A wild hand in Tainan Township: the good taste of a Mammy in Jingliao

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Among the many traditional snacks, "taro" is the taste that many people remember when they were young. Although you can still see it occasionally in the traditional market in the urban area, you always feel that what is bought in the market is less, which flavor is missing? Think about it is probably the smell of grandma.

Originally, I was just going to Jingliao to visit Grandma Ah Xue, but two days ago, it came from the other end of the phone that the grandmothers wanted to make an impression together. I decided to leave early, which is my favorite food. On that day, as soon as I arrived at my mother's long house (my mother's classroom monitor, the country referred to as "mother long" for short), the car was parked, and a group of aunt-level ladies were busy with all hands and feet, and there were already a lot of taros waiting to be steamed on the table.

In the early days in the countryside, when a large family lived together, men went out to farm early in the morning, and most of the kitchen foot work was carried out by the mother, wife and daughter, large and small family chores. On the day of traditional festivals, the good taste of this tradition was naturally passed down, but now that the young and middle-aged population in the countryside has moved out and the grandmothers have fewer hands, the members of the mother's classroom play the role of taking care of and supporting each other. We have a tacit understanding to knead glutinous rice balls separately, weigh them to shape, burn pots, steam and knead until their hands are sore, and another grandma will take over. If you need a cry for help, someone will make it up automatically, orderly in the chaos, and hands and feet very quickly.

In the countryside, taro stuffing varies from place to place in taste, appearance and stuffing. I grew up in Taichung. Taro curls in the middle are usually round and oval. This time in Jingliao, the shape is a bit like a string moon, but I think it is more like a Zizania caduciflora cup. Grandma said that the traditional shape is like that. Shang Tian is on the eve of the Mid-Autumn Festival, and the finished taro curls can worship their ancestors and worship their ancestors, and they can also be tasted for their children and grandchildren who are about to return to their hometown for reunion. So the grandmothers made a lot of things, and if they were piled together, they would be like a hill, so abundant.

Maybe the grandmothers were a little shy when they saw the rare young people coming, but after asking one or two questions, the grandmothers began to laugh enthusiastically while answering questions. I guess they laughed because they thought, "Why do you ask such a simple question?"

The following is a simple picture to share with you the record of the production process of Mammy Jing Liao:

First, stir-fry shredded taro, shiitake mushrooms, shallots, minced meat, glutinous rice paste, glutinous rice flour, and dried shrimp. (grandma: after all the ingredients are cooked, add shredded taro and stir-fry until half-cooked. Cooked shredded taro is easy to be soft and inconvenient for kneading later; in addition, fried shredded taro is easy to ripen and lose its taste if it goes through the steaming process.)

Mix a certain proportion of glutinous rice pulp and glutinous rice flour evenly, add "fried rice cloth", slowly shape the glutinous rice ball, and add the stir-fried material to complete the basic material.

The taro dumplings are weighed one by one into small pieces (3 to 4 taels), then molded into a cup shape and placed on the oiled banana leaves, which can be steamed and cooked, and the fragrant and Q taro curls are out of the oven!

Fried cloth: just cook a few glutinous rice balls first.

Grandma still has a strong hand.

Add fried ingredients and knead.

The fragrant and Q taro is out of the oven!

After the work was finished, everyone went home with the assigned taro, and his mother said in a loud voice, "Don't forget to come back after noon to clean up together!" The grandmothers rode their bicycles through the alleys in the countryside and disappeared. They were in a hurry to go home and cook and wait for grandson to come back.

Before the Spring Festival when I was a child, Mammy would summon everyone to go back to their hometown and get together to make sweet rice cakes. It was cold in winter and nestled at the foot of the courtyard kitchen, kneading dough while keeping warm. I miss that warm scene. Although the weather is hot this time, seeing the scene I haven't seen for a long time really gives people the illusion of going back to Mammy's house.

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