Chapter 227 Shabu-shabu

Li Wanyue also asked Shunzi to grind the soybeans that had been soaked overnight into soy milk.

Filter out the bean dregs. She doesn’t know how to make bean dregs cake, but the bean dregs can be fed to pigs and will not be wasted.

Put the soy milk into the pot, skim off the floating residue, bring to a boil over medium heat, then skim off the floating foam on the surface, turn to low heat and simmer for about half a quarter of an hour. When oil skin appears on the surface, pick it up with chopsticks and hang it on a thin bamboo rack.

After the demonstration, it was handed over to Mrs. Fang to watch the pot. As time went on, the bean skin became thinner and thinner until no skin formed anymore.

Four pounds of beans can make about two pounds of yuba.

Set aside to dry.

Five days later, the bean sprouts had grown enough to push up the stone.

After cutting, I harvested two pots of tender bean sprouts.

I fried bean sprouts with vinegar for breakfast, which received unanimous praise.

The sun was warm, and Old Man Shen started looking for card-playing partners. He found Li Youshan, and then he asked Old Lady Shen.

Old Lady Shen snorted coldly: "I won't play cards with you. When you lose, your face becomes so long that everyone else gives in to you. Can't you see that?"

"What are you saying? Who can be happy after losing money? I lost money and you don't allow me to lose face."

Old Lady Shen glanced at him speechlessly: "Is losing only three or five copper coins worth your sullen expression? Someone who doesn't know would think you lost thirty or fifty taels of silver."

"Hey, I'll change in the future. Is it okay if I don't do this anymore? Dachuan and the others won't play with us."

Old Lady Shen said, "Even if you change, I won't play with you. I still want to play cards with Suying and Youtian's wife. You can go find Youtian and the village chief."

Old man Shen thought about it and said, okay.

Li Wanyue looked at the two sets of mahjong she had ordered, which were confiscated before she had even played two rounds. She silently asked Uncle Dafa to make two more sets.

The mahjong game in the yard was so lively that when Shen Yu came, he called out to Old Man Shen several times but he didn't hear him.

Shen Yu leaned close to Old Man Shen's ear and shouted "Grandfather".

Old man Shen almost jumped up from the stool.

He turned around and patted Shen Yu on the shoulder.

"You little bastard, I finally got lucky today. If you ruin my luck, I won't forgive you."

Shen Yu rubbed his shoulders. The old man's hands were very strong and it hurt him.

But he didn't dare to object, and just asked: "What are you playing with? How come you have new toys when I haven't been here for a few days?"

"This is mahjong, it's fun." Old man Shen replied while playing the cards in order, and the next second he shouted: "Three bamboos, leave it there and don't move, I won, hahahaha..."

Shen Yu also sat there and started watching.

After watching for a few times and figuring out how to play, he wanted to try it too, but no one at the table gave him a seat.

He had no choice but to ask Li Wanyue: "Sister-in-law, when did you come up with this mahjong, and why didn't you tell me?"

"I just made it these past few days, and I haven't had time to tell you yet."

Shen Yu wailed in pain, "If you tell me one day later, you will earn less money. It's been so many days late, how much money will you lose? Where is the blueprint? Give it to me quickly."

Li Wanyue looked at him with amusement: "You have made a lot of money this year, so it's okay to be late for a few days."

"Who would complain about having too much money?"

"It doesn't matter what day it is. I just saw you give a food box to Granny Fang. What's in it?"

"Oh, I came across a freshly slaughtered cow and brought you some beef."

Li Wanyue's eyes lit up. Beef was not something that could be eaten often at that time. Cows were important assets of the people and were protected by the government. If someone's cow died, they could not dispose of it at will but had to report it to the government. Usually the beef would end up in the officials' houses and it would be difficult for merchants to buy it even if they had money.

Li Wanyue said: "You are in for a treat today. Have you ever had hot pot?"

“What is hot pot?”

"Boil the food."

