Chapter 70, The 70th Inn, Glutinous Rice Balls
Yunyin came out of the kitchen and saw Xia Yan coming in from outside. She smiled and said, "You're here. I just made some sweet fermented rice balls. Would you like to try some?"
Xia Yan sat down next to her, scooped up a spoonful of fermented rice, and asked, "It tastes very sweet. Did you add sugar?"
Yunyin shook her head and said, "I didn't add sugar. It's the sweetness of the fermented rice. If I added sugar, this dessert would be too expensive."
Xia Yan stared at Yun Yin curiously for a long time, "You're a really strange person."
Yunyin: "Why do you say that?"
Xia Yan said slowly, "Only those who are well-off have the heart to be compassionate, but I see that you are usually very tired and not a very wealthy person. You didn't wear the fine clothes I gave you before, and you were happy wearing linen clothes. So I was just a little curious."
Yunyin: "..."
"Spiritual wealth is also wealth, and I don't think my life is bad. This kind of life is already very good." Although it can't compare to later generations, it's better than many people here. They have food and drink, a house and land.
Xia Yan nodded and said, "You're right, spiritual wealth is also wealth. I heard from A-Xuan that Xie Yan and Shen Rong are going to hold a poetry gathering here, and you're even offering a prize. I wonder if you'll offer a prize when we hold our event?"
Yunyin asked curiously, "What kind of event are you planning?"
Xia Yan sat up and said, "Since they are holding a literary gathering, then we will hold a martial arts gathering. I see that your venue is quite large. It is impossible to play polo, but it is quite good for playing Cuju (ancient Chinese football).
Yunyin: "You guys also know how to play Cuju?"
Xia Yan laughed and said, "Then you've underestimated us. Just you wait, I'll call a few friends and show you what we're capable of." She finished speaking excitedly and nudged Yun Yin, "You haven't said yet whether you'll give us a prize or not."
Yunyin snapped out of her daze, "Of course, you're holding your events here to attract customers for me, so of course I'll offer you a prize."
Yunyin had never seen women's Cuju before, and she was very curious, so she asked, "When do you plan to come? I'd like to make preparations in advance."
Xia Yan pondered for a moment and said, "Let's spend a day at their poetry gathering. We can also appreciate their talent."
Yunyin nodded and said, "No problem, I will prepare in advance. By the way, how big of a field do you need for Cuju?"
Xia Yan said, "We don't need a big venue. The space outside is enough. We're just playing for free; it's not a competitive match, so we don't need a large venue."
After Xia Yan explained, Yun Yin realized that "Bai Da" was a skill that mainly involved one or more people kicking, passing, or performing fancy ball control techniques.
Yunyin nodded and said, "I understand. I will watch your competition closely that day."
Xia Yan smiled and said, "No problem, you can participate too."
Yunyin waved her hand and said, "I don't know how, so I'd rather not go on stage and embarrass myself."
After chatting with Xia Yan, Yunyin went to the kitchen to make her lunch, while Xia Yan got up to look around the neighborhood.
Upon exiting the main hall, Xia Yan noticed the persimmons and grapes hanging in the adjacent corridor. Curious, she looked at them for a while before leading her people out of the courtyard.
The rice in the fields had already been harvested, and some people were still planting winter wheat. Xia Yan watched them work, and soon she was attracted by a patch of white plants in front of her. She walked into the field, stared at the white flowers carefully, and asked after a long while, "What kind of flower is this?"
A man working in another field saw this beautiful young lady. He hesitated for a moment, then stepped forward and said, "Greetings, madam. I've heard Lady Yun mention this once. I think it's called cotton."
"Cotton?" Xia Yan looked at the clump of cotton in surprise. "So this is cotton. I've heard of it in Chang'an, but I didn't expect to find it here."
Xia Yan returned to the inn with questions in her mind. Seeing Yun Yin still busy, she sat down to wait. When Yun Yin finished, she asked, "Miss Yun, I saw that you planted a lot of cotton in your field. Do you still have any seeds?"
