Chapter 152 Braised pork and chive pancakes, chive noodles, peas in broth...

Han Lulu's weight loss project never even began.

Because Wenji keeps releasing new products, she, like all foodies, has to resolve to "go on a diet tomorrow" every night, only to always discover something new and delicious the next day.

After selling fried spring rolls and wontons for over a week, Wen Fan ruthlessly removed steamed dishes from the shelves.

"The elm seeds and locust flowers are all gone, and we can't even supply noodles and vegetables."

The charm of wild vegetables lies in that one season; the deliciousness of a couple of weeks will ferment and develop a halo in our memories.

Wen Fan even said that the shepherd's purse wontons should be taken off the shelves after three more days.

"The shop is so busy, where would you find the time to pack a package?"

However, Wen Fan felt that the fried spring plate and the "winter goes and spring comes" rice dish were not too labor-intensive, so he kept them to attract customers.

Feng Huijuan came more and more frequently. Before, she could be said to come twice a week, but now she delivers goods to Wenji almost every day. Over time, she gradually figured out Wenji's habits.

Wen Ji will buy any ordinary vegetables and fruits as long as they are fresh. He especially likes slightly more unusual wild vegetables and fruits.

Take the cucumber blossoms for example. They were just something my daughter casually added, and she didn't intend to charge for them. But when they were delivered to Wen's shop, Wen Fan said they were good and that he would send her any extras he had.

Feng Huijuan never imagined that flowers could be eaten?

Seeing the customers at Wenji's restaurant enjoying the golden-brown, crispy cucumber blossoms, she couldn't help but swallow hard. She wondered if she could pick some at home, coat them in batter, and fry a batch herself. So she turned and went back to the village to start harvesting cucumber blossoms.

The villagers already grow a lot of vegetables, so when they heard that cucumber blossoms could be sold, they immediately perked up. Selling them now isn't a problem; the weather is late this year, so they can just plant more after harvesting.

Some people enthusiastically asked Feng Huijuan if she wanted anything else.

"I have some peanut sprouts that I grew myself, do you want them? I also have some chives, they're growing very well."

Feng Huijuan is now a major vegetable buyer in the village. The noodle vegetables that Wen Fan asked for a while ago were, after all, wild vegetables. If Feng Huijuan relied solely on her family to find them, they wouldn't be able to supply Wen Fan's needs even after a whole day.

So in the end, Lou Heng stepped forward and called a group of children to search. Taking advantage of the weekend, the group of children swept up the hillside and finally picked two large baskets.

Feng Huijuan didn't take the children's efforts for granted. She took out a calculator and quickly pressed the keys. She only made a small profit from the transaction, and the remaining profit was calculated to be one yuan per kilogram.

These kids got the money, and naturally they wanted to show it off when they got home.

Although the parents felt it was wrong for their child to take the money, they were also comforted, thinking that Feng Huijuan and her husband were kind people.

Doing business with honest people gives everyone peace of mind.

The person recommending his own chives and peanut sprouts pulled Feng Huijuan to his vegetable garden, picked a handful of chives to show her, and Feng Huijuan thought they were indeed good, but still cautiously said that she would cut about ten pounds to take a look first.

"Okay!"

The man perked up and enthusiastically found tools to start cutting chives, while also chatting warmly with Feng Huijuan.

Ten pounds of chives isn't much; it's about enough to fill a small basket.

Feng Huijuan took the basket and left, saying, "I'll settle the money with you when I get back."

"No problem, no problem."

The villagers all had sharp eyes. Just by looking at the changes in Feng Huijuan and her husband's persimmon sales from last year to this year, they knew that Wenji paid a lot of money and wasn't afraid of losing out, so they trusted Feng Huijuan to go.

Feng Huijuan no longer travels by car; she bought an electric tricycle and goes to Wenji with her husband.

Just as she had guessed, Wen's father and Xiao Ge knew Wen Fan would like the chives as soon as they saw them. They not only kept the chives and peanut sprouts, but also told her to check if the village had any pea sprouts to grow next time.

