Chapter 17, The 17th Inn: Cold Food Festival and Qing Tuan (Sweet Rice Dumplings)
Fu Wang tasted the stir-fried bamboo shoots again, and a breath of spring wafted over him. He ate with great relish. After finishing, he said to Yun Niangzi, "Even if I don't come to eat fish, I will come often. Yun Niangzi's cooking is delicious no matter what she makes."
Yunyin blushed at his praise and smiled, "Eat more if you like it."
After Fu Wang finished eating, there was hardly any food left on the table. Yun Yin rubbed her slightly full stomach and asked him, "Young Master Fu, are you still going to Xiaotao Village?"
Fu Wang shook his head and said, "I'll just guide Zhou Chang; the rest is up to him. I'll be staying in Long'an County for a while, waiting for Shi Tou and the others to return. After that, I might go to the Western Regions again."
"If I see any seeds then, I'll bring some back for you."
As he said this, he seemed to remember something and asked, "Does Lady Yun need me to bring you some pepper?"
Pepper? Yunyin also wanted this seasoning, but pepper was not something that could be found everywhere in later generations. It was said that an ounce of gold was worth an ounce of pepper.
She had inquired in the county town before and learned that only wealthy families used such expensive spices, and ordinary people had never even seen them. Her small shop certainly couldn't afford them. She could think about other spices, but she shouldn't even dream of using pepper.
Yunyin shook her head and said, "No need, pepper is quite expensive, my little shop doesn't need it."
“Although pepper from the Western Regions is expensive, it’s still much cheaper than in Chang’an. However, you don’t really need it right now.” After thinking for a moment, Fu Wang said, “Then I’ll see if there’s anything of good quality and low price that I can bring you some.”
Yunyin smiled and nodded, saying, "Thank you very much, Young Master Fu."
After seeing Fu Wang off, Yunyin tidied up the table, chairs, and dishes. Zhang Lin also returned from the official road carrying large and small bags. She quickly stepped forward to help, saying, "Why did you bring so much stuff?"
Yunyin opened the things he brought back and looked through them. Besides the mushrooms he had collected, there were also some vegetables.
She carefully put away the mushrooms and vegetables, then brought over the food she had saved for Zhang Lin, saying, "Let's eat first."
Zhang Lin plopped down, panting, and said, "Thank you, Madam Yun. I'm late. It took me a bit longer to get to the village across the street today, but I've harvested all the mushrooms I could. If I want to harvest more mushrooms, I'll have to wait until they grow back."
Yunyin looked at the mushrooms he had brought back and nodded, saying, "It's alright, these mushrooms are enough for us. Fresh mushrooms will be available in a little over a month."
Her mushroom sauce is currently only sold in the vicinity of Long'an County. Once she finds more sales channels in the future, she can also study the cultivation methods in the book, and then there will be no shortage of mushrooms.
Zhang Lin, while eating the dishes Yun Yin had specially saved, asked, "Yun Niangzi, what's the situation with those bandits? Will they affect us?"
Yunyin shook her head and said, "It's alright. I just happened to run into Young Master Fu. He said the government is handling it and it will be resolved in a couple of days. It won't affect our future business, but we still need to be careful. When you stay at the front at night, be extra careful too. If anything seems amiss, come find me on the hillside."
Zhang Lin nodded as he ate his rice, saying, "I understand. It's good that it won't affect us."
After Yunyin waited for him to finish eating and rest, she moved all his things to his room and locked them. She then soaked some red beans, placed them in the room, and said, "Let's take the basket and go to the mountain to pick some mugwort."
"Picking mugwort?" Zhang Lin asked, puzzled. "It's not even the Dragon Boat Festival yet, why would we pick mugwort?"
Yunyin: "I heard from Master Fu that the Cold Food Festival is in two days. At that time, we won't be able to cook at the shop, so we won't be able to sell noodles. I plan to make more green rice dumplings and sell them then."