Yunyin wasn't surprised that Xia Yan knew about cotton, but she was curious about her purpose for wanting the seeds. "Do you want to grow cotton?"
Xia Yan nodded and said, "I think these flowers are very beautiful and would be lovely to look at. I don't have any cotton in my garden yet, so I'd like to buy some seeds from you."
Yunyin said, "This cotton is used to make clothes, to keep warm in winter. If you only grow it for ornamental purposes, I can only give you some seeds. I will continue to grow the rest."
The cotton she planted this year was only enough for the people in her inn. Some seeds were given to the people in Linjiang Village, and the rest would only be enough for her to plant next year.
Xia Yan was surprised to hear that cotton was used to make clothes. She recalled what she had heard in Chang'an and asked curiously, "How can cotton be used to make clothes? I have heard of this plant in Chang'an, but it was only grown by wealthy families for ornamental purposes."
Yunyin: "Although the cloth woven from this cotton can only be made into coarse cloth, which is not as good as silk and hemp, it is still much better than poplar and willow catkins as stuffing. So, Miss Xia, I can't give you too many seeds."
Upon hearing this, Xia Yan nodded and said, "It's alright, you only need to sell me a few seeds. I just need to plant a few in the garden."
Yunyin smiled and said, "I'll just give you a few seeds. They're not actually worth much. The main problem is that I don't have many seeds right now. When I have more, I can give you as many as you want." Right now, she's growing African cotton. Later, she'll ask Fu Wang to search for Asian cotton in the Guangdong and Guangxi regions so she can weave fine cotton cloth.
After discussing the cotton, Yunyin asked about their event. She wasn't picky about the venue, but she wanted to know Xia Yan's requirements for the food.
"There are two events that day, and I don't think you'll be in the mood for a big meal. What I'm suggesting is to make some snacks, desserts, or sweet soups so you can fill your stomachs whenever you get hungry."
Xia Yan: "What snacks is Madam Yun planning to make?"
"For snacks, I'm planning to make some salt-baked chicken, tea eggs, and roujiamo (Chinese hamburger). They have both meat and vegetables, so they can be eaten as snacks or as main dishes. For desserts, I plan to make glutinous rice balls, donkey rolls, and chestnut cakes. It's chestnut season now, and the ingredients for these cakes are readily available. I also plan to make bowl-shaped cakes, which you should have tried before, Xia Xiaoniangzi. They taste pretty good, and you can eat them with bamboo skewers, so it doesn't get your hands dirty."
Yunyin thought for a moment and continued, "I plan to make sour plum soup, mung bean soup, rock sugar pear soup, and tofu pudding. I will also continue to prepare some jelly, so that people who come to watch can buy a serving."
After listening to her, Xia Yan nodded and said, "That's good, then let's do as Lady Yun says." Thinking of the braised dishes she had eaten before, she asked, "Isn't Lady Yun planning to make braised dishes this time? They taste very good, and I'm sure they'll like them."
Yunyin realized that the previous braising liquid was no longer usable. If she wanted to make braised dishes this time, she would need to make the braising liquid again. She thought that she was going to make roujiamo (Chinese hamburger), and the meat inside also needed to be braised. So she decided to braise a lot at once. She nodded and said, "Since the ladies like it, I'll make some more."
Xia Yan laughed and said, "I will bring more people with me. Each person will pay half a string of cash, and they can eat whatever they want inside. This way, Lady Yun can earn more money."
Yunyin smiled and said, "Well then, I'll trouble Miss Xia to inform Xie Yan and Wang Yu about this suggestion."
After discussing it with Xia Yan, Yun Yin arranged for someone to send a letter to Xie Yan, Wang Yu, and others. Then, she planned to make salt-baked chicken first. Since she was going to make salt-baked chicken, the most important ingredient, salt-baking powder, naturally needed to be prepared as well.
