Chapter 27 Making Ginger Candy Cake
After completing the above steps, Jiang Zhi changed her menstrual belt, went outside to check the sky, and seeing that it was clear and sunny, she confirmed that it wouldn't rain. Then she continued to rummage through the dried fish that were drying in the small courtyard.
On this warm midday, I quickly skimmed through the books that Little Twist would be taking the exams later.
After having a general idea of what was going on, I covered my face with the book, closed my eyes quietly in the sun, and took a light nap.
*
When Jiang Zhi woke up again, she glanced at the sunlight and roughly knew the time: around 3 p.m.
Jiang Zhi stretched leisurely, got up and went to the kitchen, picked up the fish and sniffed it.
Sure enough, compared to the muddy smell that is common in ordinary fish, a faint aroma of rice wafted from the slightly processed fish meat.
Jiang Zhi smiled, pursing her lips:
She knew, of course, that the aroma of rice, which seemed to require close inspection to smell, would spread even more throughout the pot as it steamed in the hot air.
*
After taking a sniff, Jiang Zhi simply put the book aside and picked up a large steamer with both hands.
Putting everything else aside, the previous landlord of this house was quite kind; it has almost everything you could need in terms of furniture, even this large steamer.
As she thought about it, Jiang Zhi continued to turn on the large steamer and then put the fish, which had already been separated into sections with scallions, into the steamer.
It only needs to be steamed for about ten minutes, and it will be done.
But it's only three o'clock now, and Jiang Zhi has no plans to eat yet.
So what should we do now?
Jiang Zhi, feeling utterly bored, carried her book and paced back and forth in the room.
Suddenly, her eyes lit up!
*
She plans to make some snacks, preferably the kind that nourishes blood and replenishes qi, for herself, and also to finish preparing tonight's products!
As for what to do?
Jiang Zhi pondered for a while, flipping through the few ingredients she had taken from the Pei family earlier. After searching left and right, she finally came up with a suitable dessert.
Longan, red date, and ginger candy cake!
In order to cure her dysmenorrhea, Jiang Zhi put in a lot of effort to learn about various medicinal diets. She can be said to know the effects of all the common and readily available medicinal herbs like the back of her hand!
The beauty of this longan, red date, and ginger candy cake lies in the following: longan, also known as dried longan pulp, nourishes the spirit; red dates replenish blood; ginger dispels cold; and red dates warm the meridians.
And most importantly, all four of these raw materials are mild in nature, and can be said to have almost no defects and can even help regulate the body in daily life!
As for whether it tasted strange, Jiang Zhi simply ignored that point.
She was quite confident about this little thing. As long as the raw materials were confirmed, Jiang Zhi, a former popular food blogger, could almost guarantee that nine times out of ten, the food she made would not only be extremely delicious, but at least not bad.
*
Once she made up her mind, Jiang Zhi was quick to act!
She first took some dried longan from the cupboard, peeled off the round brown shell with her hands, and then took out a small pair of scissors to separate the shell from the flesh.
As for red dates, Jiang Zhi hurriedly ran to the pharmacy again. There was no other way; the red dates stored by the Pei family had long been eaten by insects, and it was not the season for red dates on the market at this time. At least the pharmacy was fair and cheap!
After the jujubes were bought, Jiang Zhi picked through them for me, making sure they were all large and beautiful. Then she filled a basin with water and rubbed each jujube to remove the dirt. After that, she took out a small knife that Jiang Zhi made herself and, with a few picks and cuts, separated the jujube shells from the flesh inside.
As for the ginger, it was bought along the way. There were no particular requirements; as long as it was fresh, that was enough.
Take the small bamboo knife again, quickly but with controlled force, scrape off the skin of the ginger, then chop it into ginger paste and set it aside for later use.
As for sugar, brown sugar is the best. Jiang Zhi used brown sugar, which is warm in nature and sweet in taste. All she needed to do was have the shopkeeper grind the brown sugar into powder; no further processing was required.
Then take some sifted flour, and the initial ingredients are almost ready.
*
Next, we need to begin further detailed processing.
After removing the outer and inner shells, Jiang Zhi skillfully shredded the longan into thin strips; the shelled red dates were mashed into a paste. The ginger paste was already prepared and needed no further processing. Then, chunks of brown sugar were placed together with the red dates and ground together in a stone mortar.
