Chapter 235 Mapo Tofu

In the evening, Cui Huiwen was sitting in an unknown little shop in Yuecheng, sitting at the same table with a few people from a condiment factory in Sichuan Province in the mainland.

Yue Ning asked her to come over today just to meet Director Peng, because Yue Ning really liked a type of bean paste produced by this seasoning factory.

Cui Huiwen tasted it and it was indeed very good. However, people in Hong Kong don't like spicy food, so I'm afraid this bean paste will not be popular in Hong Kong.

Yue Ning analyzed with her the areas in China where people eat spicy food and the market situation.

In everyone's perception, the mainland is a very poor place, the market is too small, and investing money in it is very risky.

After Huiyi opened factories in Shanghai and Beijing, although the unit price of the products was not high, the sales volume was large and the cost was low, so the profit margin was not low and the total profit was also considerable.

Since she took over Cui Ji, with the help of her sister, Yue Ning and the connections left by her grandfather, the business has stabilized and revived. She has also considered entering the mainland to form a joint venture, but she only considered joint ventures with factories in Guangdong Province and never considered places as far away as Sichuan.

Ningning's proposal was very sudden, and Cui Huiwen needed to think about it carefully.

Ningning took the bean paste from Director Peng’s factory and said she wanted to borrow a stove from her friend to cook a few dishes and have dinner together.

She said that although Director Peng’s bean paste is good, it is just the original sauce and needs to be fried first.

"Oh, what a nice smell!" Director Peng stood up and walked inside.

The shop is not big, but there are many people. The rich aroma of the bean paste mixed with the noise of the crowd penetrates into your nose.

At this time, there was no large-scale movement of people, and although the tastes of different places had blended, they were still clearly defined.

The aroma of bean paste is still somewhat unfamiliar to most people in Guangdong.

Yue Ning had already served the bean paste. Director Peng lowered his head and said, "Xiao Yue, our bean paste is surprisingly so fragrant."

"I'll know once I taste it, your bean paste is really authentic."

Yue Ning poured rapeseed oil into the pan. When the oil temperature rose, she sprinkled in the peppercorns she got from the produce counter. The peppercorns rolled in the hot oil. Yue Ning scooped out the peppercorns and poured in a small half bowl of minced fatty pork and stir-fried until the minced meat was separated and slightly browned. Then she added the other half of the minced beef and stir-fried.

Authentic Mapo Tofu requires minced beef. After thinking about it for a long time in his previous life, Yue Ning decided to make Mapo Tofu by mixing minced fatty pork and minced beef.

This way, the pork is both oily and soft, while the beef is crispy and fragrant.

She used the combination of ground pork and ground beef not only for mapo tofu, but also for Italian meat sauce.

The two kinds of minced meat were mixed and stir-fried. After the fat was fried out, she added the chopped black bean crumbs and fried the minced meat to bring out the aroma.

A spoonful of fried bean paste was added, and it was stirred a few times. Then a spoonful of broth was added. The minced meat in the pot rolled with the red oil, and Yue Ning poured the snow-white tofu cubes in. After adding the seasoning, she held the long-handled spoon and slowly pushed and turned along the edge of the pot. The tofu turned in the red oil pot, just as the saying goes, "A thousand rolls of tofu and ten thousand rolls of fish." She covered the pot and let the tofu absorb the flavor.

Yue Ning picked up a bowl, poured in a spoonful of sweet potato starch, and dissolved it with water.

When the lid of the pot was opened, the rich aroma had already filled the entire shop, and Yue Ning sprinkled chopped garlic into the pot.

The thickening of Mapo Tofu is very particular. It needs to be done three times. The first thickening makes the juice of the tofu thick. After the tofu is spread out, the second thickening is done. This step allows the juice to wrap around the tofu. The third thickening allows the tofu to be wrapped in the juice while becoming the protagonist and not being trapped by the juice.

Yue Ning filled a large plate with the oily and bright red Mapo Tofu.

Uncle Jiang made breakfast here, mostly in small plates. She put the remaining tofu in six small plates and said to Aunt Fang, "Aunt Fang, please let the guests at other tables taste these small plates of tofu."

"good."

Aunt Fang first served the mapo tofu to their table, and then served small plates to other tables: "Give it to you to try."

Yue Ning, who was preparing to stir-fry the snails, poked his head out and said to the table, "Don't wait for me, eat it while it's hot!"

The Sichuan guests at their table had been out for more than half a month. In the past, factories did not have a turn to participate in trade fairs, and only representatives of import and export companies participated.

Starting this year, all production companies can also sign up. They are participating for the first time and are not mentally prepared. It was fine in the first few days. Although the dishes in Guangdong Province are light, they are delicious! But after eating too much, they miss the taste of home madly.

At this moment, a plate of mapo tofu wrapped in red oil and fermented black beans was served, and everyone was drooling.

After hearing what Yue Ning said, Director Peng took a small bowl, scooped two spoonfuls of mapo tofu with a spoon and said, "Don't be polite, leave two spoonfuls for Xiao Yue, let's eat!"

Director Peng's words were like a command. Several people put their spoons into the plate. A spoonful of tofu slid into their mouths. Director Peng's eyes suddenly lit up. The hot tofu first numbed the tip of the tongue, and then the spicy aroma of the pepper rushed up from the root of the tongue. The salty and fresh taste of the bean paste mixed with the oily aroma of the minced meat was so fragrant and delicious. Of course, it would be better if it could be a little spicier.

Director Peng thought it wasn't spicy enough, but Cui Huiwen was so spicy that she lowered her head and took a bite of the light rice noodle roll. The rice noodle roll diluted the spiciness and made her taste the freshness and fragrance. She wanted to take another bite.

