辽东是满族故里，民族风俗源远流长。这里，山岭连绵，四季分明，自然资源丰富，人们根据季节变换，制作不同的传统食品。诸如黏火勺、黏豆包、豆面卷子、苏子叶饽饽、酸汤子等。而桲椤叶饼，就是一道别具风味的满族美食，颇受人们喜爱。主要食材是由桲椤叶、面粉、馅等构成。这种食品的雏形，最早见于清代《钦定满洲祭神祭天典礼》。是绚丽的晨曦，也许有风有雨，但一定有灿烂的阳光迎接。满族人的祖先是靠打猎为生。在打猎收获不足以充饥时，也采集橡子树的果实吃。当时，称橡子树为“桲椤木”，称橡子果实为“桲椤”。后来，山上的野兽越来越少，打猎越来越困难，满族人祖先就学着汉族人的样子，慢慢地学会了农耕。
从狩猎时代变为农耕时代的初期，满族人由吃野兽肉改吃五谷杂粮，肚子总感不适。特别是到了夏季，常常腹泻，浑身无力，不能上山打猎，下地种田也干不动。人憔悴了，地荒芜了。正在万分焦急之时，一天晚上，大家不约而同地做了一个梦：一位美丽女子，自称是王母娘娘的七仙女中的老三，反复向他们说着一句话：“别忘了旧桲椤。”第二天，大家说出昨夜的梦，都感到奇怪。“旧桲椤”是指什么呢？谁都解释不了。这样的梦一连做了三天。大家虽然知道这是仙女在指点什么，但苦于不解其意。部落的人聚在一起，研究这个梦预示着什么。一老者说：这是仙女在拯救我们。现在我们把谷米叫作“桲椤”，但我们的祖先是把橡子叫作“桲椤”的。仙女告诉我们不要忘了“旧桲椤”，是告诉我们治好腹泻，要用橡树果实。但橡树果实苦涩不好吃，我们可用桲椤叶包饼吃看看灵不灵。大家觉得言之有理，就派人采了些桲椤叶，包在饼的外面蒸熟吃。不几日，大家的腹泻病慢慢好起来了。从此，桲椤叶饼成了满族人非常喜欢的传统食品。
当然，这只是个传说而已。其实，满族人食用桲椤叶饼，是人们在长期的劳动实践中发现了桲椤叶的保健效果，用之于食品，并形成为满族人特有饮食习惯。
按照现代医学的理论，桲椤叶里含有单宁或单宁酸。用桲椤叶包饼，可以吸收微量的单宁酸，这对预防和医治夏日腹泻，是有一定作用的。
桲椤叶，就是桲椤树的叶子。桲椤，学名槲树，就是橡树，辽东称之为柞树。柞树分大叶柞和小叶柞。小叶柞的叶片小而尖窄；大叶柞的叶片宽大厚实，且有医药作用，可消炎杀菌止泻。制作桲椤叶饼，用的是大叶柞的叶子。
我的家乡在抚顺新宾满族自治县苏子河畔，是满族人居住的山区，满山遍野都是柞树。农历四五月份，叶子最为鲜嫩，每片都是翠绿翠绿的，呈倒卵圆型，叶片钝尖，叶缘是波浪形状，背面长有细细绒毛，叶脉清晰突出。这些叶片为制作桲椤叶饼提供取之不尽的优质外包装。大家都是遵循“不时不食”生活哲学，一年之中，只在这时上山采集鲜嫩肥大的柞叶，洗净后剪掉硬柄待用。
传统地道的桲椤叶饼，是用焯好后切碎的水芹菜，拌以豆皮、粉头为馅，再用高粱米水面做皮，外包柞叶。
高粱，自古美誉为“五谷之精”“百谷之长”。含有丰富的纤维素、蛋白质、微量元素等，具有较高的营养价值。健脾养胃，补气，改善腰酸背痛，对青少年成长期神经痛有一定功效，有利于缓解体内钙质的消耗。
水芹菜，是一种生长在水沟、河边、沼泽等潮湿处的宿根水生野菜。其外形与芹菜相似，但有着比芹菜更浓郁的味道。口感清香，脆嫩，具有清热解毒、润肺、抗菌等功效。
柞叶、高粱米水面、水芹菜等几大元素配伍，实乃绝配。
制作桲椤叶饼是个精细的活，耗时耗力，要有耐心，每道工序都马虎不得。尤其是做皮的高粱米水面颇有讲究。高粱米须经过几次淘洗，倒入大缸内浸泡 20 多天。期间，换 1 ～ 2次清水。然后，上石磨研磨成稠状的细面，装入漏水容器里，挤掉 80% 的水分，方可使用。这样的面皮，光滑、细腻、柔软、筋道，还有一股特殊香气。
桲椤叶饼，叫饼不是饼。倒是与大蒸饺很相似。制作时，先在桲椤叶的正面涂些植物油，用饭铲在叶片上均匀地抹一层薄薄的面糊，再将水芹菜馅铺在面上，两手合拢捏紧，一个半圆形的桲椤叶饼就做成了。
大铁锅注水，蒸屉上摆放刚刚包好的桲椤叶饼，灶火烧得通红，噼啪作响，20 分钟后，桲椤叶饼就蒸熟可以出锅了。
我小时候，每年端午节时，都蹲在灶台前，贪婪地看着母亲制作桲椤叶饼。当桲椤叶饼出锅时，我早已按耐不住，不顾烫手，抢先拿起一个，把桲椤叶皮剥掉，咬上一口，太好吃啦。既嗅得柞叶的芳香，又品尝到了水芹菜的清香，还有高粱米水面筋道的口感，回味无穷。
现在，生活节奏快了，人们图方便，不再用高粱米水面包桲椤叶饼。早已有玉米、小米、大米磨成的干面及淀粉制作的桲椤叶饼了。面粉磨得精细，加之调和技巧，制作的桲椤叶饼晶莹透剔，里面的馅料朦胧可见，堪称艺术品。然而面皮的口感，却大打折扣，与水面的不可同日而语。
馅料，也不拘泥于水芹菜了，各地有所不同。有豆角馅的、甘蓝馅的、韭菜馅的、角瓜鸡蛋馅的等等，甚至还有猪肉、海鲜等作馅的。
桲椤叶饼，也不再是深藏民间的风味小吃了，堂而皇之地登上星级酒店的大雅之堂。在辽宁，很多酒店均可品尝到桲椤叶饼，成为旅游季节游客们必吃美食，甚至是馈赠亲朋好友的礼物。
走过东西南北，品尝过不同风味桲椤叶饼。但，我还是最爱孕育满族文化摇篮的苏子河畔，灶火蒸熟的高粱米水面水芹菜桲椤叶饼。
那饼、那味，才叫地道、纯正。
The east part of Liaoning province is bestowed with four distinctive seasons and rich mineral resources. It has long been settled by the Manchu people who live by the change of seasons, have their own ethnic customs and traditional food, such as baked sticky cake, sticky bun of meshed bean fillings, steamed roll, steamed bun wrapped in perilla leaves, and sour noodles of corn flour. But as a special Manchu food, the steamed oak leaf cake is made in a unique way. It is composed of three parts: oak leaves, flour, and fillings. The food appeared as early as the Qing dynasty in the 17th century.
