Abai Leaf-Wrapped Grain Cakes 阿拜

Abai Leaf-Wrapped Grain Cakes (阿拜) are an Indigenous food of Taitung (臺東), made by steaming grain and pork filling inside two layers of leaves. Traditional rice-paste cakes and modified versions containing millet coexist.

A traditional preparation

At a Taitung agricultural workshop, elder Lin Deci (林得次) of Taromak (達魯瑪克) described grinding glutinous rice into a slurry and pressing it dry. Pork filling is added, then the mixture is enclosed in jiasuanjiang leaves (假酸漿葉) and yuetao leaves (月桃葉), shaped into long blocks and steamed. The outer yuetao leaves are removed before eating.

Festival food and variations

Lin associates this traditional preparation with harvest festivals. Modified Abai can include millet, Taiwan quinoa (臺灣藜), sorghum flour or pepper-leaf juice, creating different colours. The agricultural station also identifies its sticky-grained Taitung No. 8 millet (臺東8號小米) as suitable for Abai.