Yunyin went to the county town and bought sand ginger, gardenia, and licorice. These medicinal herbs were not expensive, so she bought more than she needed. She also bought some star anise, cinnamon, and Sichuan peppercorns, as well as seasonings for braising meat, and returned home with a large bag of spices.
After returning home, she ground the dried sand ginger into powder, stir-fried the gardenia, licorice, and Sichuan peppercorns, and ground them into powder as well. She mixed the powders evenly, added salt, stirred, put them in a bottle, and stored them in a dry, cool place so that she could make salt-baked chicken anytime she wanted.
Yunyin killed the chicken she bought, washed it clean and drained it. She then soaked the crushed gardenia fruit in water until the water turned golden yellow. After taking out the gardenia fruit, she evenly applied the water to the chicken. Yunyin then set the chicken aside to rest and continued to apply water to the other chickens. Once all the chickens were coated with water, she evenly applied the previously prepared salt-baked powder inside and outside the chickens, ensuring that the powder penetrated into the meat.
Then drizzle with rice wine, continue kneading, and finally drizzle with a spoonful of sesame oil to lock in the chicken flavor.
The marinated chicken needs to be left overnight. Yunyin threw all the chickens into a large vat to ensure they were thoroughly marinated.
She then went to prepare the braising liquid. Just like before, she boiled a new pot of braising spices, put the cleaned pork, pig's trotters and other ingredients into it to braise, and then, after the time was almost up, she added pig's ears and other easily cooked ingredients.
As for tea eggs, Yunyin didn't plan to make them. She just scooped out some brine and used it to braise eggs and other vegetables. She had braised edamame once before, which Wang Yu and the others particularly liked. She later planted some more beans, and today she picked some to braise edamame.
Yunyin asked Zheng Guilan to pick beans in the field, while she went to wash lotus roots. As the weather gradually cooled down, there were more and more lotus roots. She asked someone to buy a large basket of lotus roots, which she would use to make braised lotus roots today.
She used a separate pot to braise edamame and lotus root, and asked Zheng Guilan to watch the fire on the stove while she continued making desserts. Bowl cakes were easy to make, chestnut cakes were not difficult either, but glutinous rice balls were a bit more troublesome to make.
After soaking, the glutinous rice is steamed and then pounded, then coated with soybean flour. The rest is not troublesome, but the pounding is very strenuous. The same method is used for making rice cakes. After Yunyin pounded for a while, she handed it to Zhang Lin. As for Cheng Yong, he was still injured, so it was best not to let him do these physical tasks.
Ma Hao and his brother took the mushroom sauce that Yunyin had made to Mianzhou early in the morning. At this time, the only ones who could do physical labor were her, Zhang Lin, and Zheng Guilan.
The three of them took turns pounding the glutinous rice, and finally made a large bowl of glutinous rice cakes. If they wanted to eat them fresh, they could dip them in some soybean powder and sesame seeds and eat them directly.
Yunyin pinched a lump of rice from the rice cake basin, rolled it into a ball, rolled it in ground soybean powder, and then sprinkled it with sesame seeds. The round glutinous rice cake was thus made.
She took a bite, and the sweet and soft glutinous rice ball slid into her mouth. It was very chewy and tasted especially delicious. Yunyin ate one after another. If it weren't for the fact that she couldn't digest it, she really wouldn't want to stop.
Zhang Lin and the others also ate with relish. Cheng Yong looked at the glutinous rice balls and said, "I remember when I was a child, my family would make these during the New Year. It's been a long time since I've had them."
Zheng Guilan only allowed Fang He to eat a little bit, and she replied, "Only rich farmers in our village would make this, and it's very rare to eat it. Lady Yun is so generous, letting us eat as much as we want."
Yunyin smiled and said, "Let you try it first, so that we can introduce it to our guests when they come. If you yourselves don't know what it tastes like, what will you say when others ask?"
After Yunyin and the others finished eating, she continued making donkey rolls. This snack is similar to glutinous rice balls, but it uses glutinous rice flour instead of glutinous rice.
Continue read on readnovelmtl.com
