Eating glutinous rice balls during the Spring Festival

　　It is said that glutinous rice balls originated in the Song Dynasty. At that time, a novel food became popular in various places, which was filled with various fruit baits, and the outside was rolled into balls with glutinous rice flour. After being cooked, it tasted sweet, delicious and interesting. Because this kind of glutinous rice ball floats and sinks when cooked in a pot, it was first called "Floating Yuanzi". Later, in some areas, "Floating Yuanzi" was renamed Yuanxiao. Most southern families have the traditional custom of gathering together as a family and eating glutinous rice balls on the morning of the Spring Festival. It is said that the Lantern Festival symbolizes family reunion, and eating the Lantern Festival means family happiness and all the best in the new year.

　　Special glutinous rice balls from various places

　　Ningbo lard dumplings

　　According to research, it began in the Song and Yuan Dynasties and has a history of more than 700 years. It uses first-grade glutinous rice, which is abundant in the local area, ground into powder to make the skin. Remove tendons and membrane from lard suet, chop into pieces, put in a basin, add sugar and sesame powder, mix well and knead thoroughly, then knead into small balls with lard and sesame filling. Grind the flour with water, mix and knead it into a smooth dough, shape it into a wine cup shape, add the stuffing center, close and shape into a ball. Bring the water in the pot to a boil, add the gnocchi and cook for three minutes. When the gnocchi floats, add a small amount of cold water and push it with a spoon to prevent it from sticking to the pot. Cook for a while. When the filling is mature and the skin of the dumpling becomes jade-colored and shiny, ladle the soup into a bowl, add sugar, and sprinkle with sweet-scented osmanthus. Serve. The lard dumplings are stuffed with delicate and pure soft white sugar, black sesame seeds and high-quality lard suet. The dumpling skin is thin and slippery, as white as mutton fat, and shiny. It has the characteristics of fragrant, sweet, fresh, smooth and waxy. When you bite into the skin, the aroma of oil overflows, waxy but not sticky, fresh and delicious, which is amazing.

　　Guangdong Chaoshan four-style glutinous rice balls

　　First, boil or steam mung beans, red beans, candied winter melon, and taro respectively, peel them, add sugar, sesame seeds, cooked lard and other seasonings to make four kinds of sweet fillings. Wrap the glutinous rice balls with four different fillings and mark them. Boil four kinds of glutinous rice balls in water with sugar. Each bowl contains one glutinous rice ball with different fillings. It is characterized by softness, smoothness and delicate texture, with four different flavors.

　　Shandong sesame and jujube glutinous rice balls

　　First, boil the red dates, remove the cores and mash them into a puree, remove the pork suet film and smash them with a knife. Add the two and add white sugar to form a filling. Mix it with water-milled glutinous rice flour to make small glutinous rice balls. Stir-fry the sesame seeds and grind the white fine sugar into fine powder to make fried noodles. Roll the cooked small glutinous rice balls in the fried noodles. They will be oily and soft when eaten.

　　Shanghai Leisha Rice Balls, Wine Rice Balls, Yuhua Stone Rice Balls

　　Lesha Tangyuan is a famous snack in Shanghai with a history of more than 70 years. It is made by boiling and grinding Dahongpao adzuki beans, boiling stuffed glutinous rice balls, and rolling bean paste on the outside. It is characterized by its beautiful shape, bright color, and pleasant bean aroma. In the past, a clay pot with rhombus-shaped inner walls was used first, and then a hard pomegranate wood was used as a "pulling stick" for grinding the powder slurry. Roasted dried beans, such as peanuts, sesame or soybeans, were put into the sand pot and grinded into powdery "fragrant sand." Shanghai Man Yuan Chun Jiu Niang Tang Yuan uses fine glutinous rice flour as raw material, and is placed in a round bamboo plaque while sprinkling water while rotating, and gradually rolled into green glutinous rice balls. Put it into the rice wine soup pot, add sugar and osmanthus and cook. The characteristics of this glutinous rice dumpling are soft and glutinous, strong fermentation flavor, sweet and sour taste, and attractive fragrance. Yuhuashi is a glutinous rice ball that looks like Yuhuashi. It has a soft thin skin and a thick matcha filling. It tastes as smooth as Japanese strawberry. The most rare thing is that the thin skin can still have patterns like rain flower stones.

　　Hunan Changsha sisters glutinous rice balls

　　A famous snack in a restaurant in Changsha with a history of more than 60 years. It is named after the two Jiang sisters who ran this food in the early years. The method of making it is to grind glutinous rice and rice, use powder to make the skin, and use jujube paste, sugar, and sweet-scented osmanthus as filling. Its color is snow-white, crystal clear, small and exquisite, and sweet and delicious.

　　Guizhou Xingyi Chicken Rice Balls

　　In the eyes of people who are used to sweet glutinous rice balls, chicken glutinous rice balls are a bit strange. Xingyi's chicken glutinous rice balls are stuffed with chicken, filled with chicken soup and topped with peanut sauce. Extraordinarily delicious and unique!

　　Chengdu Lai Tangyuan

　　At the beginning of the last century, Lai Yuanxin, a native of Jianyang, went to Chengdu to sell glutinous rice balls. Because the glutinous rice balls were of good quality and delicious, people called him "Lai Tangyuan". The glutinous rice balls are made from the finest glutinous rice flour and mixed with water, then wrapped with a filling made of sesame seeds, white sugar and melted lard. The characteristics of this glutinous rice dumpling are sweet and smooth, fat but not greasy, glutinous but not sticky.

　　Suzhou five-color glutinous rice balls

　　Located in Wumen Rice Noodle Shop in Suzhou, it uses a combination of glutinous and japonica rice noodles. It is wrapped in five colors of glutinous rice and stuffed with five kinds of fillings including fresh meat, rose lard, bean paste, sesame, and osmanthus lard. It is sweet and salty and colorful. It is a popular Jiangnan flavor.

　　Hainan Chicken Shit Teng Rice Balls

　　Chicken vine is a leafy vine plant that grows under humid tropical bushes. It can be used as medicine. It has the effects of clearing away heat, anti-inflammatory, detoxifying, moistening the lungs and refreshing the brain. Folks call it soil ginseng. This plant can also be used to make delicious food. Chicken shit and rattan glutinous rice balls are a unique snack in Sanya. The leaves of chicken shit vine have long tips and resemble Andrographis paniculata leaves, but the leaves are thinner than Andrographis paniculata. The leaves grow with the vines on the ground. When the weather is good and the weather is good, the mountains are filled with fragrance. The first smell of chicken shit vine is unpleasant, but after a long time of smell, it becomes fragrant. Its smell penetrates the heart and lungs, making people feel refreshed and relaxed. People in plain areas and cities use it more to make glutinous rice balls. First, cut the chicken dung vines and leaves into shreds, then grind (or pound) them into powder along with the soaked glutinous rice; then mix with an appropriate amount of water and shape into glutinous rice balls with a diameter of 1 cm; finally put them into boiling water and boil them. When the glutinous rice balls are cooked, add an appropriate amount of sugar, and the delicious chicken dung vine glutinous rice balls are ready. Although the name is very strange, once you take one bite, you are guaranteed to be wowed!