Eating spring cakes pays attention to wrapping the vegetables and eating them from beginning to end, which is called “there is a head and a tail”, which means auspicious. The earliest spring cakes were in the same dish with the food, called “chunpan”. The record of Chunpan can be found in Zhou Chu’s “Fei Tu Zhi”.

During the Ming and Qing Dynasties, with the development and improvement of cooking technology, the spring plate was changed into a small and exquisite spring roll. It was not only a folk food, but also one of the court cakes. It was on the Daya Hall and was highly appreciated by Emperor Qianlong. . Among the 128 dishes of Manchu and Han banquets in the Qing Dynasty, spring rolls are one of the nine dim sums.

Practice

The preparation method of the spring cake still uses ancient baking or steaming, and the size can be determined by personal preference. The large one can be like a fan, and the small one can be like a boulevard. The basic production steps are as follows:

Materials

1. 250 grams of flour, 120 grams of boiling water, 50-60 grams of cold water, a little vegetable oil.
2. The side dishes are free according to personal preference, such as green onion, fried pork, fried bean sprouts, cucumber and so on.

Production process

Cake embryo

1. Add flour to boiled water and stir to form a loose dough, add cold water in portions, knead it by hand to form a smooth dough with moderate hardness, cover with plastic wrap and let it stand at room temperature for 30 minutes.
2. Take out the awake dough and cut a piece, sprinkle it with dry flour and knead it slightly, knead it into a long strip, and divide it into small noodles weighing about 15 grams with a knife. Press the small noodles into small noodles, brush a layer of oil on the noodles and set aside.
3. Take two small noodles and fold the oiled faces together. Use a rolling pin to roll the dough into a pancake with a diameter of about 15 cm.

Pancakes

1. Heat the pan, then put in the rolled raw dough, and bake it over medium heat.
2. When there is a bubble in the middle of the cake embryo, it means that one side is almost cooked. Turn it over and cook the other side. If both sides are slightly light yellow, it will be ready.
3. Take out the baked pancake and divide it into two pancakes with a single tap. Stack the baked cakes and cover them with a moist clean gauze, which can keep warm and increase the humidity of the cakes, making the cakes more flexible and delicious.
4. Take out a baked pancake, put your favorite side dishes, roll it together and start eating.

Tips

The small noodles should be evenly brushed with oil, otherwise the two cakes will stick after being baked; because the cakes are relatively thin, you must use medium heat when heating them. If you are not skilled, you can turn the noodles a few more times without burning; Be sure to cover with a damp cloth to increase moisture. The side dishes should be crispy dishes, not too much soup; a meal that has not been eaten can be cut into thin strips, and eaten like fried noodles into pancakes, and the taste is also very good.

Precautions

1. The selected raw meat is mainly pork, which should not be too lean. Vegetables depend on the season and should be tender, such as “pheasant neck” leeks and “green onion” spinach.
2. Sauce the meat first and cut into thin strips for later use. Stir-fry the vegetables quickly to avoid soup.
3. Tasting points. Eating spring cakes is a very pleasant thing. It doesn’t cost much, and it tastes well. What’s more important is that the cakes need “skin strength” and the dishes must be tender and fragrant.
4. Biscuit: The taste should be chewy, not too “bad”, otherwise a package of vegetables will leak out. Therefore, use high-gluten noodles, the water temperature should not be too high when making the noodles, and you have to knead the noodles a few more times. But the cakes should not be thick, let alone hard, and they must be able to “see the dishes after the cake”.

Dishes: Vegetables should be tender, and they should be tender. Bean sprouts need a puddle of water, spinach can’t be “smashed”, fans should be soaked. The meat should reflect the “sauce-flavored” characteristics of sauced meat, fat but not greasy, and the skin will be glutinous and meaty.

5. Although there are many types of connoisseurs’ dishes, it is essential to spread eggs, otherwise it is not called eating spring cakes.
6. In the past, the authentic way of eating was “soybean juice”, which is hard to find, and you can also come to a bowl of millet porridge.