Tropical spring love letter

In recent years, I have often visited the mainland and found that the scenery in the four seasons is very clear. Lotus flowers fill the pool in summer and chrysanthemums bloom everywhere in autumn. In winter, wintersweet brings the breath of spring. Living in the tropics, I have no special feeling about the changes of seasons, because the ingredients are insufficient and the atmosphere is full of ambiguity. The day before yesterday, I came back from a speech in Fujian and opened the window. The new buds of the rain tree and the yellow phoenix flower have sprouted on the branches. It looks very happy that spring is coming. Suddenly, I heard the beep, and I noticed more pictures of spring. I sent it to whatsapp on my mobile phone and opened a photo sent by my friend. The text that appeared later said, "We have started to write love letters to Spring. Are you still traveling around the world? "

There is a long oven in the photo, which is on the ground. Several people are sitting in the left and right rows facing the oven. The black charcoal in the middle of the oven glowed slightly red, and there was a long-handled disc-shaped baking tray on the charcoal. People who live in Penang know at a glance that this is a scene of writing love letters to spring, and they can even smell the sweetness of the "love letter" cake from the photos.

This kind of seasonal biscuit is called "love letter", and its sweet name comes from the English name "love letter". It is impossible to prove who started it, but most people like to call it that. More than ten years ago, during the Spring Festival, I gave it to my Malay friends to taste. He was happy to tell me that this cake also has a name, "kuih belanda". Malays love sweets, so most of them like the taste of this fragrant and sweet cake. "belanda" means Holland in Malay. According to him, this kind of biscuit originated in Indonesia. Penang and Medan are only half an hour's voyage, and there are frequent sea trips. According to historical records, Indonesia was ruled by the Dutch for nearly 150 years from 1800 to 1949. If this kind of cake is called "Dutch cake", it probably comes from Indonesia. People who eat cakes are curious and ask around whenever they get a chance. As a result, some people say it belongs to Niangjie cuisine. Because Malays don't make this kind of cake on Eid al-Fitr, there is another Malay name "kuih kapit". "kuih" means pastry in Malay, and "kapit" means "clip". The disc-shaped cake mold for making "love letter" cake shows that flowers and birds are printed on both sides after opening. It is said that one side represents "Zen Zen" and the other side represents "Nyonya". "Chanchan" (Baba) came into being when China people came to the south to marry local aborigines. The "kuih kapit" from Niangniang is made of eggs, coconut milk and rice slurry with appropriate amount of sugar, stirred into paste, then put into a cake mold and baked on a charcoal stove. When the fragrance is overflowing, open it quickly. While the cake is still soft and hot, quickly fold it in half up and down, and then fold it into a small fan from left to right, which is a stroke between Zen and Empress. The sweet "love letter cake" full of expectation has become the New Year dessert to convey the affection between people today.

But some people haven't heard of it. "is this called' love letter cake'?" A friend of Ma Bei sells this kind of cake every year. Her method is to roll the egg into a triangle. "It feels stronger and tastes real." Business was so good that before the Spring Festival, Singaporeans flew to the north in droves to purchase.

When Medan's friends heard the name "Love Letter Cake", they felt that Penang people were too sentimental. They laughed and said that Medan also had this kind of "Dutch cake", but it was just a roll. Rice pulp, coconut milk, sugar and eggs are also stirred into paste, and the same cake mold is also baked with charcoal fire. When the cake is cooked, it is quickly rolled into a tube while it is hot, which is fashionable and soft, just like the egg rolls sold in the general market. Recently, different flavors have also been added. When the egg roll is to be rolled, add the floss to become the floss egg roll. Some people add laver, which is called laver egg roll. Some people even tried to add sambal udang. Everything I have eaten is said to be delicious, and I didn't wait until the Spring Festival to make it specially. On ordinary days, they can buy it everywhere.

When the beautiful love letter cake and the long-awaited New Year dessert turn into ordinary egg rolls, even with this and that, there are various taste choices in the market. However, some people prefer to pursue the sweetest and truest taste in their hearts.

During the Spring Festival, every household in Penang has a love letter written for spring on their desk to entertain guests who come to pay a New Year call. China's friends especially like it. His evaluation is that this "love letter cake" feels very tropical because it has a special coconut milk flavor.

Tropical love letter cake tastes crispy. I sent a box to my friend in China. By the way, I told him that it is not easy to take them, and it is easy to break them if you are not careful. But he said that in this busy age, there are fewer and fewer cakes made by yourself, so no matter how hard you work, you should take them away. Just a snack, but it has won great attention from friends. Bringing the affection in the love letter cake back to China is touching and makes the love letter cake in tropical spring have a deeper meaning.