Chapter 56 Spring Limited Edition Trial

Unless there's something particularly urgent, I take a walk in the vegetable garden every day after breakfast.

The vegetables are growing really fast, they look different almost every day.

It has been about 15 days since the vegetables were planted.

Now all the seedlings have grown quite large, about as tall as my finger.

I didn't sow many seeds of plants whose seedlings are inedible, such as green beans, watermelons, potatoes, and sweet potatoes.

The seedlings are sparse but grow very sturdy.

Occasionally, three or four seedlings will sprout from a single hole, and I plan to let them grow a little longer.

When it gets a little bigger, transplant it to another place.

Cilantro, scallions, bok choy, and garland chrysanthemum, which can be eaten directly, are planted using a lot of seeds.

Now they grow close together, densely packed.

It's time to pull them out.

I won't waste the seedlings I pull out; I'll eat them that same day.

The newly sprouted seedlings are very tender and taste the best; they are much tastier than fully grown vegetables.

First, go home and get a vegetable washing basin. Then, in areas where the seedlings are crowded, pull out the weak and thin seedlings.

Leave the strongest ones and let them continue to grow.

After all, I grew them little by little myself, and they are still very small, so I can't bear to pull out too many.

However, I still managed to pull out a whole bowl of vegetables, including cilantro, garland chrysanthemum, bok choy, lettuce, and scallions.

Looking at these tender green vegetables, I'm thinking of going home and making a hot pot.

So I carried a full bowl of bok choy home.

You don't even need to pick the bok choy in the kitchen; just wash it several times with clean water.

The vegetable roots are all tender, so there's no need to break them off; just wash off the light dirt on them.

When it comes to hot pot with vegetables, the best choice is Guizhou sour soup hot pot.

I hadn't been able to bring myself to eat the sour soup hot pot base I bought in the city before, but today I'm taking the opportunity to try it with the first batch of baby bok choy.

First, soak the dried ingredients you will need: dried wood ear mushrooms, dried gongcai (dried bamboo shoots), dried kelp, and dried vermicelli in warm water.

Steam a pot of rice.

Then I found some dried chili peppers.

Put nothing in the wok, just put the dried chili peppers in and stir-fry.

Once the coarse chili peppers have turned slightly black, remove them from the pan and let them cool.

After cooling, put it in a thick plastic bag and crush it by hand.

Then pour it into a small bowl; this is the chili paste dipping sauce.

Then start cooking the broth.

First, pour an appropriate amount of oil into the pot, then pour in a large spoonful of the previously rendered lard.

After stir-frying until fragrant, add chopped green onions, garlic, and tomatoes and stir-fry together.

Once the aroma is released, add a small amount of water and pour in the sour soup hot pot base.

A super fragrant Guizhou sour soup hot pot base is ready.

Actually, you can just add water and sour soup hot pot base directly, but I wanted it to taste even better, so I added some complicated steps.

Once the hot pot broth is boiling, start preparing the other ingredients.

Cut some oyster mushrooms off the mushroom bag, slice the cured pork into thin slices, cut the sausage into small sections, and slice the beef into thin slices.

Rinse dried vermicelli, dried gongcai (dried bamboo shoots), and dried kelp several times with clean water.

Cut the duck blood into small pieces and soak the hot pot meatballs in water.

By this time, the water in the hot pot had boiled, so all the ingredients except for the vegetables were put in to cook.

Now, make yourself a dipping sauce.

Add chopped green onions, cilantro, light soy sauce, and vinegar to the chili paste, then pour a spoonful of the original broth over it.

Serve a bowl of rice, add dipping sauce, and place it on the stove.

Then they simply moved a chair over, sat down in front of the stove, and waited to eat.

After the pot boiled, I didn't put all the bok choy in.

Instead, only a small portion was burned.

The vegetables are so tender now; if you put them all in, they'll probably fall apart in no time.

Bok choy only needs to be blanched for about ten seconds to fully change color and become fully cooked.

I couldn't wait to pick up the bok choy and put it into my dipping sauce bowl.

Before it even cooled down, I put it directly into my mouth with a hissing sound.

The baby bok choy is tender and crisp, soaking up the fresh and sour broth at the bottom of the pot, making it a delicious and appetizing dish.

The best part is the scallions. When cooked, they are crisp and sweet, and when combined with the sour and spicy dipping sauce, they are simply amazing.

You can hear a crunchy sound when you chew it, but it's not tough at all, and you can swallow it after a few chews.

At this moment, paired with a big mouthful of white rice, the combination of salty, spicy, and soft glutinous rice is so delicious that even a god would nod in approval.

I ate half a bowl of vegetables before I felt satisfied.

Then we started eating the other things in the pot.

The thin slices of beef absorbed the flavor of the broth, making the meat tender and smooth. Dipped in a spicy and sour sauce, it tasted amazing.

The tender oyster mushrooms and crunchy dried bamboo shoots are delicious no matter how you eat them.

The sausages and cured pork are the most praiseworthy.

It has a rich and mellow flavor on its own, and with the addition of the sour and fragrant broth, it becomes more and more delicious with each chew, which can really be addictive.

The broth is sour and spicy, making it incredibly appetizing, and every ingredient cooked in it is absolutely delicious.

Of course, no matter what you eat, you must have a mouthful of rice with it.

Guizhou sour soup hot pot can be a bit too strong on its own, but it tastes amazing when paired with rice – that's its soul.

Before I knew it, I had finished the whole pot, and I was still a little hungry.

Then he served another bowl of rice and ladled the hot pot broth into it.

After stirring well, shovel the soup and rice into your stomach, bite by bite.

This is the most satisfying, with the sour and spicy broth soaking into the rice.

The rice neutralizes the sour and spicy flavors, while the original broth adds a unique aroma to the rice.

Unlike other hot pots, its best parts are the vegetables and rice.

All kinds of meat pale in comparison to hot pot vegetables and rice.

It was another meal that made me incredibly stuffed. It feels like I'm constantly teetering between being stuffed to death and starving to death.

After cleaning up the dishes, I took a walk around the yard to digest.

With the weather getting warmer, my activity range can finally be expanded.

After eating, you no longer need to wander around the house; you can stroll anywhere.

After three or four days, the seedlings in the vegetable garden had grown much larger.

This caused them to huddle together again.

So, I happily took the small vegetable basin and went to pull up new seedlings.

These tender green vegetable sprouts are truly precious; this time, I'm going to try a new way of cooking them.

Blanch the bok choy and garland chrysanthemum in hot water for a few seconds, then soak them in cold water.

Drain the water, add garlic, scallions, and chopped cilantro, then add sesame oil, light soy sauce, MSG, dark soy sauce, and sugar. Finally, add a spoonful of chili powder.

Heat the oil until it boils, then pour it over the food with a sizzling sound, releasing a fragrant aroma.

Mix all the ingredients well, and you have a spicy and flavorful cold vegetable salad.

Take some green vegetables, chop them into small pieces, and then mix them with flour and eggs to make a paste.

Pour it into a frying pan and spread it into a vegetable pancake.

The aroma of flour blends with the fragrance of vegetables and eggs, making it smell especially tempting.

Finally, I'll make myself a vegetable and egg soup.

Heat oil in a pan and sauté the scallions until fragrant.

Add an appropriate amount of water, and once the water boils, add an egg and a small handful of greens.

The refreshing and light vegetable and egg soup is now ready.

Once everything was served, it looked lush and green.

The cold side dishes are refreshing, the vegetable pancakes are fragrant with oil, and the vegetable soup is delicious and helps to cut through the richness.

Everything was incredibly delicious.