Chapter 155 Home-cooked Dishes

After the morning rush hour, everyone could finally relax a little and sit in the backyard to peel lychees.

Ma Yinghe looked at the lychee peels and said, "The shells are hard. Fortunately, the lychees are not rotten, otherwise it would be a waste."

"Yes, this fruit is so expensive. It would be a shame if it went bad." Aunt Dou sighed as she looked at the lychees here.

Zhu Tao peeled the lychees and asked, "Yi Yi, do we need to remove the cores from these lychees?"

"Well, it needs to be cored."

Ma Yinghe was curious about what these lychees could do: "Yi Yi, what can these lychees do?"

"I can cook and make desserts. I'm going to make some lychee shrimp balls for you tonight, and I can make some rock candied lychees for dessert this afternoon."

After lunch, the kitchen became busy again.

Wen Zhenyi asked Zhu Tao to bring some old rock sugar, added water to the pot, and then added the old rock sugar. After the rock sugar melted, poured in the peeled lychees, and cooked over high heat for half a cup of tea, then turned to low heat and cooked for a while.

Zhu Tao was a little puzzled: "Yi Yi, lychees are already very sweet, why do you need to add rock sugar?"

"Adding rock sugar will prevent you from getting a sore throat. Eating lychees alone can easily cause a sore throat."

"Is there such a saying?"

"Yes, there are also many foods that are mutually beneficial and incompatible. They may not look toxic, but once eaten together, they can cause intestinal discomfort."

"I've heard about it before and thought it was a lie, but it turns out to be true." Ma Yinghe couldn't believe it.

"Mom, a lot of things aren't just rumors. Take shrimp for example. If we eat shrimp, we can't eat tomatoes. It will be poisonous."

"That's so scary."

"Yeah, so some things are delicious, but you can't eat them all at the same time."

"It seems we still have a lot to learn."

"Take your time."

Wen Zhenyi was processing the lychees in his hand. These lychees were not divided into groups for salad dressing. Instead, there were whole lychees with the core in the middle removed.

Wen Chengwen helped Wen Zhenyi kill the chicken and fish and placed them on the counter beside him: "Yi Yi, is there anything else I can do for you?"

"Dad, no need. I'll take care of the rest."

"Okay, then I'll go help your mother."

At noon today, the store launched rock sugar lychees, which were also chilled with ice cubes and tasted sweet. Because it was during the promotion period, many people couldn't help but spend money to buy some to try it.

In addition, there are pounded rice and cold rice, which are also very popular.

The spicy and sour, sweet and sour taste makes them feel a different taste in this hot summer.

Wen Zhenyi peeled the shrimps, removed the shrimp threads, chopped the shrimp meat into shrimp paste, and marinated it with cooking wine, minced ginger, salt, egg white, etc.

She started preparing the chicken and fish again.

Today she specially picked out bighead carp and prepared to make chopped pepper fish head. She had also taken the time to pickle a bottle of chopped peppers before, which came in handy.

As for the body of the bighead carp, she planned to use it to make braised fish later.

First, cut the body of the bighead carp into pieces and marinate it with cooking wine, salt, soy sauce and peppercorns for two cups of tea.

Wen Zhen started processing the fish head by cutting it into two connected halves and making a cut on the fish meat.

Use appropriate cooking wine, rub it evenly on the outside and inside of the fish head, and then apply some salt.

Spread the fish head flat on a plate, pour the marinated chopped pepper on it, put onion segments and ginger slices on it, and steam it in a while.

Looking at the chickens that have been killed, I am thinking about what to do. These two chickens were bought before and raised in the backyard. They are not old chickens, nor are they young chickens.

She remembered that when Aunt Yin and the others came, they brought some chestnuts from home, but these chestnuts were a bit old and she didn't know if they were still edible.

"Xiao Taozi, where are the chestnuts that Aunt and the others brought?"

"It seems to be in the warehouse. Do you want me to get it for you?"

"No need, I can go by myself." Then he went to the warehouse and took out a bag of chestnuts.

She used a knife to cut a cross on the chestnut shell, then put the chestnuts into boiling water and boiled them for half a cup of tea, then took them out and rinsed them with cold water.

After a few more cold water treatments, the chestnut shells were easily removed.

Wen Zhenyi looked at the peeled chestnuts and found that they were all intact. It seemed that her chestnut roast chicken in the evening would be a success.

She took the peeled chestnuts back to the kitchen, chopped the chicken into small pieces, and started preparing other ingredients.

Today she also bought lotus roots at the market and planned to use them to make some stir-fried lotus roots, steamed pumpkin, stir-fried wild rice stems and kelp and tofu soup.

I looked at the time and it was already late. The shops here had already started packing up and preparing to close.

Wen Zhen first stuffed the marinated shrimp meat into lychees, and then put them into the steamer, along with chopped pepper fish head and steamed pumpkin.

The empty pots were used to cook kelp and tofu soup in one pot and chestnut honey chicken in the other.

Blanch the chicken in water to remove the blood, then use a colander to remove the chicken and drain.

Pour oil into a clean pot, pour the chicken into the pot and stir-fry until golden brown, then add the green onion and ginger and stir-fry until fragrant, then add the prepared sauce to color.

Then pour in the peeled chestnuts and stir-fry, then add hot water, just enough to cover the chicken. Bring to a boil over high heat and cook for a cup of tea, then turn to medium-low heat until the chestnuts are soft and glutinous, then use high heat to reduce the sauce.

Wen Zhenyi handed the task of controlling the heat to Zhu Tao, and she began to process the body of the bighead carp.

Pour oil into the pan, put the marinated fish into the pan and fry until golden brown.

Leave some base oil, pour in green onion, ginger, garlic, star anise, peppercorns, and dried chilies, and stir-fry until fragrant.

Add vinegar, cooking wine, soy sauce, salt and other seasonings.

Add the fried fish, bring to a boil over high heat, then turn to medium heat and cook for two cups of tea. Add coriander and other ingredients before removing from the heat.

There was not a single stove in the kitchen that was idle; all of them were used reasonably by her.

When County Magistrate Lei and his men arrived, the food was already ready.

Little Abu ran to the kitchen door and said, "Sister, what delicious food are you making? I can smell it from far away."

Wen Zhenyi turned his head to look at him: "Some home-cooked dishes, I think you will like them."

Wen Chengwen led everyone to the hall and sat them down. He served them a bowl of rock sugar lychees. "I made this this afternoon. You can try it first."

"You have made all these lychees into syrup?" County Magistrate Lei was a gourmet and was very picky about what he ate.

"Well, my daughter said that adding rock sugar to the cooking process will prevent you from getting a sore throat."

"This is the first time I've heard of it. I have to try it." He then looked at Zhongli Yan and said, "Your Highness Zhongli, please try it too."