Chapter 339: Fat and White, Osmanthus Rice Cake (1)
If rice is soaked in water for a long time, it will absorb water and expand in volume.
And it will become extra soft.
Put it on your fingers and gently squeeze it, and it will turn into a sticky and gooey mess.
This kind of soaked rice will taste particularly bad.
That’s why my sister-in-law said that neither rice nor porridge tastes good.
If no one eats the food because it doesn’t taste good, it would be a waste and we would be heartbroken.
But Jiang Ning had her reasons for doing so.
"I don't cook rice or porridge, I use it to make cakes."
Rice, pastries?
Most of my sisters-in-law are from the north, and they either eat wheat or sorghum and corn.
For example, the pastries they are eating now are made of flour.
It was the first time they heard of using rice to make pastries.
If it was glutinous rice flour, perhaps it would be understandable.
But this rice that has been soaked in water and is almost rotten can actually be used to make pastries? ? ?
The sisters-in-law also looked confused.
At the same time, there is curiosity.
Over the past few days, Jiang Ning has always been able to create something refreshing and unprecedented.
What will it be this time?
Wang Chunxia was the most excited, her eyes shining, and asked curiously.
"Sister Ning, what delicious food are you going to make?"
Jiang Ning smiled and replied, "Osmanthus rice cake."
She also reminded Wang Chunxia, "Sister Chunxia, the raw material is just rice, and there is no need to add sugar. It will be soft after it is made, and you can chew it even if you don't have teeth. When the child is five or six months old, you can give it to him."
Upon hearing this, Wang Chunxia stood up and rubbed her hands excitedly.
Three words are written all over my body: I want to learn!
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The first step in making osmanthus rice cake is to soak the rice in water.
It can be as short as two or three hours or as long as overnight.
Jiang Ning had planned to make osmanthus rice cake a long time ago, so he soaked the rice the night before.
This step is to make the next step more convenient.
Because the second step is to grind the soaked rice into rice milk.
If it were decades later, if there was a blender at home, it would only take a few minutes to make it by just pressing a button on the machine.
But in this era, everything needs to be made by hand.
Jiangning used the most primitive stone mill.
The stone mill is very heavy, so the rice paste produced by grinding is more delicate.
The rice has been soaked and softened, so it is easier to turn the millstone.
Wang Chunxia wanted to help Jiang Ning, but was rejected by Jiang Ning.
"Sister Chunxia, although you are out of confinement, you still need to pay attention to what you need to do and take some more time to recuperate."
Wang Chunxia felt a little sore in her nose when she listened to this.
When she was in northern Shaanxi, she had seen too many women who were still working in the fields when they were eight or nine months pregnant, or who were forced to wash diapers on the third day after giving birth.
But since she became pregnant, Jiang Ning always remembered her status as a pregnant woman and took extra care of her.
Even if her mother were around, she might not be able to achieve such meticulousness.
As the millstone turns.
The milky white rice milk is ready.
Jiang Ning took a large basin and filled it with rice milk.
Then, according to a certain proportion, add some flour, yeast powder and a little bit of white sugar for flavoring into the rice milk.
Then mix the powder and rice milk together until there is no powder left.
Jiang Ning said as he stirred.
"In the past, when we made rice cakes in my hometown, we didn't use yeast powder. We used fermented glutinous rice. Especially the old fermented glutinous rice that had been fermented for a long time. When we added it to the rice cakes, it could not only be used for fermentation, but also give the rice paste a sour and sweet taste, which was especially delicious."
"You don't need to add too much sugar to the rice cake. Because rice contains maltose, during the fermentation process and with the action of some active enzymes, the sweetness of the maltose will naturally come out."
The sisters-in-law surrounding Jiang Ning watched her operate and listened to what she said.
I heard a completely unfamiliar word.
——Active enzyme.
"Mei? Sister Ning, what is mei? Coal? Or this rice milk? Do you think it looks good?"
Wang Chunxia asked with a puzzled look on her face.
She, the one who asked the question, completely stunned Jiang Ning, who was speaking.
For a moment I didn't understand what she meant.
Jiang Ning thought carefully about what she had just said, then he understood and continued to explain.
"Sisters, active enzymes - you can think of them as microorganisms -"
Speaking of this.
Jiang Ning paused again.
Microorganisms don't seem to be that easy to understand either.
Then treat it as a kind of——
Jiang Ning said, "Cells, cells, do you know?"
The sisters-in-law nodded, "I think I've heard of this."
"We humans are made up of many, many cells. Active enzymes are a type of cell. We have them in our mouths and stomachs. Active enzymes help us break down the food we eat. When they encounter different foods, many changes will occur."
"I didn't major in chemistry, so I don't really understand it. But there is a change in it. When the active enzyme meets rice, maltose is produced."
"For example, when we eat rice, we hold it in our mouths and take a few bites, and we can taste a little bit of sweetness. Many children eat slowly and hold a mouthful of rice in their mouths for a long time, which may also be due to this reason."
I listened to Jiang Ning explain so many truths in a simple and profound way.
The sisters-in-law seemed to understand what was said, but not quite.
But one thing I understand is that there is sugar in rice!
The other side.
Jiang Ning covers the stirred rice slurry with a towel to prevent it from drying out and to keep it warm.
The most suitable temperature for yeast powder to work is above fifteen degrees, and the temperature has been a bit low recently.
Fortunately it was daytime.
Jiang Ning chose a place with sunlight to put it.
It fermented like this for about half an hour.
By the time the towel was opened, the original rice paste had fermented to twice its size and produced some honeycomb tissue.
This is the fermented state.
Immediately following.
Continue stirring.
Stir out all the air in the honeycomb tissue.
This step looks similar to kneading dough.
However, rice milk remains in a liquid state from beginning to end and will not become dry like dough.
Next, pour the rice milk into a suitable container.
Jiang Ning selected a few small bowls and a few small wine glasses and poured the fermented rice milk into them.
Put it in a pot and steam it over high heat.
There is one last step before you put the lid on the pot.
Just put osmanthus flowers.
Jiang Ning sprinkled a little washed and dried osmanthus flowers into each container, placing them on the surface.
Everything is ready.
Turn on high heat and cover the lid.
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