The food as a cure was discovered purely by coincidence, and according to modern medical theory, oak leaves contain tannic or gallotannic acid. When it is wrapped in an oak leave, the cake absorbs a tiny amount of the acid, which has positive effect on summer diarrhea.
In east Liaoning, there're big-leaf oaks and small-leaf ones. It is the big leaves that had been used to treat diarrhea in summer.
My hometown is on the river of Suzi in Manchu Autonomous County, Liaoning province. It's a mountainous area inhabited by the Manchu people. In early summer, when oak leaves are fresh and tender, the locals gather big leaves in the mountain, wash them clean, cut off the stipes, and store them for later use.
However, the making of the cake is a delicate job which requires a lot of care in each step, and the sorghum flour should be dealt with special attention. The sorghum rice should be elutriated or washed a couple of times before it is soaked in a vat for over 20 days, during which the water should be changed once or twice. Then the rinsed sorghum rice is to be ground into paste and kept in a perforated container. When 80% of its water is squeezed out from the container, the paste can be used. Made in such a way, the dough is smooth, delicate, tender, chewy, and fragrant.
Pour water into an iron caldron and align the cakes in a bamboo tray. Build a fire under the caldron with firewood. When the fire burns cracking for 20 minutes, your food is ready to be lifted from the caldron.
When I was a child, as a Dragon Boat Holiday ritual, I would squat in front of the cooking platform and watch my mom making leaf cakes. When they were ready and even if they were hot to the touch, I couldn't help myself from taking one of them from the caldron. I would peel off the leaf and take a big bite. It's so delicious! The fragrance from the oak leaf, the fresh scent from the cress, and the chewy taste from the sorghum flour were simply unforgettable.
The fillings are changed too. Instead of being confined to cress, we have green bean, cabbage, leek, melon, and egg as fillings. Some of the cakes are even stuffed with pork and seafood.
I have tasted different leaf cakes in many parts of the country, but the ones I like most are made on the river of Suzi, where the Manchu people have inhabited for centuries. They are made up of sorghum, cress, and oak leaves, and cooked with firewood. They are the purely authentic oak leaf cakes in my memory.
Today the leaf cakes are no longer a local delicacy to be enjoyed only by the Manchu people. They are served in starred hotels in any tourist season in Liaoning province. Moreover, they've become presents exchanged among friends and relatives.
(Trans.by G.Q.)
摄影：刁鹏柱 检校：水 天 责编：景雪峰
