Fuchsia dunlop's pumpkin cakes (nan gua bing)
Cakes
In the kitchen of Wang’s mansion in the old city of Yangzhou is an enormous, old-fashioned cooking range. Built from bricks and whitewashed clay, it rises imposingly at one end of the room. There are five wok stations with fire-beds beneath and cubbyholes behind, for storing seasonings; above, two great chimneys rise to the raftered roof. Perched on top of the range, with a good view of the room, is the Kitchen God’s shrine. The Kitchen God (zao jun) is the watchman of the Chinese family. Once a year, he reports on their behavior to the Jade Emperor in Heaven, who then decides whether they deserve reward or punishment. To bribe him, family members traditionally make offerings on the twenty-third of the last lunar month of the year, the day of his departure. They light candles and incense before his shrine, burn paper money and, most importantly, give him sweet and sticky things to eat, to seal his lips or, failing that, to sweeten his words. <br /> <br />These gorgeous little pumpkin cakes would do the job perfectly. They are crunchy and golden on the outside, soft and sticky within, with a rich, sweet stuffing. <br /> <br />Reprinted from Land of Fish and Rice: Recipes from the Culinary Heart of China by Fuchsia Dunlop. Copyright © 2016 by Fuchsia Dunlop. With permission of the publisher, W. W. Norton & Company, Inc
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