Chapter 71, The 71st Inn: Candied Hawthorn
Donkey rolls are made from glutinous rice flour. Unlike glutinous rice balls, donkey rolls need to be made and eaten on the same day, while glutinous rice balls can be refrigerated and eaten.
Yunyin mixed glutinous rice flour with water to form a paste, steamed it in a steamer, sprinkled the previously fried soybean powder onto a cutting board, rolled out the steamed glutinous rice skin thinly, put heated red bean paste inside, rolled it into a circle, cut it, and sprinkled it with soybean powder.
She plated the finished donkey rolls and took them out for everyone to try, saying, "Try these donkey rolls; they taste different from glutinous rice balls."
Cheng Yong picked up a piece first, took a bite, and said, "It's softer and chewier than glutinous rice balls, and it tastes a bit sweeter. They're both delicious, but I still prefer glutinous rice balls because they're sweeter."
Zheng Guilan and Zhang Lin replied in unison, "We both like it."
Taking advantage of her mother's inattention, Fang He also took a piece and ate it. She nodded and said, "I like them all too."
When Zheng Guilan saw Fang He's things, she squatted down and said, "You can't eat any more of this, you know? Eating too much glutinous rice is hard to digest. You're still young, so you should eat less."
Fang He nodded and said, "Mother, when can I be like you?"
Zheng Guilan patted her head and said, "When you are the same age as us, your mother will not limit how much you eat."
"I understand, Mother. I will grow up soon."
After finishing her snacks, Zheng Guilan continued to watch the fire in the braising pot. She took the pot of edamame off the stove and said, "Yun Niangzi, I've put this pot of edamame and lotus root aside. The pot over there needs to continue cooking for a while."
Yunyin walked in, picked up a chopstick of edamame to taste it. It was already marinated and flavorful, salty, fresh, spicy and numbing. It was really great as a snack. She didn't want to stop eating it. The lotus root was also very starchy. When she took a bite, the lotus root was still connected to the meat.
Because she prefers lotus root that is a bit starchy, she braises it for a long time until it's very starchy. If you want it to be crispier, you can braise it for a shorter time, and it will be crisp and delicious.
As for the braised eggs, they need to be simmered for a while longer. They can be eaten for dinner. The edamame and lotus root are also kept in the braising liquid and will be served with drinks in the evening. Yunyin put the small pot aside and said to Zheng Guilan, "The heat for braising the meat doesn't need to be too high. Simmer it slowly over low heat. I'm going to soak some wood ear mushrooms. We'll have cold wood ear mushroom salad for dinner."
Yunyin had picked some wood ear mushrooms herself in the mountains, dried them, and kept them without eating them. Later, when nearby villagers came to sell mushrooms, she bought some too and dried them. She has now stored quite a lot of wood ear mushrooms, which will be a good vegetable when there are no other vegetables available in winter. Whether stir-fried with meat or used in cold dishes, wood ear mushrooms are an extremely delicious ingredient, and city dwellers also love them. Yunyin had a hard time storing these wood ear mushrooms.
Fang He, knowing that Yunyin liked them, often went to the mountains to search for them and found quite a few for her.
Yunyin grabbed a handful of wood ear mushrooms from the warehouse, soaked them in cold water, and then blanched them in hot water before making a cold dish. The resulting wood ear mushrooms were both crisp and tender.
For dinner tonight, Yunyin made roujiamo (Chinese hamburger), and also stir-fried some noodles. After eating boiled noodles for a while, I wanted to try stir-fried noodles. After stir-frying the noodles, she cut up a large portion of braised pork and braised eggs, and then served the braised dishes. Finally, she had a big bowl of mung bean soup. There was a staple food, meat, vegetables, and dessert.
Yunyin invited Zhang Lin and the others to come over for dinner. While they were eating, voices came from the courtyard, and several people walked in, saying, "Madam Yun, we heard you're holding an event here? May we come?"