"Pea sprouts..."

Feng Huijuan was quick-witted and immediately remembered that there was a family in the village who grew a lot of peas and also sent out pea sprouts.

"no problem."

The spring chives were tender and fresh. When Wen Fan returned home at noon, he saw fresh chives and his father had already washed, picked, and chopped them into sections: "How would you like to eat them?"

Whether you're making pancakes, using them as filling, or adding chopped chives to noodles, it's a great combination.

Wen Fan: "Of course, we'll eat pancakes."

There are so many ways to make pancakes with chives.

Scramble eggs, add chopped chives and some soaked glass noodles as filling, wrap in dough, and deep-fry until golden brown and crispy to make fried vegetable dumplings. Alternatively, use leavened bread, wrap the filling, and pan-fry until golden brown on both sides to make chive pancakes. Or, wrap the filling in dumpling wrappers to make steamed chive dumplings.

Cut the chives into sections and the carrots into shreds. Mix a bowl of batter, spread the liquid batter out, and then spread the chive sections and carrot shreds on top. Fry until golden brown on both sides, making chive pancakes that look like egg pancakes. Serve with dipping sauce.

Adding seafood such as shrimp and squid to this kind of pancake makes it a seafood chive pancake.

...

Wen Fan checked the time and felt he had enough, so he made himself a braised pork and chive pancake.

The shop has fermented dough. Roll out the dough, heat oil in a wok and stir-fry minced meat with a little soy sauce, oyster sauce and sweet bean sauce to make a pot of thick and dark sauce meat filling. Then spread a layer of chives on the rolled-out dough, and then spread the meat filling on top of the chives.

Fold the dough together several times and then unfold it.

Inside a large flatbread, you can vaguely see bits of meat and the vibrant green of chives.

This is how you fry a large pancake in a pan until it's cooked.

Wen Fan lifted the lid and saw the dough that had instantly expanded and then shrunk back.

"alright."

The aroma and smoothness of the fermented dough are unmatched by other types of flatbread. The bits of braised meat inside are chewy and the chives are fresh. Because of the multiple layers of fermentation, the meat and chives are not just on the surface, but spread throughout the entire flatbread. If you're not careful, the bits of braised meat inside might even fall out.

Wen Fan ate a braised pork and chive pancake, paired with pork belly stir-fried with peanut sprouts. The peanut sprouts were crunchy and had a nutty aroma of peanuts that was more pronounced than soybean sprouts. The pork belly was thin and chewy, and together with the peanut sprouts, it was exceptionally fresh and fragrant.

After finishing his meal, Wen Fan said to his mother, "Mom, please ask Aunt Huijuan to send more chives tomorrow."

Chives are harvested in batches, and although the chives now are not as good as in early spring, they are still in season.

The next day, Feng Huijuan delivered dozens of kilograms of chives, and Wen Fan served them as a main dish that very evening.

—Chive noodles.

After kneading the chives into the dough, roll it out, cut it into thin sheets, and then cook them. Top the cooked noodles with minced chili and garlic, and drizzle with hot oil to release the aroma. Similar to oil-splashed noodles, adding some toppings makes them even more appealing.

The guests at the private kitchen were all enjoying their meal.

When Wen Fan made the noodles, she made them a little thicker, giving them a chewy texture. You could still faintly taste the fibrous texture of the chives, but the chives weren't chewy at all. With the smoothness of the noodles, the chives also became much softer. The aroma of the drizzled oil further enhanced this main dish.

"This is incredible! How does this chef's brain work? How can he think of everything?"

"Absolutely! Who would have thought you could put chives in noodles?"

"These chives are so tender; they must be seasonal."

Wen Fan tried all sorts of chive boxes, fried vegetable dumplings, and chive pancakes, but his favorite was still stir-fried river shrimp with chives.

After everyone had eaten their fill, Wen Fan served a chive and seafood pancake, dipped in Wen Fan's special sauce. Many people would order a plate of it as soon as they entered the store.

