Erkuai rice cake with infinite tastes
Editor's note: A share of grilled Erkuai can give rise to totally different tastes because it is matched with differed pastes or fillings. In serving a personalized Erkuai for breakfast, Zhong pasted a thin sauce layer on the steamy Erkuai, packed up the ordered condiments and roll up all tight.
Zhong Zhaoxian grills an Erkuai rice cake at her store in Kunming. (Chen Lu/Xinhua Net)
Erkuai rice cake with infinite tastes
Particular to Yunnan province, Erkuai is a rice cake that can be steamed, boiled or stir-fried, while the Erkuai grilled on charcoal fire or electric oven is especially favored by residents in Kunming city. Those who consume Erkuai regularly tend to have a fixed store to visit, and the seemingly plain and monotonous snack enrolls the diverse core flavors of each Erkuai store.
Zhong Zhaoxian got up at 6:00am. Having prepared potato slivers, fried eggs, boiled soybeans for milling the bean milk, Zhong went downstairs for business. In the tiny store, Zhong took on the steps with agility: water heat-up, ingredient layout, making fire and grilling Erkuai. During her proceedings, early diners in the city have come to the warm stove, waiting for nutritious Erkuai to fill their empty stomachs.
An Erkuai rice cake swells up at even heating. (Chen Lu/Xinhua Net)
Heating control holds the key in grilling Erkuai. The rice cake will easily get burned at high heat, while the gentle heat will be time consuming. In Erkuai grilling, the rice pieces need to be flipped constantly for even heat. When the surface turns slight brown and swells up, the Erkuai piece is basically ready, but the tasty ingredients are yet to be added.
“Sweet condiments or savory? Would you like some youtiao(strip of fried dough), sausage or egg?” A share of grilled Erkuai can give rise to totally different tastes because it is matched with differed pastes or fillings. Each Erkuai store has its unique sauces and condiments to cater for diverse needs of the diners. Therefore, Zhong is quite open-minded to the question of whether diners like her Erkuai or not. “Each diner has his or her own taste,” said Zhong. “The one who likes will come, and the one who dislikes will not.”
The lufu(fermented and salted tofu) to be pasteld on an Erkuai rice cake (Chen Lu/Xinhua Net)
Zhong Zhaoxian made all the condiments by herself, which can be basically divided into sweet and savory. The sweet condiment includes peanut butter, sesame paste and mushroom sauce, while the savory has mala sauce (mixture of red chili pepper, Sichuan pepper and salt), spicy sauce and lufu(fermented and salted tofu) paste. The additional toppings are fermented soya beans, preserved mustard, pickled vegetable, mushrooms, potato slivers and others. Taste buds of foodies fell into prey of the plain but carefully prepared flavors.
In serving a personalized Erkuai for breakfast, Zhong pasted a thin sauce layer on the steamy Erkuai, packed up the ordered condiments and roll up all tight. At a bite, the diner sensed the rice fragrance that blends well with other flavors of condiments. The enchanting tastes lingered on and on.
Zhong Zhaoxian serves a customer waiting for an Erkuai rice cake at her store in Kunming. (Chen Lu/Xinhua Net)
Reporting by Chen Lu; Trans-editing by Wang Shixue