Xuxu Temple Apo Rice Cake Introduction
People returning home to Xuhui always visit Shuntian Temple and find Grandma to enjoy a bowl of her rice flour cake with meat soup, easing their homesickness. Many people in Xuhui have been eating Grandma’s rice flour cake since elementary school. As they grow up and go away for education or work, they still bring their families back to enjoy it, telling the younger generations that this is the rice flour cake they have cherished since childhood, something they fondly remember even when away from home. Grandma Li Xie Ju Hua (born in 1939) was originally a farmer, selling groceries from a cart during off-seasons. A relative who operated a business in the market suggested she set up a stall there, making it less strenuous, which led her to start making and selling rice flour cakes. The ingredients for Grandma’s rice flour cake include scallions, fried scallions, salted eggs, pork, and non-glutinous rice. The preparation is as follows: 1. Sauté the pork, scallions, and fried scallions until fragrant, then set aside. 2. Grind the non-glutinous rice into a rice slurry and dilute it with boiling water. 3. Place the sautéed pork and salted eggs in a bowl, add the diluted rice slurry, and steam until cooked. Eating rice flour cake is typically accompanied by soup. Initially, Grandma’s soup was made with Nine-Mother Fish, but due to the scarcity of Nine-Mother Fish, she switched to meat soup. The preparation for meat soup involves blanching the pork and bok choy, boiling water with cornstarch, adding the blanched pork and bok choy, boiling again, and seasoning to taste. Meat soup noodles are served with boiled oil noodles in a bowl, and then...
