Chapter 13 Soulful Hot and Sour Noodles

After digesting the recipe information, Su Xiaonuan glanced at the system notification, immediately picked up her phone, opened the [Ingredient Mall] APP, and began purchasing ingredients for tomorrow's "Soulful Hot and Sour Noodles" task.

Sweet potato noodles, broth ingredients, beef bones, chicken frames, pork skin, soybeans, peanuts, pickled mustard greens, scallions, ginger, garlic, chili powder, Sichuan peppercorn powder, various spices, Baoning vinegar, soy sauce, sesame paste, sesame oil... She skillfully added each of the necessary ingredients to her shopping cart, and seeing the low prices displayed by the system, her mood finally improved a lot.

Although these past two days have been thrilling, business has been quite good.

She checked her bank account balance and found that her initial investment was 50,000 yuan. Combined with the income from selling jianbing guozi, fruit smoothies, and lobster balls over the past two days, after deducting the cost of ingredients, she was almost breaking even, neither losing money nor making a huge profit.

After all, the cost of the ingredients provided by the system is not low.

Just after I finished making the purchase, the system's daily task notification arrived on time.

[Daily Quest Refresh: Tomorrow, successfully set up a stall at the main entrance of the City Sports Center and sell 50 'Soulful Hot and Sour Noodles'. Reward: 300 Merit Points.]

The main entrance of the Municipal Sports Center?!

When Su Xiaonuan saw this location, her scalp tingled instantly.

She knew that place all too well! It was a landmark in the city center with a huge flow of people, but at the same time—it was a key patrol area for the city management!

Forget about setting up a stall, you might get chased away if you even stay there for a little too long!

Let her set up a stall there? Is the system afraid she won't get caught?

"System! Are you kidding me? You can set up a stall there? You'll get your car and all by the city management officers in no time!" Su Xiaonuan couldn't help but complain in her mind.

[System Prompt: This system is only responsible for issuing tasks; locations are randomly generated. How to complete the task is up to the host to overcome the difficulties. Task failure will trigger a penalty mechanism.] The system's voice was cold and indifferent.

Su Xiaonuan: "..." I'll overcome you my ass!

She was so angry she wanted to laugh, but there was nothing she could do.

Punishment mechanism... gaining weight... absolutely not!

She calmed down and began to rack her brains.

A direct confrontation won't work; we need to outsmart them.

Disguise? How to disguise yourself?

She remembered that the newly upgraded stall had a simple camouflage function, but it required the use of props.

She immediately reopened the [Special Items Shop] and began searching carefully.

After searching for a long time, just when she was about to give up, a prop caught her eye.

[Street Vendor Invisibility Spray (Single Use): Sprayed onto the surface of the street vendor, it forms an optical interference layer, significantly reducing the likelihood of the vendor being noticed. Duration: Until 24:00 on the same day. Price: 50 Merit Points.]

This is it!

Although the description is a bit misleading, such as "not truly invisible" and "the effect is reduced," it's still better than nothing!

At least it can reduce the probability of being discovered by the urban management officers immediately, right?

"I'll buy it!" Su Xiaonuan placed the order decisively.

[Ding! Purchase successful, 50 merit points consumed. Item has been delivered to system space. Current merit points: 50.]

Looking at the 50 merit points left, Su Xiaonuan felt another pang of heartache.

Hopefully this spray will work!

She then casually spent 10 merit points to buy a [Street Vendor Megaphone], which was her last investment.

Current merit points: 40.

They were dirt poor.

Su Xiaonuan sighed and resignedly began preparing for tomorrow's tough battle.

She first took out the special sweet potato noodles for the "Soul Hot and Sour Noodles" from the system space.

These noodles are grayish-brown in color, thicker than regular noodles, and feel dry and firm to the touch. They have a faint sweet potato aroma.

According to the system's knowledge, this kind of vermicelli needs to be soaked in cold water for at least six hours in advance to achieve the best taste - after cooking, it is soft and chewy but has a lot of elasticity, fully absorbing the soup while maintaining its own tenderness.

She found a large basin, carefully placed the vermicelli in it, and added enough cold water to make sure it was completely submerged.

Next comes making the stock.

This is the soul of hot and sour noodles.

She took out the fresh beef bones, chicken carcasses, and pork skin delivered by the grocery store and cleaned them thoroughly.

Beef bones and chicken frames need to be blanched first to remove the scum, then rinsed with warm water.

The fat under the pig skin should be carefully scraped off, and then blanched before use.

Take out a deep soup pot, put in the prepared beef bones, chicken carcass, and pork skin, add enough cold water, and add crushed ginger, a section of scallion, a small handful of Sichuan peppercorns and a few white peppercorns.

Bring to a boil over high heat, skim off any remaining foam, then reduce to a simmer and cover the pot to cook slowly.

The system requires simmering for at least four hours to allow the rich flavor of beef bones, the sweetness of chicken carcasses, and the collagen-rich texture of pork skin to fully infuse the soup.

While the soup was simmering, she began preparing the other ingredients.

Fried soybeans and fried peanuts:

Soak dried soybeans and red-skinned peanuts in cold water for half an hour, then drain them thoroughly.

Add soybeans to a cold pan with cold oil, and fry over medium-low heat until the soybeans turn golden brown and crispy, and when you bite into them, there is no raw taste inside. Remove them and drain the oil.

Fry peanuts in the same way until the skin is slightly red and the texture is crispy.

This step is extremely demanding in terms of temperature control; if the oil temperature is too high, the outside will burn while the inside remains raw.

Stir-fried bean sprouts:

Yibin pickled mustard greens are savory and delicious, and are the key to enhancing the flavor.

Finely chop the bean sprouts.

Heat a little oil in a pan, then add the chopped pickled mustard greens and stir-fry over low heat until the moisture evaporates and a rich, dry aroma is released.

Making chili oil:

This is the source of the spiciness in hot and sour noodles, and it's crucial.

She chose a mixture of three different spiciness levels of chili powder provided by the system—Erjingtiao for aroma, Chaotianjiao for spiciness, and Lanternjiao for color, and added some toasted white sesame seeds and a pinch of salt.

Pour a large amount of rapeseed oil into a pot and heat it until it smokes. Then turn off the heat and let it cool for ten seconds.

Then pour the mixture into the chili powder in three batches, stirring quickly and evenly after each batch.

The first pour of boiling oil brings out the caramelized aroma of the chili peppers, the second pour releases their spiciness, and the third pour makes the color even brighter red.

Finally, add a few drops of fragrant vinegar, and the aroma will instantly fill the air! The finished chili oil is bright red and tempting, with a tantalizingly spicy and fragrant smell.

Prepare the seasoning sauce:

Mash the garlic into a paste, add appropriate amounts of salt, sugar, MSG, special soy sauce from the system, Baoning vinegar, sesame paste diluted with sesame oil, Sichuan peppercorn powder, and freshly made chili oil, mix well and set aside.

There must be enough vinegar to bring out the tangy flavor.

Other side dishes:

Wash the bok choy thoroughly, and finely chop the cilantro and scallions.

By the time she had prepared all the ingredients, the broth was almost ready.

Upon opening the pot lid, an extremely rich and mellow aroma wafts out, and the soup has turned milky white with an enticing layer of golden oil floating on the surface.

She added a suitable amount of salt and white pepper for final seasoning, then strained the soup, leaving only the clear and delicious original broth.

All preparations were completed by nearly midnight.

Su Xiaonuan carefully arranged the broth, soaked vermicelli, and various ingredients in the refrigerated display case and container on the stall, set her alarm, and then dragged her tired body into a deep sleep.