When Yunyin mentioned it, Zhang Lin suddenly realized and said, "So it's already the Cold Food Festival? Then we need to prepare some sacrificial offerings. After the Cold Food Festival comes Qingming Festival, when we need to pay respects to the deceased."
Yunyin thought of her deceased grandmother and father and nodded, saying, "Go to town and buy some tomorrow. Okay, let's pick them while it's still early."
Returning to the mountains, nothing had changed because of their frequent visits. The trees remained lush and green, and the birds flitted gracefully through the woods, merely glancing at those who entered before continuing with their own activities.
Yunyin and Zhang Lin walked through the bamboo forest. Among the weeds by the roadside, they could see many mugwort leaves. She called to Zhang Lin, "Pick some, pick more."
When Zhang Lin saw the patch of mugwort leaves, he rolled up his sleeves without saying a word, put down his basket, and started picking them.
Yunyin stopped talking and went to the other side to pick more. This patch of mugwort was growing very well, better than the mugwort at the foot of the mountain. She didn't have to move much before she filled her basket to the brim. When she saw that the basket was full, she quickly called to Zhang Lin, "Alright, let's go back now that it's full. Anyway, no one else is picking these mugwort leaves, so we can come back another time."
Zhang Lin glanced at his already full basket and nodded, saying, "Okay, Lady Yun."
The two descended the mountain with a bountiful harvest. Passing by the field of Chinese toon, Yunyin sighed and said, "I've been so busy lately. I said I'd make Chinese toon sauce, but I haven't had time to."
She has to make mushroom sauce tomorrow, so she won't have time to make any more. The Cold Food Festival is in two days, and in addition to making qingtuan (green glutinous rice dumplings), she also wants to make some bowl cakes. These can also be eaten cold, and they taste just as good as qingtuan, making them perfect for the Cold Food Festival.
Besides these two, Yunyin also thought that liangpi (cold skin noodles) would be very suitable. She thought that making a bowl of sour and spicy liangpi would attract many people.
Thinking about this, Yunyin realized that there really wasn't enough time. Fortunately, she could still eat toon for another month. Once she got through this busy period, she would have time to make toon sauce.
After coming down from the mountain, Yunyin took Zhang Lin's basket and said, "You don't need to help with the rest. You can start by planting the land you cleared earlier. Didn't Sister Qian give you some seeds? Plant those first."
"You can plant some scallions, ginger, bok choy, chives, and cucumbers. As for eggplants, you can go to Sister Qian to get them after she starts cultivating the seedlings."
"Remember to bring something for your sister-in-law when the time comes, whether it's meat or eggs. Even though Sister-in-law Qian doesn't want the money we give her, we can't just take so many seeds from her for nothing. We should reciprocate by giving her something in return, so that we can get along better in the future."
Zhang Lin scratched his head and said, "I understand, Lady Yun. I'll go plant the vegetables. Can you manage by yourself?"
Yunyin put down the basket and said, "It's nothing, you go and get busy."
She waved for Zhang Lin to get on with his work, and she began to make her own preparations.
First, make the red bean paste, which is the filling for making qingtuan (green glutinous rice dumplings). Pour the soaked red beans into a pot and cook until they are soft. Then, put the cooked red beans into a sieve and mash them with a spoon to filter them.
Let the filtered red bean paste stand for a while to allow it to settle. Then pour off the water on top, leaving only the bean paste. Put it in a pot, add sugar, and stir-fry. Then add a little lard and continue stir-frying until the moisture evaporates.
After preparing the sweet and soft filling, the next step is to make the dough.
She took out the prepared glutinous rice flour and rice flour and mixed them in proportion. She washed the fresh mugwort she picked, blanched it, and then used a stone mortar to extract the juice. She added the juice to the mixed glutinous rice flour, then added a little malt syrup and kneaded it into a dough.
Yunyin had seen it in town before; there was ground glutinous rice flour and regular rice flour, but the price was several times that of rice and glutinous rice. She happened to be making steamed meat powder, so she ground some of it as well. Sure enough, she used it very quickly, and the remaining glutinous rice flour could be used to make glutinous rice balls.
