Nanchuan Ash-Lye Rice Cakes 南川灰粑
Nanchuan Ash-Lye Rice Cakes is featured among the local specialties of Chongqing.
Nanchuan Ash-Lye Rice Cakes (南川灰粑) are a steamed snack from Nanchuan District (南川区), Chongqing, made from brown rice soaked in water strained through burnt rice straw. The district government describes them as a snack that has been handed down in Nanchuan for more than a hundred years.
How it is made
The work starts with rice straw, which is burnt down completely. The ash goes into a basin with clean water, and the liquid is strained through gauze and kept. Washed brown rice then soaks in this strained ash water for five hours.
The rice is ground on a stone mill together with its soaking water to make a batter. The batter is brought to the boil in a pot over a low flame and stirred the whole time so that it does not scorch; when it has thickened to a paste it comes off the heat and is steamed through in a steamer.
The district government puts the character of the snack down to three local things coming together: the straw ash, spring water running out of the mountain valleys, and rice from selenium-rich land.
How it is eaten
Nanchuan Ash-Lye Rice Cakes come with two dips, ground soybean flour and chilli sauce, and are eaten straight after dipping. A bite-sized version, mini hui ba (迷你小灰粑), was given the title of "Chinese famous snack" (中国名点) at the China Chongqing International Food Festival.
Sources & reading
Written from the linked sources and checked sentence by sentence against quoted extracts by a separate reviewer on 2026-09-23. Recipes and servings vary between kitchens.