Xiao Ge is now quite skilled at making pancakes. He brought out the large frying pan that Yao Qingqin used to use when she sold pancakes; one pan can make five pancakes. The chive and seafood pancakes are golden brown on both sides, with the edges crispy and fragrant, almost like eating potato chips. The shrimp are bouncy and the chives are fresh and tender. Each pancake is cut into several pieces, oily, fragrant, and crispy.

Grandpa Duan next door has become obsessed with this pancake lately, and he has to have one every day.

Wen's mother also liked this pancake, not so much because she liked eating it, but because she thought it was easy and convenient to make.

"Finally, there's a vegetable that can be sold for a while longer."

One problem with the restaurant being so popular is that many dishes sell out quickly. For Wen's mother, seeing customers come in excitedly and leave dejectedly every day, even if it's not her fault, still puts some pressure on her. She always feels bad that customers have come all this way only to not get to eat.

Now things are much better. Other dishes might sell out quickly, but the chive and seafood pancakes won't.

Batter, eggs, chives, shrimp—you can stock up on any of these ingredients. You could say this is a kind of safety net; as long as customers come, at least they can eat this pancake.

[Shuimu: The seafood pancakes are delicious! No wonder it's Wenji.]

[Yunmi: Exactly! The key is no need to queue! It's awesome! Even someone like me, who works overtime, can buy one after work.]

[MuMu: I'm packing this pancake to go. I'll make a seaweed and egg soup when I get home. It'll be so delicious!]

[Grape: Hey, hey, hey, don't tempt me! I'm still at work.]

...

While everyone was cheering for the chive and seafood pancakes, Wen Fan had already grown tired of chives and started eating pea sprouts in various ways.

Pea shoots in broth: diced ham and preserved egg, egg yolks sautéed until fragrant, then added to boiling water. The pea shoots are first blanched with oil and salt, then added to the broth. Garnish with preserved egg and ham. In the thick, golden broth, the pea shoots are delicate and crisp, carrying a fresh, rural aroma.

This pea shoot soup is so delicious that you don't need to eat any other staple food; just eating the pea shoots and drinking the soup is already incredibly flavorful.

Wen Fan cooked a big pot of food for lunch, and Han Lulu and Qin He, who came to eat with her, each got a bowl.

Chewing on refreshing pea shoots, Han Lulu said she had heard some rumors.

"I heard the school is organizing a spring outing."

It's already April, the perfect time for a spring outing with bright sunshine.

"I wonder where we'll be going this time."

Last year we went to Qingtang Mountain. To be honest, the school really had no other options. There are too few local attractions, so when someone asks where to go, the answer is usually Qingtang Mountain.

However, this time it seems not to be the case.

Five days later, after finishing a Chinese class.

Class teacher Wang tapped the blackboard: "Everyone, go back and prepare. This weekend, classes one through five will be going to Carp Village together."

The class instantly erupted in chaos.

"My goodness, is the school trying to get me nostalgic? Carp Village is from my childhood, do they really want to go there now?"

"I remember when I was a child, I went on a spring outing and an old lady on the street sold me a goldfish for ten yuan... That was a rip-off."

"Going to Carp Village is not as good as going to Qingtang Mountain."

"It's not as good as the time we went to Grandma He Yuzhen's house... By the way, Wen Fan, are you bringing a pot this time?"

Wen Fan glanced at the other person.

The boy chuckled and said, "We'll carry your things, and we'll even cook for ourselves when we get to Carp Village, okay?"

He still remembers the braised chicken that Wen Fan made last year.

Wen Fan packed his bag: "We'll see."

Last time we went to the mountains and couldn't find a restaurant, so we had to cook. But this time we went to a village.

Judging from the name, it seems to be a fairly developed village.

Why would you even bring a pot?

Let's just find a restaurant to eat at!

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Author's Note: Still only one update per day... I'll adjust as soon as possible.