many small breathable holes at the bottom.
Koshiki
Named for its cooking utensils, it can be seen that this delicacy was born from the crystallization of the wisdom of working people, and the origin of the koshiki cake has also been recorded for a long time: more than 3,000 years ago, during the Western Zhou Dynasty, only the son of heaven could enjoy a court dish "chauffet powder" is the predecessor of the koshi cake, and the "Zhou Li • Tiangong" has a record of "the food of shame and food" of the rice cake.
"Flour fins" are cakes made by steaming bean paste (called bean crumbs in ancient times) to glutinous rice flour. The pre-Qin "powder fin" was a cake steamed with bean paste in glutinous rice flour, and did not put dates, and it was only in the Tang Dynasty that it developed into jujube rice steaming. In the Tang Dynasty, Wei Juyuan feasted on Emperor Zhongzong's "Burning Tail Feast" in which the "Crystal Dragon and Phoenix Cake" was in the same vein as the current Koshiki Cake.
Since the Tang and Song dynasties, with the improvement of cooking skills, there have been more and more cake foods, including wheat noodles, rice noodles, beans and vegetables and fruits. Various pastries have also become the common delicacies of ordinary people, so they are particularly careful in distinguishing the types, and since then, there have been dozens of kinds of cakes in terms of shape and taste, and each cake has its own name. Some are named after the ingredients, some are named after the shape, and the koshiki cake is named after the unique cooking utensils, and because it takes a lot of energy to make, the spread is not widespread, only preserved in the Guanzhong region and continues to this day, which also makes the cake a unique delicacy in Shaanxi, especially in the Guanzhong region.
Nowadays, this dish is all over every vegetable market and morning market in Xi'an, and the small portion can be bought for only about 3 yuan, and everyone is usually accustomed to it, but they did not expect that one day it would become a representative of Shaanxi cuisine and "famous", and the "famous" about the cake was inseparable from the previous well-known popular TV series - "That Year the Flower Bloomed and the Moon Was Round".
Naturally, there is no need to say more about this drama, the superb acting skills of several actors will flexibly show the life of Zhou Ying, the legendary female richest woman in Shaanxi, to the national audience, and the first delicacy that appears at the beginning of the story is this humble koshiki, which has also become the key point of the plot twist. In the play, Sun Li ran to the koshiki with joy and excitement, but the appearance of Xi'an Wa when she saw the koshiki cake when she was a child. Because of this drama, more people have learned about Shaanxi cuisine, and also let xi'an catch up with xi'an as a "net red" city, which has suddenly become a "hot" food on the Internet, attracting many "foodies" to come and find out.
Of course, many people are also curious about how such a delicious snack is made. Seemingly simple koshiki cake, in terms of method, it is quite "not simple".
<h1 class="pgc-h-arrow-right" > the process of making koshiki cakes</h1>
In terms of production technology, koshiki is not only a technical job, but also a big project that tests people's patience and perseverance. Although there are now vendors selling koshiki cakes on the market abound, but the picky Xi'an foodies have extra strict requirements for koshiki cakes, and they will naturally patronize delicious koshiki cakes from time to time, but when they encounter insufficient materials or the nature of not being able to wait for home, they will not patronize again, and in this process, many "indiscriminate" shops have been eliminated, so that many old shops have become "food punch card attractions" in people's hearts.
Can make a good pot of delicious koshiki cake, natural requirements for craftsmanship are also particularly strict, the usual ingredients are glutinous rice (the traditional use of Wuxi glutinous rice, there are also many merchants used in the river rice), dates, red beans, raisins. The koshiki cake has a fixed specification size, according to the proportion of 10 kg of glutinous rice per pot, 3 kg of jujube, the rest of the accessories are added according to the situation; each process of production has strict requirements, one of which can not be done will affect the final taste and taste, in Xi'an many cake masters are up in the middle of the night to start making, in order to catch the early morning to bring fresh hot koshi cake to every diner.
How to judge a good koshiki cake? We must grasp these "four levels":
Soaking rice: Soak glutinous rice in water, soak the rice heart for a while, and then wash it several times to remove the foam and drain the water.
Loading: first put red dates, raisins, and then lay a layer of rice, and then in the same operation, one layer is more than one layer, and finally a layer of dates or red beans is laid on top.
Heat: Usually steaming on high heat for about two hours, and then using slow heat steaming for five to six hours (this is extremely important, if the heat is not enough or the heat is too hot, a pot of koshiki cake will be wasted, which is also the strict place where the koshiki cake is made).
Add water: one is to warm the jujube rice in the pot, so that the date rice blends, and the other is to add cold water to the large pot from the vent, so that the hot gas generated in the pot is rushed into the pot.
Xi'an Dumpling Cake, with the best taste of Huimin Street Dumpling Cake, is concentrated here by many well-known vendors, as well as many famous shops rooted here, attracting thousands of diners every year. And to make koshiki cake not only to be steamed, but also to shovel, Xi'an people buy koshiki cake will use a disposable fast food box to eat, and the master who sells koshiki cake will use a special spatula to shovel the dates and rice in the koshiki cake into the lunch box, if you like more dates or more beans can be requested, the master will also do matching according to your taste, a delicious koshiki cake red and white, color like amber, let people appetite.
Eating koshiki cakes in fast food boxes is also a major feature of Xi'an
The above method is the most traditional koshiki cake making method, although it is only a few simple steps, but it can also be seen that it is very exquisite, making a good pot of koshiki cake, is the need for great patience and concentration, so in this production process will eliminate a lot of people who want to make quick money through this craft, after all, in this era of "fast consumption", few people can spend more than ten hours a day to focus on doing a thing, not to mention the need to get up in the middle of the night to make a pot of koshiki cake.
