Persimmon Cake with Bean Paste

Persimmon Cake with Bean Paste

Overview

Persimmon cake is a Shaanxi snack. It is baked with fire crystal persimmons, a specialty of Lintong County, Shaanxi Province. It has a golden color and a sweet and fragrant taste. During the Yuan and Ming dynasties, cakes made from persimmons and flour were already available in the Guanzhong area. According to legend, in 1644, Li Zicheng became king in Xi'an and immediately went to Beijing. At that time, there was a famine in Guanzhong and there was a shortage of food. The people in Lintong mixed the ripe fire crystal persimmons with flour and baked them into persimmon cakes for the soldiers to eat on the road. Since then, every year when the golden breeze blows and the persimmons ripen, Lintong people make persimmon cakes and eat them to commemorate Li Zicheng. There are many shops and stalls selling persimmon cakes in Xi'an, and the method is roughly the same: a flat-bottomed iron pot is placed on several stoves. The bottom of the pot is flat and shallow, just like frying pot stickers, so that each persimmon cake is heated evenly. The preparation method is not difficult. Strain the peeled and stemmed fire crystal persimmon meat into persimmon pulp through a basket, mix it with flour to form a soft dough, add the fillings, and pat it into a small drum-shaped pancake. When the oil at the bottom of the pot is 60% hot, add it in, flip both sides and fry until brown, and then it is ready to serve. When eating, you usually use chopsticks to slowly peel apart the browned skin and taste the filling. The filling contains walnuts, sesame, yellow cinnamon, bean paste, etc. After eating it, people can easily think of their childhood life. It felt so sweet in my throat. After taking another bite of the burnt skin of the persimmon cake, the fragrance of persimmon filled my mouth

Tags

Ingredients

Steps

  1. Food

    Persimmon Cake with Bean Paste step 1
  2. Wash the fire crystal persimmons, blanch them in boiling water and peel them off

    Persimmon Cake with Bean Paste step 2
  3. Peeled persimmons and flour yeast are combined into a softer dough

    Persimmon Cake with Bean Paste step 3
  4. After 40 minutes of fermentation (should be at room temperature), it becomes a semi-leavened dough

    Persimmon Cake with Bean Paste step 4
  5. Shape into long strips and cut into pieces

    Persimmon Cake with Bean Paste step 5
  6. Flatten it with your hands (or use a rolling pin) and add the bean paste filling

    Persimmon Cake with Bean Paste step 6
  7. Wrap and close

    Persimmon Cake with Bean Paste step 7
  8. Flip and flatten

    Persimmon Cake with Bean Paste step 8
  9. All done

    Persimmon Cake with Bean Paste step 9
  10. Heat a frying pan, add oil, heat 50% and fry the persimmons

    Persimmon Cake with Bean Paste step 10
  11. Flip both sides and fry until the persimmons become dark yellow and mature

    Persimmon Cake with Bean Paste step 11