Huangjingao in Wanning

HICN, ehainan.gov.cn | Updated: 2021-02-23

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The golden rice cake is cut into pieces and heated up, and goes well with a cup of locally grown Xinglong coffee. [Photo/Hainan Daily]

The golden rice cake - what locals would call a Huangjingao - is one of the most well-known specialties of Wanning's Xinglong area. The snack originally came from Southeast Asia, but after being brought to Hainan by overseas Chinese, it became a popular snack among the people of Wanning and an important local Spring Festival treat.

As a chef, Zhou Jianmei's daily schedule is dictated by the process of making golden rice cakes. Every day around 5:00 am, Zhou gets up to heat up the stove, break open coconuts, extract the coconut flesh, and prepare the materials needed for a day of cooking.

The procedure for making golden rice cakes is complicated. It involves pulping the coconut, boiling it in a pot with pandan leaves and ginger for about three and a half hours, mixing tapioca flour, sugar and eggs, fermentation, and the final baking stage.

Zhou chops up the coconut to make golden rice cakes. [Photo/Hainan Daily]

No food addictives are added to the golden rice cakes. The golden color comes from the eggs and pandan leaves, while the rich flavor of the cakes primarily comes from tropical plants including pandan leaves, lemon grass, ginger, and fresh coconut pulp. When cooked correctly, the golden rice cake will be a sweet golden dessert, similar to a sponge cake.

In the Xinglong area, returned overseas Chinese first ate these cakes as a family snack. With the rise of tourism in Xinglong, the golden rice cakes became popular among visitors, and their fame spread across the country.

Now, the golden rice cake has become one of Xinglong's specialties. Every Spring Festival, Zhou receives a large number of orders, and has to work overtime until late at night to meet the demands of many customers.

For Zhou, born and raised in Xinglong, the golden rice cake has another meaning: although he has never been to Indonesia, he enjoys the flavor of Southeast Asia in the cakes he makes.