"No."

"Wait, I'll let you taste it at noon."

After saying this, Li Wanyue went to the kitchen.

Mrs. Fang immediately asked, “Miss, what are you going to do with the beef that Master Shen sent?”

Li Wanyue took a look and found several pieces of beef were good, including ox eye, tenderloin, brisket, marbling, fatty beef, and even a small piece of butter.

Great, I can make some hot pot base with it.

She looked at Granny Fang and said, "Granny Fang, isn't there an ice basin with some shrimp and mutton frozen in the basement? Take out the shrimp and mutton, wash the beef and put it in the ice basin to freeze first."

"yes."

In order to facilitate the storage of meat, someone specially made a wooden cabinet the size of a freezer. It was covered with two layers of oilcloth and an ice basin was placed inside, and the purchased meat was placed inside.

"Granny Zheng, please stew the bones into soup."

"yes."

Granny Zheng went to stew the soup.

Li Wanyue asked Hongxiu to boil the dried chilies in a clay pot until they were soft, and then chop them into pieces.

Granny Feng washed the butter, cut it into small pieces, blanched it in cold water, and then boiled out the butter.

After the oil cooled down a bit, Li Wanyue put the prepared coriander, scallion and ginger slices into the oil and fried them for a while, then removed the residue.

Pour star anise, cinnamon, bay leaves, etc. into the oil and remove them after a while.

Finally, turn to low heat and add chopped chili peppers. After about a quarter of an hour, the oil will turn red. Then add bean paste, Sichuan peppercorns, a little white wine, and a little brown sugar.

Finally, add salt and a small amount of soy sauce to season, pour it into a bowl, and place it outside the window to wait for the oil to cool and solidify.

Granny Fang had already deveined and shelled the shrimps, washed them, and chopped them into fine shrimp paste.

Li Wanyue added salt, sugar, starch, pepper, onion and ginger water, and a little lard to the shrimp paste...then stirred it in one direction, shook it until it became sticky, and then beat it for a few breaths.

Put the pot into cold water, use a spoon to put the squeezed balls into the pot, boil over medium-low heat, add cold water twice, scoop out, and the chewy shrimp balls are ready.

The beef jelly is almost ready, so I asked Mrs. Fang to cut the beef into thin slices suitable for hot pot.

He also asked Qingqi Hongxiu to prepare the side dishes.

The butter had solidified. Li Wanyue cut it into six small pieces, took out one of them and added it to the bone broth to make a spicy hot pot base with red oil.

I also made a three-fresh mushroom soup base.

At this time, the people playing mahjong outside had also gotten off work. They had already smelled the fragrance and were no longer in the mood to play cards.

Hearing that it was time for dinner, the village chief and Youtian wanted to go back, but Li Youshan stopped them and asked them to stay for dinner.

Several people did not refuse and went to the flower hall.

There were too many people, so they were divided into two tables. There were four copper pots on each table. Two of the pots were filled with red oil and chili peppers, and the other two were filled with milky white soup. There were too many people, so they were afraid that two pots would not be enough.

There was some red meat on the table, but it didn't look like pork. They had never eaten beef before, but the other dishes did look like mutton.

Other items included yam, bamboo shoots, potatoes, cabbage, bean sprouts, radish, fungus, shrimp balls, tofu, chopped green onions, chopped coriander, chili oil, and a plate of bean curd sheets cut into small pieces that they didn’t recognize. They all looked raw. How could they eat them?

Li Wanyue looked at these. With limited skills, she couldn't make so many ingredients. These would do.

She picked up a bowl of sesame paste and said, "Today we are going to have hot pot. Put the meat and vegetables in a copper pot and blanch them. Then put them in the sesame paste to coat them with the sauce before eating. You can add chopped green onions, coriander, chili oil, etc. to the sesame paste to adjust the taste to your liking. Beef and mutton don't need to be boiled for too long. Just put them in the pot for about ten times. Everyone try it."