However, you can hold off on making glutinous rice balls until after the Cold Food Festival.
Now, the task is to prepare the qingtuan. Yunyin rolls the stir-fried red bean paste into round balls, wraps them in the kneaded dough, and then steams them until they are cooked through and cooled before eating.
The jade-green glutinous rice balls are neatly arranged in a winnowing basket, and the whole space is filled with the unique fragrance of mugwort. Take a bite of one and you'll find it soft, glutinous, and sweet, with red bean paste that is sweet but not cloying. Even when it gets cold, it won't harden.
After making the qingtuan (green glutinous rice dumplings), Yunyin prepared the starch, also known as wheat starch, for making liangpi (cold skin noodles) and puzigao (bowl-shaped rice cakes).
Wheat starch is simply wheat flour that has been washed, dried, and ground into powder. It's used to make cold skin noodles and bowl-shaped rice cakes. In modern times, you can easily buy ready-made wheat starch in any supermarket, but in Daisho, you had to make it yourself.
Fortunately, it was simple, except that washing the face would take a little time and be tiring for one person. Luckily, Yunyin wasn't afraid of hard work, so this was nothing to her. She took out a large basin, poured in wheat flour and cold water, kneaded it into a dough, and then kneaded and washed the dough in spring water until only gluten remained.
Yunyin had discovered this spring water on the mountain before. It tasted sweet and was excellent for brewing tea, but since she didn't need tea now, she used it for cooking.
These days, the water I use for cooking is fetched from the mountain every morning. The rice cooked with it is very fragrant, and it's also suitable for washing noodles and making wheat starch.
Yunyin sat on the stool and vigorously kneaded and washed the dough until all the dough was washed, leaving only the gluten. The gluten would be steamed later and could be used to make cold noodles. The water used for washing would be left to stand for a while, and the water on top would be poured off. The rest could be used to make cold noodles and bowl-shaped rice cakes.
However, it's a bit early to make bowl cakes and cold noodles today. Yunyin will dry these sediments first, and make cold noodles and bowl cakes after making the mushroom sauce tomorrow, so they can be sold directly the day after tomorrow.
Yunyin carried the settled syrup to the sun to dry, while the qingtuan (green rice dumplings) had already cooled completely.
She covered the steamer with the lid, took the qingtuan to Zhang Lin's room and put it there, leaving one steamer for Zhang Lin to try.
Yunyin packed her things and took Qingtuan to the field to find Zhang Lin. He had already sown the seeds and was watering the field.
She looked at the two acres of land that had already been cleared and planted, and called to Zhang Lin, "Come and rest for a while, have something to eat."
Although Yunyin spent the afternoon making qingtuan (green glutinous rice dumplings) and chengfen (a type of starch), it was still early, and there was still some time before dinner. However, people who do physical labor get hungry easily, so having a snack to fill their stomachs at this time was just right.
Zhang Lin washed his hands and sat by the field, picking up a fragrant green rice dumpling and saying, "Miss Yun, is this a specialty of your hometown? Do you eat this during the Cold Food Festival?"
Yunyin also took one and said, "Hmm, this is a specialty of my hometown. We eat qingtuan during Qingming Festival. Try it and see if you like it. This one has a sweet filling, but we can also make a savory one. Let's eat this one for now, and I'll make more next year."
Zhang Lin took a bite, squinted his eyes, and then took another big bite, saying, "The sweet ones are so delicious. Is this made of red beans? It's so sweet, it's really delicious."
"Eat more if you like it. I made a lot, and I'll make some more tomorrow morning. When you go to town to buy sacrificial items tomorrow, please take some to Sister Aman for me. Let her taste the food from my hometown. Also, send some to Sister Qian's place as well."
Zhang Lin ate the green rice dumplings one after another, and nodded, saying, "I understand. I'll deliver them first thing tomorrow morning."
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