How to make mochi?

Mochi is the traditional rice 馃 for Yifeng, Tanshan, Tianbao, Tongan, Gulangyu, Huaqiao, etc. Mochi is made from local specialty glutinous rice. The grains are thick and short, and the viscosity is between glutinous rice and stalked rice. The mochi has the characteristics of soft but not sticky, good flavor and color, suitable for frying and cooking, and not greasy when full. First of all, the glutinous rice grinding white, clean, soak a day and a night, filtered and steamed, poured into the bamboo tray mixed with the right amount of alkaline water, rice into a golden yellow, steam the second time with a retort, on the atmosphere poured into the mortar, with bamboo (wood) rod pounded to no rice grains, when the surface is smooth, take out the rubbing strips, cut into long 8 inches long, 1 ? inches wide, 1 inch thick or so long, or fill in the patterned molds pressed into the shape of round patties, cooled down after drifting into the alkaline water. When eating, cut into slices, put into fresh soup and cook, add garlic, chili, soy sauce, monosodium glutamate and other seasonings, or boiled, fried in oil, mixed with sugar or salt can be. Do mochi must first soak the glutinous rice in water, to be swollen enough to amass all the drained, on the steam barrel after steaming, put in a stone mortar pounded into a ball after pounding, and then pulled into the thickness of the powder while hot, and then embedded in the filling. The time to make mochi for Qingming varies depending on the occasion. The earliest time to make mochi is three days after the vernal equinox for new graves. Making mochi requires a certain amount of manpower and labor. Therefore, it is common to meet with brothers, uncles or neighbors to make mochi together. Everyone shares the labor and each shows his or her hand, which is both hectic and lively. Young, strong men take turns pounding the mochi with a mortar and pestle (both sandalwood and stone), and one man is in charge of adding water while pounding.

The man who pounds the mochi sweats profusely, and the man who dismisses the mochi makes sizzling noises from time to time in the heat. The hostesses and the women who help them are also preparing the fire for steaming, preparing the back of the dough (bamboo fruits) for spreading the mochi, the panel, and adjusting the stuffing, etc. The most important part of the dismissing process is the dismissing of mochi. The main players here are the children, who crowd around the stone mortar to watch the fun and wait for the hot mochi. Older elders are also there, smoking cigarettes, drinking tea and laughing ......

There are many kinds of fillings used to embed mochi. There are bean paste, cowpeas, oil hemp, etc., but also according to personal taste with savory fillings or other mixed fillings, but also will be the mountain cotton green (Shaoxing said Ai) pre-chopped into minced and pounded into the green mochi. Mochi is also eaten in many ways, can be fried, can be fire-roasted ......