Eating glutinous rice balls on the Lantern Festival has been customary. As for the range of eating glutinous rice balls? I'll have to check it out. 360 search now: Chengdu Lai Tangyuan, Sichuan Pengshui County Heart and Lung Tangyuan, Guizhou Xingyi Chicken Tangyuan, Shanghai Luosha Tangyuan, Ningbo Lard Tangyuan, Suzhou Five-color Tangyuan, Nanjing Yuhuashi Tangyuan, Beijing Lantern Festival, Shandong Sesame Jujube Paste Tangyuan, Northeast Rolling Lantern Festival, etc. In addition to ** and Xinjiang, most parts of the country have the custom of eating tangyuan during the Lantern Festival, but the varieties are different.
Half a month earlier in my family, I bought good rice balls on Dingdong, with three varieties of pork filling, bean paste filling, and sesame filling, and put them in the refrigerator for quick freezing. It is very convenient to take it out when you eat. Eat glutinous rice balls for breakfast. Bring the water to a boil, pour in the rice balls, turn on half a small heat, until the rice balls float on the water, then remove them. I tried all three varieties of glutinous rice balls. The pork filling is salty and fresh; The bean paste filling is rustling and glutinous; Sugar in the sesame filling, sweet. I like to eat pork stuffing, salty and umami, glutinous.
In the early days, my family also ate glutinous rice balls. These rice balls are made from glutinous rice. My mother carried a basket on her back, and about five catties of glutinous rice in the basket went to the machine port to grind glutinous rice flour, about a mile away. Generally, on the 14th day of the first lunar month, I go to grind flour in the morning and make glutinous rice balls in the afternoon. We call it a ball here. Kneading powder is a hard work, I lay my hands on the side, add water and powder, etc. The ratio of water and powder is generally inaccurate. Sometimes it is too dry, so you have to add more water; Sometimes it's too bad, so you have to add powder. It's not a good performance at one time, try and try, back and forth, several rounds, it's just right. Mothers often use so much force that they have to take off a coat. We don't put any stuffing in the balls, so we knead them with white flour, which is about the size of a cherry. My mother kneaded the glutinous rice flour into long strips and pinched it into small sections, and I kneaded the glutinous rice flour into a circle in my palm. At a time, two or three at the same time can also be rubbed. Knead the balls and scatter them in a small round plaque and sprinkle a layer of powder in advance to prevent sticking.
On the morning of the Lantern Festival, sweet balls are eaten, which means sweet and sweet, and reunion. Of course, there is no sugar to put it, it is saccharin. Two cents a pack, about one tael, put a little bit is already very sweet. Each person eats more than ten balls, and the mother divides them one bowl at a time, and eats the balls randomly. Green vegetable balls are also a good choice, the balls are boiled first, and then boiled until almost cooked before adding the greens. Otherwise, it is not delicious to boil the vegetables. In order to save firewood, my mother often steamed it to eat, and it was also chewy. During the Lantern Festival, the farm work has already begun, and we children are also mowing grass in the fields. After labor, go home and eat green vegetable balls, or pickle ball balls, and have a bowl when you are hungry. It feels like a fairy! These five catties of glutinous rice noodles, the home of nine people, were eaten in less than two days. Eat balls, you have to serve it hot, it won't taste good when it's cold. Snort, sneer, snort, snort, snort, sneer
Today, I saw in the circle of friends that some people add eggs to the rice balls, some people add longan, some people add red dates, some people add osmanthus, some people add wine, and some people mix carrot juice, dragon juice, spinach juice, etc. when kneading the flour to become colorful rice balls, and the fillings inside are also everything. I'm drooling when I see it.
What a blessing it is to live in this day and age! So even though you are retired, you must take care of your health. Even for this glutinous rice ball, you have to live well.
Feb 24, 2024 Lantern Festival.