Peng Zhang dug in the dirt with a hoe, complaining non-stop, "Didn't they say they were going to make something delicious? They actually let me dig the dirt. What are I digging for? Can I eat the dirt?"
Although he complained, his hands kept moving. There was nothing he could do. Tian An said that he had to dig the soil by himself and Peng Zhong was not allowed to help, otherwise he would not have any share of the delicious food later.
"Hey! For the sake of stuttering, is it easy for me?"
Peng Zhong held up a lotus leaf to shade him from the sun, and inwardly he tried to suppress his laughter: "It's all because you can't control your mouth, sir! Who can you blame?"
In the yard, Tian An was directing Chen Feng to process the chickens!
Take a medium-sized chicken weighing about two pounds, remove the feathers, make a small incision under the belly, take out the internal organs, clean them and set aside.
After Tian An prepared the marinade, he put the chicken into the marinade and coated the chicken body and chicken stomach with the marinade. Then he put it aside and re-coated it every once in a while. The more times you apply it, the better the flavor will be.
I also prepared some soaked peanuts, mushrooms, lotus seeds, and some small wild fruits.
After Peng Zhang dug up the mud, he filtered it through a sieve, leaving only the clean, fine soil. He then put it in a basin, added water, and diluted the mud. Once the mud was ready, he began to process the chickens.
Tian An put all the peanuts, wild fruits and other things he had prepared in advance into the marinated chicken's stomach. After filling the chicken's stomach, he first placed the chicken's head and feet against the chicken's body and tied them up with thread.
Then take the lotus leaves that you picked earlier, wrap them tightly with two layers and tie them again with thread. Finally, wrap the whole chicken with the mixed mud and put it in the stove.
Cook and roast the chicken at the same time.
After Peng Zhang finished digging, he felt tired and hungry. He endured the hunger but dared only eat a rice dumpling to fill his stomach. The best food was yet to come. If he couldn't eat later, he would cry his heart out.
Seeing Peng Zhang's pitiful appearance, Tian An asked Chen Feng to go to the ridge of the field to dig some houttuynia cordata. Then he took out the potatoes he had dug at noon, peeled them and washed them.
The skin of freshly dug potatoes is very thin, so you just need to use a chopstick or broken tiles to gently scrape off the thin skin.
After washing the potatoes, he cut them into pieces. Tian An then prepared minced garlic, coriander, and chopped green onions, and washed and cut the houttuynia cordata that Chen Feng had dug into small pieces.
When everything is ready, pour cooking oil into a clean pot and add potatoes after the oil is hot.
After the potatoes are fried until golden and crispy, put them into a small bowl, add the onions and garlic prepared in advance, add appropriate amounts of salt, soy sauce, pepper and other seasonings, sprinkle with some white sesame seeds, and pour a small spoonful of hot oil from the pot.
With a sizzling sound, the aroma came out. After mixing it evenly, Tian An carried the fragrant fried potatoes out. Before he even left the kitchen, he saw Xiaokang and Peng Zhang, each holding onto the door frame, breathing in the aroma that filled the air.
After everyone came over, Chunxi took a handful of toothpicks, one for each person, and started eating fried potatoes.
Peng Zhang usually doesn't pay much attention to the rules towards Peng Zhong. After staying with Tian An and his group for a long time, they no longer distinguish between master and servant.
So whenever they ate at Tian An's house, the master and servants would sit at the same table. After the Tian An family moved to their new home, they set up a large round table that could accommodate eight people.
The potatoes were a little hot. Peng Zhang took a breath and said, "Tian An, hiss! What's this, hiss! How come the potatoes are, hiss! So delicious, hiss! Also, hiss! Do you have any more? Hiss! Give me, hiss! Take some back."
Tian An looked at him helplessly and said, "Can't you take a break before eating? The potatoes won't be harvested for more than a month. I'll send some over to you then."
Peng Zhang didn't care how much Tian An disliked him, he just ate and said, "I don't need you, hiss! I don't need you to send me, hiss! I can do it myself, hiss! I can do it myself."
How much can I give Tian An, a stingy man? It’s better for him to come and do it himself. He can do as much as he wants and even give some to his mother at home.
Tian An didn't know what Peng Zhang was thinking, so he just said, "It's up to you."
Tian An didn't dig many potatoes, and since there were so many people, a few pieces per person was enough.
Peng Zhang touched his stomach and smacked his lips, thinking about the roast chicken in the stove, so he didn't mention frying potatoes anymore.
After sitting in the yard for a while, he stood up on his own initiative and walked and jumped in the yard, calling it digestion.
Xiaokang saw it and said, "Brother Peng Zhang, do you want to consume more energy so that you can eat more later?"
Even though Peng Zhang refused to admit it, Xiao Kang was determined to do what he wanted and said, "You can't do it this way. Let me teach you."
As he spoke, he began to teach Peng Zhang how to squat in a horse stance. Although Peng Zhang denied it, his body followed suit unconsciously.
Tian An took a look, shook her head and went into the kitchen. There were many dishes to prepare tonight, and Mangzhong and Chunxi were too busy in the kitchen, so she had to help!
There were still a few potatoes left, so Tian An prepared to stew them with the braised pork, making a pot of braised potatoes and meat.
Tian An prepared nine dishes for the Dragon Boat Festival family dinner, five meat dishes, three vegetable dishes, and a soup.
The meat dishes included mud-braised chicken, braised pork with potatoes, sweet and sour pork tenderloin, boiled fish, and fragrant marinated quail. The vegetarian dishes included stir-fried bok choy, smashed cucumber, and egg-stuffed tofu. The soup was a simple cabbage and tofu soup.
The number of quails raised before has reached an astonishing level. Tian An is tired of eating braised meat, so he asked Chen Feng to catch eight quails for braising. The quails are small and have little meat, so they are eaten purely for the aroma.
Tian An thought that there were too many dishes, and they were all meat, so he was afraid that everyone would not be able to digest them after eating too much. So he did not cook rice, but cooked lotus leaf porridge with lotus leaves.
After the meal was ready, Tian An asked Chen Feng to pick out the mud from the stove to feed the chickens.
Then use a fire poker to break up and peel off the mud on the surface that has been burnt black, and use scissors to cut the thread that binds the lotus leaves and peel off one layer of the lotus leaves.
Place the chicken on a plate with the clean lotus leaf inside. Open the lotus leaf and remove the string that is tied around the chicken before serving.
As the nine dishes were served, they immediately attracted everyone's attention, and the tempting aroma of the dishes stimulated everyone's taste buds.
Tian An took out a small knife and handed it to Da Niu, asking him to cut the mud-braised chicken.
After washing his hands, Da Niu took the knife, and in no time, a whole chicken was perfectly cut into pieces on the plate.
After Da Niu made a gesture of invitation to Peng Zhang, everyone started to eat.
Peng Zhang first picked up a piece of the clay-braised chicken that he had been thinking about all day. After finishing it with a look of enjoyment, he squinted his eyes and shook his head, saying:
"It's bright red, with a fragrant fruity aroma. The meat is crispy and tender, and it's crispy and tender when you put it in your mouth. It has a unique flavor. Not bad, not bad!"
As a result, no one responded to him for a long time. When he opened his eyes, he saw that everyone was busy eating and the chicken was almost half gone.
He was so scared that he quickly picked up his chopsticks and joined the fight.
Both the host and the guests enjoyed the meal very much.
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