Chapter 128: Tangyuan

Deep down, she was actually quite unwilling to accept the behavior of those elders in the Tang family who always interfered in family affairs under the banner of helping Tang's father, but she only dared to keep these thoughts in her heart. She would never dare to say them to their faces or do anything confrontational.

Alas, I finally get to come to my friend’s house to relax for a few days, so I shouldn’t keep thinking about those annoying household chores.

Before the evening rest time, Shu Yanyou even said a few words of greeting out of concern.

In fact, he was not worried that Zhao Chunhua would treat Tangyuan badly, but he was afraid that the two children were too lively and would cause Zhao Chunhua too much trouble or fatigue.

The next day, Zhao Chunhua did not bring the children home to play again. She just bought some fresh tofu in the town and sent it back to her hometown.

This is done to let the elderly and children in the family have a taste of something new, after all, they rarely have the opportunity to eat such food.

When giving money, Zhao Chunhua always chose to give it to the elderly alone behind closed doors. Some things do require caution in doing so, so as not to cause unnecessary trouble and ruin her reputation.

Although it is said that rumors stop at the wise, in this small village, any gossip spreads faster than the wind.

Therefore, Zhao Chunhua tried to keep a low profile as much as possible just to protect the good reputation she had worked so hard to build.

After returning home, she continued to dry the grain that was not completely dry yesterday.

During this period, thanks to the newly built small warehouse at home, it is not only moisture-proof and insect-proof, but also greatly reduces the physical labor required for her to transport food.

It is so convenient and quick to put things into the warehouse or take them out.

After picking out a bunch of sweet potatoes that were scarred or looked ugly, Zhao Chunhua carefully put on a clean headscarf and tied her sleeves tightly with arm ropes - this way, the loose sleeves would not hinder her hand movements when she was doing the next series of tasks.

What she planned to do today was to make a new batch of sweet potato starch.

First, she carefully washes each sweet potato, making sure to remove all dirt from the surface, and then uses a paring knife to carefully remove the outer layer of skin.

Only after completing the preparatory steps can she start the next step.

This paring tool is very simple, just a long piece of wood with a thin iron blade on one end, which is extremely sharp.

There was a whole bucket full of sweet potatoes, and it took a lot of time just to complete the two preliminary tasks of cleaning and peeling them.

On the way, Zhao Chunhua had to stop to feed the hungry children at home. She also took the opportunity to stuff herself with two buns to fill her stomach.

After checking the rice drying on the special mat in the yard and confirming that everything was normal and that there were no birds eating the rice or other unexpected situations, Zhao Chunhua finally started the more arduous part: grinding the sweet potatoes into pulp.

Considering safety and the quality of the final product, she chose the most traditional grinding method: using a large stone slab that had been carefully polished with fine stripes.

Some people suggested that using a modern grinder with a metal edge might save more effort, but considering that such operation could easily cause hand injuries if not handled with care, Zhao Chunhua decided to use a more primitive manual method.

Then she began to crush the peeled sweet potatoes on the stone slab over and over again.

This is a repetitive and boring task, and she could have actually persisted in doing it longer if it weren't for the pain in her arms constantly reminding her that she should take a proper rest.

Once all the sweet potatoes had been reduced to a fine paste, she had to spend some time using water to rinse off the residue on the large stone slab.

The next step is to filter the slurry.

This step is particularly important for producing high-quality starch, so Zhao Chunhua takes it very seriously.

First, add water to the ground sweet potato juice and stir thoroughly to allow the juice and water to blend more thoroughly.

Then it goes through multiple fine filtering and washing processes. This process is mainly to separate the starch from impurities and residues in the sweet potatoes, with the aim of leaving a relatively pure and delicate part as the final product.

After all the filters are filtered out, you will need to rinse the water a few more times.

Every time she rinses with water, Zhao Chunhua is particularly careful. She wants to make sure that all available starch particles can be cleaned as cleanly as possible and collected completely away from their original mixed state.

The next step is to put the treated liquid into a large barrel, cover it with a lid, and quietly wait for the sedimentation process to occur.

Time passed slowly, and during the waiting process, the precious starch slowly sank to the bottom to form a thick layer of sediment.

Even so, the remaining sweet potato scraps will not be thrown away and wasted.

In the past, they might have just been thrown away, but now, every time Zhao Chunhua looks at the results of her hard work, she deeply realizes that every resource is actually very precious.

It may sound like several hundred kilograms does not sound like a small amount, but in fact, after processing the crops harvested from a large field, only three bags of food can be produced.

Therefore, this time Zhao Chunhua decided to make good use of the remaining mashed potatoes.

She mixed the remaining sweet potato residue with an appropriate amount of flour and sprinkled some salt to enhance the flavor. She then fried it briefly in a frying pan with hot oil to make a crispy and delicious simple version of sweet potato pancakes.

Although most of the starch has been separated in the early stage, the overall taste is still good due to the addition of some additional oils, seasonings and other ingredients.

Considering that there were still a lot of ingredients left, Zhao Chunhua simply made a whole pot of this delicious food in one go.

In addition to enjoying it immediately, the remaining part is planned to be used for steaming later.

First of all, flour is still the main raw material, but the amount needed this time is obviously much more than that used to make pancakes just now.

Then add the yeast powder needed for fermentation and stir until the dough becomes smooth and delicate.

In order to make the food taste more layered and chewy, Zhao Chunhua added some fresh red dates that had been cut into fine particles in advance. Then she cut the whole dough into small portions and put them into a large steamer with a clean cotton cloth at the bottom to prevent sticking. She let it sit for a while to ferment naturally.

When the water in the pot boils and there is enough steam, continue heating and cooking for about twenty minutes.

As the temperature rises, the steam spreads, filling the entire room with an enticing sweet aroma.

After all the steamed buns were out of the pot, I tried one and found it tasted really good.