Big. Dragon. 
During the Spring Festival, the Hakka people make big rice cakes for the New Year, and the Hakka people in Hepu call it Da Long (yè). When it comes to the big cage, there is the "smell" of the New Year. Da Long is not a simple local snack, it is the exclusive New Year's flavor of Hepu people, the transmission of emotions of several generations, and the representative of local food culture.
In front of the camera is a local master who makes a big cage and is famous, and everyone calls her Ninth Sister. The Spring Festival is approaching, and three generations of their family are making big cages together. Da Long connects three generations together, and passes on the production skills of Da Long from generation to generation, hoping to keep this unique New Year's flavor.
spring
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Hepu Mansion Big Cage Production Master Nine Sisters
My mom used to make this big cage for us to eat. After I got married, every time I thought of this taste during the Chinese New Year, I saw that my husband had this firewood stove, so I thought about making it myself, so I asked my mother and asked her to teach me how to make it. When I first started making it, it was a souvenir made for visiting relatives and friends during the Chinese New Year, and they all gave it to relatives, and after they ate it, they all said that it was delicious, so they suggested that I could make it and sell it. I didn't want this traditional craft to disappear, in order to keep the flavor of this year, and in order to be able to take care of the elderly and children at home, I started to make this big cage sale.
The big cage is generally done after the twentieth day of the lunar month, the family population is large, but also to prepare in advance, do a lot of dozens of catties, in addition to eating by themselves, you can also give each other gifts to relatives and friends. With the Spring Festival approaching, the big cage business of the ninth sister's family has also begun to catch up, and many customers have come here.
Hepu resident Tang Fanglan
Da Long is the traditional food of our Hepu people to celebrate the New Year, which tastes soft and glutinous, sweet and QQ. The implication is that our work and life in the new year will be better and better, and the days will be happy and prosperous.
Strain a gauze bag into glutinous rice dough with moderate hardness and softness. The process of making the big cage is not complicated, but it is not easy to do. First of all, you need to choose high-quality glutinous rice, soak it for 4 to 6 hours, grind it into rice milk, and then filter it into a glutinous rice dough with moderate hardness and softness with a gauze bag.
The ninth sister told reporters that the large cage made from glutinous rice flour dough that has been beaten into rice milk and then drained will be more delicate than the large cage made directly from rice flour. In addition, in order to make the big cage delicious, it is also important to control the proportion of water, rice noodles, and sugar. The ratio of glutinous rice flour to water is two catties of rice flour and a bowl of water. The ratio of glutinous rice flour to sugar is eight taels of glutinous rice per catty, which is the popular taste.
In 2024, the taste will become stronger Hepu Mansion Big Cage Production Master The control of the heat of the ninth sister is also very important. At the beginning, we can cook on high heat, and when we cook to the back, we have to turn to low heat, because it is glutinous rice and sugar, which is easy to stick to the pan, so we should turn to low heat when we get to the back. But the fire can't be too small, if the fire is too small, if it can't be boiled, the dough will not form the whole shape when you put it in, when it is cooked, it will be scattered, and when it is cooked, it will not taste good and not bounce, you have to boil the water in the pot slowly when you cook, and then we will stir up the dough.
Compared with the other two steps, cooking is as skillful, and after the water in the pot is completely boiled, a layer of oil is applied around the steamer to make it easier to remove from the pot after cooking. In order to let everyone taste a more delicious big cage, it can be said that the ninth sister has done every process to the extreme.
Hepu Mansion Big Cage Production Master Nine Sisters
Start packing. After weighing, rub the big cage again, because the inside of the pot is hot, and when it comes up, it has those small bubbles in it. We just rub it and expel the bubbles inside, which can increase the toughness of the taste and the aesthetics. Because this big cage is made of pure glutinous rice, if you apply a little oil, it will look relatively smooth and not easy to stick.
The careful nine sisters will also stick a "Fu" word and put some red dates or sesame seeds on the big cage according to the needs of customers, the word "Fu" means good luck in the New Year, and red dates and sesame seeds mean that the days are prosperous, and there are thousands of children and grandchildren. Hepu people like Dalong, not only because of its deliciousness, but also because of its auspicious meaning.
Liu Zhonghuan, a distinguished expert of Beihai Federation of Social Sciences
Da Long is a kind of rice cake of our Hakka people, which was originally used to worship the god of the stove, and later became a traditional habit. In the new year, after we worship the god of the hearth, we hope that the wind and rain will be smooth, the family will be reunited, and our life will be better and better.