December 28th.
Christmas has just passed and the New Year is coming in the blink of an eye.
As soon as the sky brightened, the Yahoo Rangers who got up early began to decorate for the New Year in full swing.
According to Japanese customs, if you want to decorate for the New Year, you must avoid the 29th and 31st.
In Japanese, December 29th sounds similar to "二重苦" (double suffering), which is considered very unlucky by the Japanese.
December 31st is only one day away from the New Year, and it is unlucky to only display New Year decorations for one night.
Therefore, most parts of Japan start New Year decorations on December 28th or 30th.
December 28th has the number 8 in its name, which is considered a relatively auspicious number.
Early in the morning, the Yahoo Rangers got up early and cleaned the community office while decorating it with New Year decorations.
Shen Yun and Tidom were also busy, preparing to make rice cakes in advance.
The glutinous rice used to make rice cakes was purchased by Shen Yun through domestic channels. It was a batch of tribute-grade glutinous rice from Jiangnan. It was the tribute rice that had been supplied to the royal family since the Southern and Northern Dynasties.
"Making rice cakes~ I'm really looking forward to it!" Tidom was cleaning the stone mortar and wooden pestle, her pretty face full of anticipation.
"I miss it so much. When I was in junior high school in Kagoshima, the neighbors would hold a rice cake making event today, and then make the best rice cake into mirror cakes and offer them in the town. The winners would get a lot of rewards." Ohkawa Sae's cute face also showed a look of nostalgia.
She hasn't been back to her hometown for the New Year for two or three years.
Kagami rice cakes are round, flat cakes used to worship gods and are a representative auspicious decoration in Japanese New Year decorations.
The usual image is two round, flat rice cakes, one large and one small, stacked together with a tangerine on top.
Similarly, mirror cakes used to worship gods are mostly made on the 28th or before the 28th.
"Hey~ Is there such an event? I really want to participate!"
"If you have the chance in the future, Tidom can come to Kagoshima to play." Ohkawa Sae said with a smile.
Shen Yun listened to the conversation between the two people, but did not interrupt much. He just pushed the stone mill silently and ground the soaked glutinous rice into powder.
When making Japanese rice cakes, glutinous rice is usually not ground into powder. Instead, the glutinous rice is steamed directly and then poured into a stone mortar and pounded.
Chinese rice cakes are different. There are many steps to making them. First, you have to grind the glutinous rice flour, add water to mix the flour, sift it, put it on a sieve, and steam it. After the glutinous rice balls are steamed, you can start making the rice cakes.
"By the way, why does the doctor want to grind the glutinous rice into powder?" Ohkawa Sae asked while putting glutinous rice into the stone mill and curiously looking at Shen Yun who was grinding the glutinous rice into flour with the stone mill.
"This is how Chinese rice cakes are made. Just look forward to it." Shen Yun said with a smile.
"Chinese rice cake? Then I'll look forward to it." Tidom said with a smile.
Shen Yun's physical strength far exceeds that of ordinary people. He ground the dozens of kilograms of glutinous rice into glutinous rice flour in a short time.
Then, Shen Yun collected all the ground glutinous rice flour, and then stuffed two fine-mesh sieves into the hands of Tidom and Ohkawa Sae, saying:
"Tidom, White, please help me sift the glutinous rice flour."
"Huh? Sifting glutinous rice flour? Why is that?" Tidom looked curious.
"Because the rice flour ground by stone mill is somewhat uneven in coarseness, if you use glutinous rice flour to make rice cakes without sifting it, the toughness and taste of the rice cakes will be worse," Shen Yun explained.
When he was a child, the New Year atmosphere was still very strong. Every time he followed his parents back to his hometown to celebrate the New Year, the villagers in that brigade would get together to make rice cakes, and the atmosphere was really lively.
He had learned the steps just by watching.
Moreover, the children at that time did not have a mobile phone. Besides setting off firecrackers, what they liked most was watching the adults making rice cakes. They would even beg the adults to let them try it too.
However, making rice cakes requires skills, it is not as simple as it looks.
Children could hardly lift the wooden pestle for beating the rice cakes, let alone hitting them, which only made the adults burst into laughter.
"Oh, I see!" Tidom suddenly realized.
Tidom and Ohkawa Sae also took a sieve with a very fine mesh and sifted the ground glutinous rice flour carefully, sifting out all the particles in the glutinous rice flour, and the remaining glutinous rice flour became more delicate.
Then, Shen Yun mixed a certain proportion of hot water with some white sugar, poured it into the sifted glutinous rice flour, and stirred it with his hands to allow the glutinous rice flour to fully absorb water and become sticky.
Adding water to glutinous rice flour is also very particular. The water added should not be too much or too little, otherwise it will seriously affect the taste of the rice cake.
After the glutinous rice flour had fully absorbed the water, Shen Yun sifted the glutinous rice flour again, this time filtering out the non-sticky glutinous rice flour.
After doing all this, Shen Yun put the processed glutinous rice balls on the wooden sieve and steamed them.
"Okay, now we just have to wait for the glutinous rice balls to be steamed, and then we can start making rice cakes." Shen Yun said.
"Chinese rice cakes actually have so many more steps than Japanese rice cakes." Ohkawa Sae sighed.
"I'm looking forward to the taste of the rice cake." Tidom looked expectant.
The glutinous rice balls, after going through multiple processes, are quickly steamed.
After Shen Yun poured the steamed glutinous rice ball into the stone mortar, he picked up the wooden pestle and pounded it hard, making a dull "dong dong dong" sound.
"Tidom, don't just stand there, turn the glutinous rice over quickly, turn the ones at the bottom up, otherwise it won't be pounded when it gets cold." Shen Yun couldn't help but urge him when he saw Tidom squatting in front of the stone mortar, holding his cheeks with his hands, watching him pounding the glutinous rice with relish, with no intention of doing anything himself.
"Oh oh!" Tidom suddenly realized and reached out to turn over the steaming glutinous rice ball in the mortar.
"Are you stupid? Freshly cooked glutinous rice is very hot. Wet your hands with cold water so that you won't get burned easily." Shen Yun saw Tidom trying to turn the glutinous rice ball directly, so he quickly grabbed Tidom's wrist and said helplessly.
"Oh, I see." Tidom nodded and quickly fetched a basin of cold water and placed it at his feet.
After wetting his hands with cold water, Tidom reached out and turned the glutinous rice in the mortar over.
Even so, Tidom's fingertips were burned red by the steaming glutinous rice.
"Did you burn your hands?" Shen Yun asked while pounding the glutinous rice balls.
"No, no." Tidom waved his hand.
"That's good. Next, I'll just lift the wooden pestle, and you, Tidom, will turn the glutinous rice ball over, do you understand?" Shen Yun ordered.
"I understand!" Tidom was full of confidence.
"White, listen to my instructions. If I tell you to sprinkle water, you should sprinkle water to prevent the rice cakes from sticking to the stone mortar." Shen Yun looked at Ohkawa Sae again and said.
"Yes~" (End of this chapter)