Yunyin invited the group in and said, "Old Zhao, did you come here today to see the black beans?" Then she said to the others, "You are welcome to come and see, but it may not be the same as the activities you are looking for. These are all activities organized by the students of the county school, so you may not like them."
Old Zhao patted Black Bean, who had run over. Seeing that it was well cared for and its fur was glossy and shiny, he nodded and said, "I came to see Black Bean and also to thank Lady Yun. Thank you for taking such good care of Black Bean."
Yunyin shook her head and said, "I also like black beans very much. They're probably dried out, but they help us guard the house every day, which saves us a lot of trouble."
Zhao Dalang, standing next to Old Zhao, smiled sheepishly and said, "We were thinking of bringing some fruit to sell that day, but we don't know if that's possible."
Yunyin said in surprise, "So you wanted to come here to sell fruit. I thought you wanted to come and watch the event." She smiled and said, "Of course you can sell fruit, but you can only sell it at the food stalls. Don't worry, everyone will pass by the food stalls, and if someone wants to buy fruit, they will come to you."
Zhao Dalang nodded repeatedly and said, "Thank you, Madam Yun. It's fine if you can sell it at the food stall. I'll bring people over then."
After seeing the people from Pingjiang Village off, Yunyin asked Zheng Guilan, "How's Zheng Dong's fruit sales lately? Should he have some people come here to sell it too? I reckon there will be a lot of students coming that day."
After thinking for a moment, Zheng Guilan said, "They seem to have been selling grapes a lot lately, and they should have sold most of them. As for oranges and the like, they don't grow many, but they do have hawthorns and dates. I'll ask them about it tomorrow."
Upon hearing about hawthorn, Yunyin asked curiously, "Are the hawthorns grown in your village? Or do they grow in the mountains?"
“It was Zheng Dong and his friends who planted them themselves,” Zheng Guilan said. “Including the jujubes, Zheng Dong wanted to plant them too. He said that hawthorn and jujubes are both fruits and medicinal herbs, and that pharmacies can buy them, so he planted some. However, at that time, because other fruits couldn’t be sold, not many people were willing to plant them, only Zheng Dong and his friends did.”
Yunyin said, "He grew hawthorns, so I'll have him send me some tomorrow. I want to make some candied hawthorns."
Zheng Guilan nodded and said, "I'll tell Zhang Lin to wait for me by the river tomorrow morning."
The next afternoon, Zheng Dong carried over a basket of hawthorns and red dates, and said to Yun Yin with a smile, "Miss Yun, you've patronized my business again. I've come to give you dates and hawthorns."
“It’s just that it’s Frost’s Descent period recently, so these hawthorns taste a bit sweeter.” Zheng Dong put down the bamboo basket and said, “These hawthorns were quite sour a while ago. I heard from Zhang Lin that his wife wanted to make candied hawthorns, so these hawthorns are just right.”
Yunyin stepped forward to take a look. The dates were still green. She picked one up, wiped it, and ate it. It wasn't particularly sweet, but it was very crisp and had a slight sweetness. She smiled and said, "Thank you. I heard that you sell your hawthorns to pharmacies. It's kind of you to sell them to me."
Zheng Dong said, "Miss Yun doesn't need much. This is nothing. I'm happy to help you. As for the pharmacies in the county, they only need that many hawthorns and red dates each year. We grow enough. Miss Yun doesn't need to feel guilty."
Yunyin handed the money to Zheng Dong and said, "The price of fresh is definitely different from that of dried, but thank you anyway."
After Zheng Dong left, Yunyin poured some hawthorns into a basin, washed them, removed the pits, and stuffed each hawthorn with red bean paste. This made the hawthorns sweet and sour with a rich texture.
Zheng Guilan helped clean the hawthorns and, watching Yunyin's movements, said, "Is making candied hawthorns really that complicated? I don't think the candied hawthorns in the county are made like this."
