Chapter 143 Eight Treasure Tofu
Wen Zhenyi took the green dough with mugwort paste and rolled it into a pancake with a rolling pin. He then used the same method to roll the dough without any additives into a pancake and stacked it on the mugwort dough.
She rolled up two pieces of dough into a cylinder, then used a knife to remove the uneven parts on both sides and divided the dough in the middle into buns of the same size.
I found the mold in the toolbox and made some small white chrysanthemums. I dipped them in water and stuck them on the dough as decoration.
The cook watched from the side and said: "This turns out really beautiful."
Wen Zhenyi asked the cook to steam the buns: "It looks good, but it takes some effort."
“To make something delicious and beautiful, you need time and effort.”
Wen Zhen looked at the time and saw that it was getting late, so she went out to check on the roasted chicken. The skin was not dried yet, so it would take some time, but she could cook now.
The dish is ready, basically.
Wen Zhenyi returned to the kitchen and started making eight-treasure tofu.
Add water and some salt to the pot. After the water boils, pour the cut tofu into the pot and boil it. Remove the foam and pour the soup into a bowl for later use.
After washing the pot, add some water, bring it to a boil, add oil and salt, pour in the peeled peas and blanch them, then remove them with a colander and set aside.
Pour mushrooms, ham, corn shoots and white fungus into the pot, blanch them briefly, then remove and drain.
Put the squid and abalone into the pot, blanch them for a while and then remove them from the pot.
Pour out the water in the pot, wash the pot clean, pour in oil, wait for the oil to heat up, add ham, squid, and abalone and stir-fry. After frying until fragrant, add white fungus, corn shoots, mushrooms and shrimps, add cooking wine and stir well.
Finally, pour in the tofu and the soup inside. After boiling, season, add some water starch to thicken and it is ready to be served.
Sprinkle with the previously cooked peas.
"Miss Wen, this dish is also quite complicated."
"This dish is a bit more complicated to prepare. You have to add the ingredients one by one and not all at once."
As Wen Zhenyi said this, he put the lotus pod wrapped fish into the steamer and started steaming the lotus pod wrapped fish.
She also took the time to check on Chun Shuisheng's condition. It had slowly solidified and she just had to pour it out carefully in a while.
"Master Cheng, have you finished making the quail eggs?"
When Cheng Lesheng heard her shout, the quail eggs he had just peeled fell to the ground. Looking at the round quail eggs on the ground, he looked depressed.
"It's almost done, stop shouting."
Wen Zhenyi looked helpless and simply ignored him and prepared to make ice flower fried dumplings first.
She mixed flour, cornstarch, salt, oil and water into a bowl of seasoning for making ice flower later. She took out the frying pan she brought and placed it on a small stove.
The cook looked at the pot in her hand curiously: "Miss Wen, what is this?"
"This is a frying pan. It's very convenient for frying things." Wen Zhenyi also took out a round mold from the toolbox and placed it in the frying pan.
"This pot doesn't look very big, is it easy to use?"
"This has nothing to do with how easy it is to use. It has to do with the cooking method you use. The dish I'm making now is difficult to make with a large iron pot."
The cooks still didn't quite understand and could only watch her work quietly.
Wen Zhenyi poured a small amount of oil into the pot, placed the mold in the pot, and then put starch water into the mold.
She let the starch water fry in the pan for a while, then placed the wrapped dumplings in the center of the mold and fried them slowly over low heat.
When the surface was golden and crispy, she removed the mold, carefully picked up the fried dumplings with chopsticks, stood the icing flowers upright, and placed the dumplings facing downwards, making them look like peacocks with their tails spread out.
The cooks were all stunned: "How beautiful."
"Yeah, I didn't expect dumplings could do that."
Wen Zhenyi ignored them and concentrated on making the ice flower fried dumplings in his hand. The dumplings were arranged on the plate and did not need any further decoration. They were already a beautiful decoration in themselves.
Cheng Lesheng came in with peeled quail eggs and saw the icy fried dumplings on the table: "What is this?"
Wen Zhen replied without even looking up: "Ice flower fried dumplings."
"Give me a taste."
Seeing how hard he worked, Wen Zhen placed the freshly made dumplings on a small plate and handed it to him: "Here, be careful, they're hot."
Cheng Lesheng took the plate, grabbed it, and took a bite. The icy pudding was crispy and slightly salty. The dumpling's dough was chewy, and the aroma of the meaty beef filling and celery collided in his mouth. The flavors were perfectly blended, bringing out the full flavor.
Wen Zhenyi saw that he was eating so much that he almost closed his eyes, and Youwei shook his head helplessly.
She gave the task of frying the ice flower dumplings to a cook and told her how to do it. Then she took the quail eggs peeled by Cheng Lesheng and examined them carefully.
Some quail eggs still have gaps in the outer white of the egg, it's just a matter of size, but it doesn't have much impact.
She lifted a piece of damp gauze, revealing the noodles she had pulled. She pulled out one end of the noodles and began to wrap it around the quail eggs.
Cheng Lesheng was still unsatisfied after finishing his fried dumplings and wanted to have another one. But when he saw her wrapping quail eggs with noodles, he came over curiously and asked, "What are you doing?"
“Make a dish.”
"What's your name?"
"Wealthy."
"That's a good name."
Wen Zhenyi wrapped a quail egg, put some water on the end, and pinched it slightly.
Cheng Lesheng found it quite interesting: "I'll try."
Wen Zhenyi looked at his hands with some disgust: "Have you washed your hands?"
Cheng Lesheng looked down at his greasy fingers, turned around awkwardly and went out to wash his hands.
Wen Zhenyi ignored him and continued doing his own thing.
When Cheng Lesheng came back, he also pulled the other end of the noodles and followed her example to wrap the noodles around a quail egg.
But he saw that Wen Zhenyi was very relaxed when wrapping it, and his fingers were very nimble, but how come when it came to him, not only was it tangled up into a tangled mess, but it also had no shape at all?
Wen Zhenyi looked at the quail eggs in his hand that were almost deformed and said, "Master Cheng, I think you should go take a shower, change clothes and prepare for dinner."
Cheng Lesheng also got angry: "I don't believe it."
As he said this, he accidentally tore the noodles apart and broke the quail egg in his hand.
Wen Zhenyi looked at him with amusement: "This guy still needs to listen to advice."
Cheng Lesheng didn't say anything, turned around and walked out of the kitchen and walked towards his own yard.
When the cook saw her young master leave, she relaxed her tense expression and said, "The young master is finally back."
Wen Zhenyi looked at the cook in the kitchen and asked, "Is your young master not good to you?"
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Little knowledge: According to records in books such as "Suiyuan Food List", "Xipei Draft" and "Guitian Miscellaneous Notes", "Eight Treasures Tofu" was originally a royal meal. Emperor Kangxi bestowed it on Shangshu Xu Ganxue and Jiangsu Governor Song Lu (luo) as a reward.
At least three versions of Eight Treasure Tofu have appeared in later generations.
Today's Eight Treasure Tofu was researched and imitated by famous chefs in Hangzhou based on the records in medical books, and was developed into a distinctive Hangzhou delicacy.
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