Making sand cakes during festivals is an ancient custom of the Zhuang people. Ningming Sand Cake uses glutinous rice flour, sugar, sesame seeds, mung bean flour, lard, peanut oil, etc. as raw materials and is made using traditional techniques. It melts in the mouth and has the functions of nourishing the stomach, strengthening the spleen, improving eyesight and clearing the liver.
The memory of sand cakes started with the preparation of New Year goods for the Spring Festival. People who have been busy for a year rush back to their hometowns from all directions to unload more than a year of travel and fatigue, reunite with their families, and most importantly The topic is preparing rich new year goods. In my hometown in southwest Guangxi, there is a snack that has never been heard of in the north - sand cake.
Before the New Year, the families all came back, and the women gathered together to discuss the selection of ingredients for making sand cakes. This is a big project, and women have the most say at this time. Normally, the men who are the heads of the family can only obey the "dispatch". They often know which store has the best glutinous rice, which store has the most popular sesame seeds, and which store has the thickest bean paste.
During the southern winter tide, the sticky air makes people uncomfortable, but the women at home accurately calculate the time when the tide returns, wash the glutinous rice, dry it in the sun, heat the dried glutinous rice in a pan, and then Beat it into glutinous rice flour and spread it in the prepared mold. Leave it for a day and a half until the glutinous rice flour fully absorbs the excess moisture in the air and becomes soft. At this time, pour in the syrup, knead the glutinous rice flour and syrup evenly, and then compact it. , spread the seasoned sesame seeds or bean paste in the middle, continue to compact, spread layer by layer, layer by layer, what is put in is meticulous thought and love for the family.
Sand cakes, because the pronunciation of "cake" and "高" are the same, so Zhuang people like to give them as gifts to relatives and friends, which means that the standard of living is getting higher year by year. Bring sand cakes when visiting relatives and friends. , the recipient is naturally happy to receive it.