While stuffing red bean paste into her mouth, Yunyin said, "The candied hawthorns in the county are all sold to children. Even if they are a little sour, they will like them. But Miss Xia and her children may find them too sour. It's better to process them a bit so that they can accept them more easily."
Yunyin had already collected half a string of cash from each person, which was quite a sum, so she naturally wanted to do even better and make sure they ate to their hearts' content. After stuffing the hawthorns into their mouths, Yunyin went to get some oranges.
The oranges she bought this time weren't sour oranges; they were an early-ripening variety that had already turned yellow. They tasted sweet and sour, with a hint of sourness but not overly sour. They would be great for making candied oranges. Of course, sour oranges could also be used, and after being coated with rock sugar, sour oranges wouldn't be as sour. But since it was for Xia Xiaoniangzi and the others, it was better for them to be a little sweet.
Yunyin asked Zhang Lin to make a scarecrow for her, while she went to cook syrup. She didn't need to stir the syrup while cooking; she let it melt slowly on its own. She put the prepared oranges, hawthorns, and strung grapes into the pot, poured the syrup over them, and set them aside to cool.
The cooled syrup gradually solidified and hardened. By the time Yunyin finished making all the candied hawthorns she had prepared for the day, the syrup had already cooled down.
Yunyin picked out a hawthorn to try first, and nodded, saying, "It's very sweet and seedless, making it easy to eat. I'm sure Xia Niangzi and the others will like it too."
Zheng Guilan also tasted one and said, "It's really delicious, my wife. They'll be arriving tomorrow. Is what we've made enough?"
Yunyin said, "There are other snacks too. We can't just eat candied hawthorns." After saying that, Yunyin picked up a candied orange and took a bite. The juice burst in her mouth. The taste made her take back what she had just said. "I'll make some more tomorrow morning. This will probably only be enough for us."
Yunyin took the candied hawthorns to Cheng Yong and the others to try. When she saw the scarecrow Zhang Lin made, she shook her head and said, "Your skills are completely lacking. If Fu Wang were here, he could make beautiful scarecrows."
Zhang Lin scratched his head and said, "I haven't made this in a long time, I've forgotten how to make it. Lady Yun, is this still usable?"
Yunyin said, "Luckily, I'm not selling it. Just make do with it. Make a few more scarecrows. I plan to make more candied hawthorns tomorrow."
Zhang Lin replied, "Okay, I'll do it right away."
Yunyin stopped him, saying, "Eat first, then do it."
Feng Hai was still cooking in the kitchen when Yun Yin went over to help him finish cooking. She then called him over, and the group ate candied hawthorns together. A few people who were eating nearby looked at the row of people at the door and asked curiously, "Yun Niangzi, what are you eating?"
After Yunyin finished another candied orange, she asked, "Hawthorn berries? Haven't you ever had them?"
"I've had candied hawthorn before, but I've only ever had hawthorn ones, I've never seen ones made with oranges. Can I buy a skewer to try?"
Yunyin handed him a skewer and said, "Ten coins, buy more if you like it."
The man took a string of oranges with two hanging from it. He frowned and said, "Are they this expensive?" He put the oranges in his mouth, and the juice burst in his mouth, coated with a crisp sugar coating, which added a crunchy texture to the soft orange flesh. The oranges were very juicy, and the slight sourness hadn't even reached his mouth before it was covered by the sweetness of the layers of sugar coating, leaving only a refreshing sweet taste.
He squinted and said, "It tastes great, much better than eating oranges directly, and ten coins isn't expensive at all." After finishing one skewer, he looked at Yunyin and said, "I want one of the other candied hawthorns too, and another one of these orange candied hawthorns."
Seeing that this person wanted to buy more after buying some, the people around also started scrambling to buy some, saying, "Miss Yun, we want to buy some too."
Yunyin brought out three scarecrows from the kitchen and said, "We have them all, we have them all, one by one."
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