The cake made by traditional methods is soft and hard in moderation and fresh in color, sweet but not greasy to eat, and moderately sticky and sweet. And some opportunistic vendors will later add sugar to enhance the taste, in the eating of quite exquisite Xi'an people for the cake on the "added" thing is extremely unrecognizable, and this can also be used as a cake delicious or not delicious judgment criteria, the real delicious cake sweetness is from the red beans, dates, raisins and glutinous rice itself fragrance, can be passed down the food must be because of its own characteristics rather than packaging, which is one of the reasons why people love it.
There are also many "relatives" of koshiki in Xi'an.
<h1 class= "pgc-h-arrow-right" > the cake and the mirror cake are silly and unclear</h1>
The so-called mirror cake is not the same as the koshiki cake
Many people come to Xi'an to taste this delicacy after watching the TV series, but I often see some people holding "koshi cakes" that are not koshiki cakes in many video websites but mistakenly think that it is koshiki cakes (the words are a bit tongue-twisting), and here I also make a simple distinction for everyone:
In Xi'an in addition to the cake, there is also a kind of food known as "mirror cake", usually with rose sauce to eat, there are often colorful patterns on it, also known as "rose mirror cake", and mirror cake and koshiki cake although similar but two different foods, many tourists come to Xi'an once, mistakenly "mirror cake" as "koshiki cake". Of course, mirror cake is also one of the snacks with Shaanxi characteristics, Xi'an also once had a "mirror cake grandfather" for thirty years in the street to sell mirror cake, many young people are eating his mirror cake growing up.
There are many varieties of pastries and snacks on the shop (that is, Huimin Street), such as osmanthus cake, honey cold cake are also soft and delicious delicious pastries, if you come to Xi'an, as long as the stomach can be put down, you may wish to buy and taste, the price is not expensive and rich in local traditional characteristics, eat a bite to make your trip full of sweet taste.
Honey cold cake, sometimes served with rose sauce
Shaanxi cuisine is mostly noodles, famous like cheek noodles, pulled noodles, dry mix noodles, etc., a bowl of noodles with cheeks, plus oil spicy seeds on the clove of raw garlic, that is the impression of Shaanxi cuisine, at the same time, northwestern people also love sour, spicy, fragrant and other delicacies.
When it comes to desserts, more people will think of southern regions such as Guangdong, and the rich and exquisite desserts in tea restaurants are addictive. Located in the northwest of Xi'an, there are only a few famous desserts, but what can be handed down is not a generalist, such a seemingly inconspicuous but full of taste of food like koshi cake has become everyone's favorite, those who can be named to sell koshi cake boss is also the leader of this industry, of course, people who can make such a delicacy are also the results of decades of persistence, many people are like the sweeping monks in the "Tianlong Eight Parts" as seemingly inconspicuous but are the industry's few "big coffee".
unbelief? You can go to the Golden Bridge early in the morning to see.
<h1 class= "pgc-h-arrow-right" > where the koshiki cake is delicious</h1>
The above-mentioned pastry dishes in Xi'an are more famous and common, but I still recommend koshiki cakes.
As a breakfast that Xi'an people love, there must be so many "childhood memory tastes" in people's reputation, koshi cake is not strictly speaking halal food, but most of the delicious koshi cakes in Xi'an are gathered in Muslim street: like the "Fat Dumpling Cake" and "Liu Zhibin Koshi Cake" in Shangjinqiao, the "An Shou Zhong" of Dapiyuan and the "MaJia" of Miaohou Street, etc. are the favorites of many locals, of course, there is the most famous "Southeast Asian Koshi Cake", and you can often see many tourists queuing up to buy his family's Koshi Cake. That scene was comparable to the Spring Festival.
These famous shops or stalls are concentrated in the mill, so the mill has also become a must-have place for many people to eat and look for delicious koshiki cakes, but Xi'an's delicious koshi cakes are not only present in the mill, many communities will have vendors selling koshiki cakes downstairs, especially those who are very old family homes, for those who live there, the koshi cake stalls are also ordinary and can no longer be ordinary: a tricycle frame can be sold in a large pot, and people can eat delicious koshiki cakes every morning.
Come to Xi'an tourism, if conditions permit, go to the workshop to taste there is nothing wrong, there is really no time, ask where you live near the morning market on the line, there will inevitably be koshi cake stall owners operating there, most of the taste will not be bad. And like Xi'an's well-known food gathering place "Yongxingfang", "Yuanjia Village" also have dumplings, the taste and we usually eat is not much different, if you can't go to Muslim Street, here to taste is also a good choice.
With the increase in the popularity of koshiki, many large restaurants also have this dish on the menu, and the plate is much better than the koshi cake on the early stalls, but the taste is not as good as that of the small vendors. Koshiki cake is a snack that belongs to the streets and alleys, is part of Xi'anwa's childhood memories, although the street is now full of popular food, but the persistence and persistence of the master in making koshiki cake in childhood is not the exquisite plate in the restaurant can replace. Our love for koshiki cake is not only the attachment to these two words, but also the feelings and love behind this delicacy, simple and unpretentious but real, just like the character of Lao Shaan.
< h1 class="pgc-h-arrow-right" > postscript</h1>
Growing up, many classic delicacies are hard to find, but thankfully there are still many delicacies that have survived and become memories of the era of scarcity in our childhood. These delicacies are not only the taste and appearance they present, but also the memories that we have forgotten in our growth.
A simple snack made people remember Xi'an, and it has also become the nostalgia and continuous love of countless post-80s and post-90s children who have grown up to their hometowns.