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              故鄉家中自製的過年點心

 Homemade Dim Sum for Chinese New Year

                                           紀毓鼎遺著

                               Author: Chi, Yu-Ting (1915-2015)

                   Translator: Crystal Tai (the author's granddaughter)

    過去在故鄉江蘇泰州，過年吃的年糕都是自己家中蒸的。蒸年糕的蒸籠主體是一個方木框，有很多方孔的格子。另外還需要一枝木尺，一大塊刻著福，祿，壽，喜，財，富貴，吉祥等字樣，和牡丹，石榴等花卉的木板，一塊白布，一片竹簾。

In my hometown, Taizhou of Jiangsu Province, we used to make rice cakes from scratch for Chinese New Year. The main component of the steamer was a square wooden frame with many divisions. We also needed a wooden ruler, a big wooden board carved with auspicious words such as luck, promotion, longevity, joy, wealth, prosperity and good fortune as well as peony and pomegranate flowers, a square piece of white cloth, and a square piece of bamboo screen.

   蒸糕時，先放平木板，花紋向上。再嵌上木框，每一格對準木板上的字或圖，對正了，就倒上乾米粉。然後，用木尺前後左右推刮，使米粉嵌入格子，達到虛實正好的程度，就鋪上白布，蓋上竹簾，上下要抓緊，高高舉起，快速翻轉過來，放置滾水鍋上蒸。讓蒸汽從竹簾縫中上升，而米粉因有白布墊著，所以不會漏下來。

To make the rice cakes, we put down the wooden board first, with all the carvings face-up. Then we placed the wooden frame over it. We matched each section of the wooden frame with a word or a picture on the board. When the matches were all exact, we poured in dried rice powder. Then we used our wooden ruler to press the rice powder, to make sure it settle in each section of the wooden frame, not too fluffy and not too tight. Next, we covered the wooden frame with a piece of white cloth, on top of which we added a piece of bamboo screen. The white cloth and bamboo screen should be tightly tucked in. After that, we used both hands to raise the steamer very high and quickly turned it upside down to place it on top of a boiling pot for steaming. We let steam raise through the bamboo screen into the steamer. In the meantime, the white cloth would prevent the rice powder from trickling down.

    蒸熟後，拿開木板和格子木框，就成功了。糕上面會顯出花卉和文字。我們常會把兩塊年糕疊起來，並在中央點個紅點，表示雙吉祥的意思。

Once the steaming was done, we took away the wooden board and the frame. The task was successfully completed then. The top of each rice cake would show printed flowers or Chinese words. We often placed one rice cake on top of another and put a red dot on top. That was meant to symbolize doubling good fortune.

    另外做米糰，把糯米粉和秈米粉摻合，用水揉成粉皮，包進甜或鹹的餡兒，搓成圓的，或枕形的，外面滾滿洗淨的糯米，然後上籠蒸熟。

We made rice balls as well. We mixed ground glutinous rice with ground regular rice and then added water to make a dough. We used either a sweet or savory filling to make a round or pillow-shaped rice ball. Each ball would be covered with clean grains of glutinous rice. Then we steamed the rice balls.

    此外，還有米餅，是純秈米或粳米做的，有蒸和烙兩種做法。可加些菜餡，或揉糖進去。

Besides, we used pure ground rice to make rice pancakes. We either steamed them or pan-fried them. Sometimes we added some vegetables to them. Sometimes we mixed sugar into them.

    再來就是用小麥麪粉做包子，饅頭。包子餡有葷有素，花式繁多。吃法都不用油煎，全部蒸來吃。

We used wheat flour to make buns, too. The fillings of our buns might include meat, or they might be vegetarian. We never pan-fried them. We steamed them all before serving.

    這些點心做得很多，因為除了家中上下人等，還要招待來拜年的佃農，鄰居，親友。正月後若有沒吃完的糕糰，家人們有兩種貯藏方法：一是利用太陽的熱量曬乾，二是用水泡在瓦墰中密封，置陰涼處。兩種方法都可以保存很久。

We made lots and lots of these refreshments, because we had a large family and needed to host guests, including tenant farmers, neighbors, relatives, and friends who were visiting to give us their New Year's greetings. If there were leftovers after the first lunar month, our family had two ways of preserving them. One was to sun dry them. The other was to soak them in water, seal them in an urn and place the urn in a shady, cool area. Both methods helped keep the refreshments fresh for a long time.

    保存下來的糕糰最大的用場，是等插秧或收割時請臨時工來幫忙，每到下午，就煮這些美味的糕糰請大家暫歇品嘗。此時籬邊樹下三五成群，喝壺清茶，抽袋旱煙，笑語聲暄，感情洋溢，一片農家樂的景象，十分有趣。

The best use of these preserved refreshments was for temporary helpers we got during our busiest times on the farm, either for planting or for harvesting. When they helped us on the farm, we heated up delicious refreshements in the afternoon and asked them to take a break. Then people would gather in small groups of three or five to enjoy the refreshments as well as green tea and pipes. We talked and laughed loud, getting along very well. It was a happy scene on the farm, quite interesting to watch.

    回首前塵，不勝感慨系之。故鄉家中每年過年必定自製的點心，不但當時享用不盡，也一生回味無窮。

Looking back, I feel sentimental. I think about the refreshments my family used to make for every Chinese New Year. Not only were they tremendously enjoyable then, but they are also unforgettable for the rest of my life.

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【法奶日報www.lulijen.com2015.3.6.出刊，第9-1344號】