Koshiki (甑, zèng. In the Middle Of the Guanzhong, it is pronounced zìng and jìng. It is a traditional snack unique to Xi'an and Guanzhong regions, made from glutinous rice, red dates or dates, and red beans on iron dumplings.
Koshiki snacks have a long history. Koshiki is a very ancient steamer in ancient China, there are pottery, copper, wood, iron, etc., after the folk inheritance, the iron koshiki has been preserved to this day, and the steamed sticky cake with it also has a unique flavor.
As the name suggests, "Koshiki cake" is a "cake" made of red dates and glutinous rice as raw materials, steamed with "koshiki", hence the name. The rice and dates blend, the old and the young are salty, rich in nutrition, strong tonic, fresh in color, soft and sticky and sweet, fragrant and fragrant, long-term food, unique flavor.
Koshiki cake is a flavor snack from the Guanzhong region. The quality of the steamed pottery is the best. The raw materials of the koshiki cake are jiang rice (traditionally Wuxi glutinous rice), jujube (the best with Lingbao maotou jujube), the proportion of which is 10 kg per pot of jiang rice, 3 kg of jujube soaked rice, filling, adding water and fire gong, etc., all have strict requirements.
Koshiki cake, all kinds of good, soft and hard moderate, soft and sweet sticky, mellow taste, is a good winter and spring breakfast.
The antiquity of koshiki cake is first manifested in its cooking utensils, which are steamed using a koshi pot that evolved from the oldest steamer, "Koshiki", which is why it got its name. The quality of the steamed pottery is the best.
Dating back to the "Banpo Museum" in Xi'an, about 6,000 years ago, the Banpo people began to use pottery "koshiki" containers to steam food. The koshiki of "koshiki cake" is a metal product, and the principle is exactly the same as that of Banpo pottery.
Craftsmen demonstrate the traditional method of koshiki cake, which involves soaking rice and choosing dates. Six ripe sticky rice are steamed, moved to the koshiki to lay a layer of dates, a layer of rice, then steamed for a few hours on low heat, and finally simmered for several hours over an ember. When it comes out of the pot, it is a sweet and soft koshiki cake.
This pot of koshiki cake is a magical delicacy that has lasted for 6,000 years.
Learn about the history and appreciate the mellowness of the taste!
Koshiki
Koshiki is a container with a small hole in the bottom. According to legend, koshiki has been produced in the late primitive society, and in the Neolithic age there was tao, the Shang and Zhou dynasties developed into bronze casting, after the iron was produced, it became iron koshiki, and now it is also welded with white iron leaves. The steamed cakes are of the best quality.
It was already produced in the late primitive society, and in the Neolithic Era there was a pottery, and during the Shang and Zhou Dynasties, it developed into copper koshiki, and later became iron. Since then, the cookware of iron koshiki has been passed down from generation to generation and has been passed down to this day. This iron retort is shaped like a cylinder and has many small breathable holes at the bottom.
The ingredients for Xi'an koshiki cake are glutinous rice and red dates. The proportion is: 65% of glutinous rice and 35% of red dates. The production technique is more unique, especially to master several links such as soaking rice, loading, adding water and fire. To make the cake, you must be able to steam, but also to shovel, will be put on the plate, with a special spatula to shovel the cake to the jujube rice blend, red and white, into the dish, such as amber, like gelatin, tempting appetite.
Selling koshiki cake is a technical job, skilled old sellers will use a small shovel to properly integrate "rice", "jujube" and "bean", and eat a bite that has both jujube aroma, rice flavor, and the soft taste of beans. If it is a novice with the same pot of koshiki cakes, it will sell "backfire".
Note:
1, the cake needs to be eaten when it is hot, because glutinous rice is mainly amylopectin, easy to digest when hot, but if it cools down, it will become a lump, amylopectin hugging, digestive juice is not good to enter the inside of the food group, not good to digest. 2, diabetic patients need to pay attention to, can not eat more, because whether it is glutinous rice or jujube, the sugar content is not low, for blood sugar control will have a certain impact. 3. Although the cake is a snack, the energy is relatively high, so we usually need to treat it as a staple food.
Koshiki cake is generally eaten as breakfast, and it is opened before dawn, basically in the form of "roadside stalls", which are open until about 10 o'clock in the morning, and they are sold out.
Most of the diners eat standing up, and there are also old Shaanxi characteristics, which are "squatting" to eat. In short, eating phases is informal.
Due to the rich nutrition of red dates and glutinous rice, the cake is well received by consumers from all walks of life. At that time, General Feng Yuxiang praised "Xi'an Dumpling Cake" as "the swallow dish of the civilian class". Xi'an and Guanzhong held meetings and ate more koshiki cakes early. Villagers rush to the meeting to eat a plate of koshiki cakes to make a point; when they return, they buy one or two plates, wrapped in tiger skin leaves, and take them home for their families to share in the blessings.
A bubble of rice, rice is glutinous rice, water is water, soak a dip, the heart of the rice is soaked, washed several times, to foam, drain the water.
The second coat, first dates, raisins, and then rice, one layer after another, one layer more than the other, and finally a layer of red dates (dates) and raisins are topped.
Three-fire work, generally steamed on a high fire for about two hours, then switched to slow fire and steamed for another five or six hours.
Four add water, one is to add warm water to the jujube rice in the pot, so that the jujube rice blends, and the other is to add cold water to the large pot from the venting port, so that the hot gas generated in the pot is flushed into the pot.
When steaming the cake, place the koshiki on a large pot, add water to the pot, and spread the soaked glutinous rice and red dates on the bottom of the koshiki. Specifically, it is necessary to lay one layer of red dates first, and then lay a layer of glutinous rice, so that one layer is sandwiched between one layer, and a total of seven layers (three layers of rice and four layers of dates) are laid. Cover with a damp cloth and lid. Boil over high heat, take a damp cloth and sprinkle with water after steaming, sprinkle the water three times repeatedly, and finally simmer over low heat, which can be steamed after five or six hours.
The cake produced in this way is not only soft and hard in a moderate manner, but also has a fresh color, which is sticky and delicious to eat, and the taste is particularly beautiful.
Although the steamed cake is large, the cake is soft and delicate. This dessert snack is steamed with glutinous rice, cloud beans and red dates, and when steamed, you can smell the unique aroma of glutinous rice. The cake is also very beautiful, the lower layer of white rice seeps into the jujube color, showing a crystal bright crimson color, a layer of cloud beans on the top, the brown color of coffee, and then the upper layer is the red dates, which have long rotted into dark red date paste, and the vendors sprinkle a layer of turquoise raisins on the date mud, and the color of the cake is richer and more distinct. It tastes good, sticky and sweet, and the heat is large. Especially in autumn and winter, the streets and alleys of Xi'an City are full of dumplings, and many office workers also regard koshiki cakes as an indispensable breakfast.