She took a bite of mapo tofu and a bite of rice noodle roll. She had tried the bean paste at the Spring Fair, and it tasted good, but it was definitely not as good as this one, so good that she had to keep eating it despite the spiciness.

"Can you fry one for us too so we can eat it with rice?" The guests at the table next to us only had a small dish, and it was not satisfying for each person to eat one bite.

"I want one too." said the guests at another table.

Another customer said, "Girl, your cooking skills are better than the chef at Fuyunlou. I heard that Fuyunlou and Gangcheng have formed a joint venture, and it will be a joint venture in the future. Ah Jiang, weren't you from Fuyunlou before? Take your daughter to Fuyunlou. It doesn't matter if you don't go in. Let your child go to Fuyunlou, and don't waste her cooking skills."

Hearing this, Ah Jiang burst into laughter: "How could I be so lucky to have such a daughter. This is the boss of Fuyunlou in Gangcheng."

"Ah? This little girl is the boss of Fuyunlou in Hong Kong? Isn't she too young?"

Ah Fang smiled and said, "She borrowed our stove to entertain guests today, I feel embarrassed to ask her to cook for you."

Yue Ning held up the frying pan and stuck his head out: "I don't know how to cook specially, but I'd like to ask everyone to taste it, it's still okay. I'm frying snails."

The guests who had originally planned to leave after finishing their meal decided not to leave now, as Afang served them stir-fried snails with basil and spicy sauce.

The guests from Yuecheng were very dissatisfied with the food, but they still wanted to eat more.

Ah Jiang was making rice rolls and chatting with everyone: "Before I went to the countryside, I worked in Fuyunlou with her father. After I came back, I had no job. My old colleagues in Fuyunlou knew about it and asked Ningning to come over, hoping that Ningning could let me return to Fuyunlou as soon as possible. Ningning ate the food I cooked, and seeing that both my husband and I were unemployed, she asked me if I wanted to open a small shop. I was afraid that opening a shop would not comply with the regulations. She helped me ask the Second Commercial Bureau. The Second Commercial Bureau told me to give it a try, so I opened such a shop. Meat! Fish! They were all allocated according to plans..."

"But how old is she? How can she be so capable?"

"I'm nineteen years old, and my birthday just passed half a month ago." Yue Ning brought out the casserole and put it on the table.

There was a fish stew bubbling in the casserole. Yue Ning picked up the chopsticks and said to Director Peng and the others, "I considered Sister Huiwen's taste and made it slightly spicy."

"It's delicious, especially delicious. The dishes here are fresh, but for people like us who are used to spicy food, it's okay to eat it once or twice, but after a while, we'll start to miss the dishes from home. It's hard to eat even if we eat hot sauce and pickled mustard greens with rice all day long!"

"I understand. I really understand. I always have spicy oil at home. I grew up in the northwest, where we eat sour and spicy food. I also make noodles at home from time to time." Yue Ning opened the casserole, "Come on, let's eat fish. I added tomatoes to the fish, which makes it a little sour."

The fish in the pot is intact, with its skin fried to a golden brown, the tomatoes have been stewed until soft, the soup is bright red and thick, bubbling, and the beer, mixed with the freshness of the fish, the spiciness of the chili, and the sweet and sour taste of the tomato, is like an invisible hand, tightly grasping everyone's olfactory nerves.

Everyone stretched out their chopsticks towards the fish. Director Peng picked up a piece of fish and took a bite. The tender and delicate fish meat melted in his mouth. While chewing, he gave a thumbs up incoherently, "It's so delicious, so delicious!"

Other guests who had eaten Mapo Tofu and Spicy Fried Snails knew how delicious this dish was just by smelling it. It was a pity that we didn't have the chance to enjoy it anymore.

Yue Ning stood up and said to everyone in an apologetic tone: "After the Spring Fair, I will take some time to teach these dishes to Uncle Jiang and let him cook them for you, okay? I'm really too busy recently. Please forgive me."

Seeing the little girl being so polite, someone said, "Little girl..."

He was interrupted as soon as he opened his mouth: "He is the boss."

"Comrade, call me 'Xiao Yue', everyone calls me that."

"Xiao Yue, then we'll wait."

"Okay, okay." Yue Ning said with a smile, "Have a nice trip."

Cui Huiwen looked at Yue Ning and couldn't help laughing when she saw that she treated the customers of this store the same way as the customers of her own store.

Before she went out today, she received a call from Yue Ning, asking her to bring two large bags of candy from Gangcheng.

If someone asked her to carry two big bags of candy, she would definitely think that person was crazy for asking her to carry two bags of candy for her. But Ningning would not do that, it seemed so natural.

Just like Ningning helped her with ideas and changed the recipe to help Cui Ji out of the predicament, Ningning did the same to her friends. Every time she went back to the mainland, she would bring back fabrics, clothes, candies and other things that were not worth mentioning to her. She said that these were all given to her by her friends in the mainland.

There is a reason why this girl is liked by people from all walks of life in Hong Kong. In the circle of wealthy people, she is graceful and well-mannered, and she thrives like a fish in water. In the market, she is lively in speech and can get along well with others.

Huiyi said that Ningning treats people with sincerity.

Now Ningning is talking to them about the bean paste. The fish in Cui Huiwen's mouth is fresh and fragrant with the aroma of bean paste.

The aroma told her that this was a good business, so she said, "Okay, I'll take some time to go to your factory and take a closer look."

This sentence made Director Peng overjoyed...