"Sister, why is there more rice flour than glutinous rice flour?" With at least twice as much rice flour, Lin Chacha felt that there was much less of the fried rice cake she liked, and she was a little disappointed.
Of course, glutinous rice cakes are too cloying, and Lin Xiazhu doesn't really like them. But she wouldn't tell the truth: "Glutinous rice flour is more expensive, so let's save some and make regular rice cakes instead."
Yan Xin was a native of northern China in her previous life. She didn't understand what "a bunch of these kinds of rice cakes" or "that kind of rice cake" meant, and she didn't know what they were.
There was another person who didn't understand, and that was Xiao An. Actually, he was also brought from the north to the south by someone. He got into a car accident just a few days after arriving, so he didn't know what Banban was either.
With a large family and a small amount of rice cakes, the process was quite quick. The children would knead the dough, shape it into a small ball, and place it on a winnowing basket. Once two baskets were filled, they would start frying the rice cakes.
"Sister, fry it a little longer, like Wang Xiaoyan's, crispy and fragrant when you bite into it," Lin Chacha instructed as she added firewood.
It's fragrant and crispy, but eating too much of it can cause internal heat. Lin Xiazhu's constitution is prone to internal heat, so she doesn't like to fry things for too long.
But if my sister likes it, I'll fry it a little longer; she just won't eat it then.
Once the pan-fried rice cakes are cooked, use a strainer to scoop them out and place them on a basin to allow the oil to drip off.
Everyone gathered around, and Lin Xiaoxue quickly grabbed one, exclaiming that it was too hot.
"It's no wonder it's hot right out of the pan. Go wash your hands with cold water, or you'll get blisters. Everyone, don't rush, let it cool down a bit before eating. This stuff is heaty." Lin Xiazhu said as she started frying another batch. The pan was huge, and two baskets of batter were used up in two batches.
After frying the rice cakes, it's time for braised pork, then fried tofu, fried fish... these are all her favorite foods.
Oil-roasted pork is a local specialty. The pork, with its alternating layers of fat and lean meat, is first boiled in water until chopsticks can easily pierce it, then taken out and marinated briefly with some white sugar and rice wine.
Once the pot is almost empty, you can start heating the oil. To be honest, frying pork in oil is a high-risk activity, mainly because the fat tends to splatter everywhere when frying.
"Bang, bang, splatter!" It's no joke when hot oil splashes on your skin. It's even more dangerous if it gets in your eyes. Many people have been burned by hot oil while cooking pork during the Chinese New Year.
So Lin Xiazhu, who was terrified of death, had made thorough preparations long ago. She wore a newly bought raincoat, a thick cotton mask, and a pair of black-rimmed glasses. Fully armed, she felt her scalp tingle from the sound of oil splattering everywhere.
She wouldn't make this dish if her family didn't love it. However, she makes quite a lot of it at once, and it's not something people usually make except during holidays like Chinese New Year.
This commotion lasted until the afternoon. Everything that needed to be fried was fried, and Lin Xiazhu then called Lin Chacha to help chop meat, chopping this and that.
"It's not finished yet. There's so much fried tofu, won't it go bad?" Yan Xin couldn't help with anything except washing the vegetables.
"Shall we make dumplings?" she asked.
"You haven't had enough wontons lately? Go out and see if anyone makes dumplings, then we'll make fried rice cakes." As Lin Xiazhu spoke, her hands kept moving, quickly chopping up the pork and the dried shiitake mushrooms that had been soaked in water.
How can we celebrate Chinese New Year without dumplings?
"When in Rome, do as the Romans do, don't you understand? Stop worrying about it and come help." Lin Xiazhu could tell what she was thinking from her expression, so she didn't want to say anything more and called people over to start making Yang Doufu.
Yang Doufu is also a local delicacy. Square pieces of tofu are first deep-fried, then pork, fish, mushrooms and other ingredients are chopped up, a small amount of starch is added... A hole is made in the middle of the fried tofu, the ingredients are stuffed in, and then it is steamed in a pot and ready to eat.
"This tofu is quite delicious." Yan Xin couldn't stop eating it.
That was fresh pork and grass carp. Lin Xiazhu had carefully removed the bones from the grass carp, and the mushrooms were deep-fried. In her previous life, she rarely had the chance to eat this dish. Even when the tailor made it, she could only taste one piece and couldn't eat more.
She was so hungry for it. After breaking up with Zhao Xiaolian, she lived alone and would learn to cook these dishes herself during holidays. As she cooked more, she developed her skills.
Moreover, she's generous with the ingredients; there's plenty of meat, unlike many other families who use too much starch and too little meat to save on meat, which makes the food taste different.
Xiao An also likes to eat it. It was just cooked and not yet burged. They ate five or six pieces. "Take it easy, don't eat too much. It will be too greasy if you eat too much. It will be even tastier if you save it to make Sibao Yang Doufu tomorrow."
"You can also burger it? I thought you had to steam it before eating it." Yan Xin smacked her lips, feeling like she could eat another ten pieces.
Lin Xiazhu ignored her, because she decided to make some rice cakes for dinner. So she first steamed the rice cake skin with glutinous rice flour, and then cut the rice cake skin into small pieces and filled them with fillings.
The filling for making basil rice cakes is also made with minced pork, shiitake mushrooms, winter bamboo shoots, and green beans. The filling needs to be stir-fried first, and after wrapping, it can be eaten directly with scallion oil.
It was a tiring day, but we ate to our hearts' content. After dark, everyone washed up and went to bed at nine o'clock.
The day after tomorrow is New Year's Eve. Early in the morning, all families start slaughtering chickens and ducks. Before eating breakfast, they first worship the gods. This is an old custom.
Place a square table in front of the main gate, and put an incense burner in front of the table. If you don't have an incense burner, you can use something else instead.
Lin Xiazhu's family didn't have an incense burner, so she took a small plastic bucket filled with millet, placed three plates in front of the incense burner, with a chicken, a piece of roasted pork, and a fried fish on each plate, and then placed three cups filled with wine.
She burned some paper money and lit incense. Then, Lin Xiazhu imitated the old people, chanting incantations like a charlatan, usually in a very low voice, so that only she could hear it.
However, Lin Xiazhu was different. She spoke in a voice that everyone could hear: "...Bless our family to earn more money next year, to be in the top three in school, and for all our livestock to be fat and strong...May we have peace, health, and all our wishes fulfilled throughout the year..."
After she finished reciting, she called everyone in the family over, including Yan Xin, and gave them several sticks of incense. "Come, come, everyone, bow once, and then put the incense in the burner."
Lin Chacha was the most helpful; she repeated everything Lin Xiazhu had just said, then placed the incense sticks in the incense burner. The others didn't say anything, bowed a few times, and then placed the incense sticks in place.
Then, Lin Xiazhu symbolically set off a small section of firecracker and that was it.
"Does this really work?" Yan Xin was originally a materialist, but after experiencing time travel and Lin Xiazhu's rebirth, she was no longer so sure.
"Everyone does this, and some families even carry gifts to various local temples to pray. It takes a whole morning to go around like that. Who knows if it's effective or not?" Anyway, she just prays at home and doesn't have the energy to go around the temples.
In the morning, she had to put up couplets, and after lunch, she had to boil water to take turns bathing and putting on new clothes. She also had to cook the New Year's Eve dinner. It was another worrying and tiring day.
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