After finishing all that, Jiang Zhi found a clean wooden basin, rinsed it slightly, and dried it.
Then, following the steps, first pour in the flour, then the red date paste mixed with brown sugar and the ginger paste, and slowly knead it with your hands so that the three ingredients are gradually incorporated into the flour, making it impossible to see any grainy texture!
After the dough had slowly formed, Jiang Zhi added the shredded dried longan along with it.
Meanwhile, while kneading the dough, Jiang Zhi kneaded the dough with one hand and slowly poured warm water into it with the other to help the dough form.
Soon, a round, dark red dough ball mixed with various bits of ginger paste, dried longan, and the like was produced.
Jiang Zhi did the same thing as before: first, she rolled the dough into a long strip, then cut it into small pieces about the length of a finger joint, and finally pressed it with her palm, and a beautiful cookie shape was formed from her hand.
After all the dough pieces had been pressed into small biscuits, Jiang Zhi thought for a moment, then quickly took out a dish of lard from the kitchen and brushed a layer of it onto each one.
Lard is perfect for making cookies, for two reasons: it's fragrant and tasteless. Rapeseed oil, on the other hand, is better suited for everyday cooking than cookies; it can even overpower the flavor of vegetables.
Therefore, one of the oils that Jiang Zhi dislikes the most is rapeseed oil.
*
After brushing on the oil, the cookie preparation is almost complete.
Logically speaking, food fried in an air fryer in modern times should be the crispiest and oil-free.
However, in ancient times there were no air fryers, so if you wanted to fry something crispy, you had to put it in a deep fryer.
However, Jiang Zhi should still avoid consuming high-oil foods during this period.
So after hesitating for a while, Jiang Zhi finally decided to steam it over water!
Jiang Zhixian changed her menstrual belt again, then added water to the iron pot on the stove and brought it to a boil over high heat.
Then, after placing the pastries in the steamer and lining the bottom with a layer of gauze to ensure they wouldn't stick, the pastries were arranged one by one on the steamer.
During this time, Jiang Zhi also made sure to leave a gap of about half a finger joint between each pastry to prevent them from sticking together after steaming.
After all this was over, she turned down the blazing fire underneath a little.
Finally, it was time to wait for it to steam. Jiang Zhi didn't intend to just sit idly by. While watching the fire, she sipped the brown sugar ginger tea she had just brewed, and flipped through a book in one hand.
*
When the faint sweet aroma wafted through the air, Jiang Zhi knew that the pot was ready.
As soon as she lifted the pot lid, a thick cloud of steam carrying a delicious aroma filled her nostrils, making Jiang Zhi take a deep breath.
The spiciness of the ginger has dissipated, replaced by a warm ginger flavor, like basking in the winter afternoon sun with a warm breeze blowing. Then, the sweetness of the dried longan also emerges from below.
Longan is actually quite sweet. When I was peeling it, it was already sticky on Jiang Zhi's fingertips. Now it's like that sugar is sticking into my nose at the same time, and the smell is so sweet it feels like it's going to sweeten my heart.
Following closely behind was the aroma of roasted red dates. The dates, bought from a pharmacy, were clearly dried when Jiang Zhi was washing them. Now, the steamed pastries also carried that warm, sun-dried scent.
*
The aroma was irresistible to Jiang Zhi, but she first checked to make sure the pastry was cooked through.
She took a clean chopstick, casually picked up a piece of pastry, stuck it in, and then pulled it out.
There was not a trace of residue left on the chopsticks that were stuck into the pastry. She put it in her mouth and tasted it gently. The crumbs left on the chopsticks were completely dry.
She knew then that the pastry was perfectly cooked!
*
After that, she first put out the fire, and then let the pastry air dry for a few minutes. Then, Jiang Zhi gently used a bamboo spatula to push the pastry out of the gauze and placed it on a sieve that had been prepared in advance. This was to cool it down and also to dry it a little more in the afterglow of the sun.
During this time, Jiang Zhi also sat on a chair nearby to prevent any birds from trying to get down and "get something for nothing"! Whenever she saw a sparrow circling above, she would smile and pick up a palm-leaf fan, fanning it twice, and the sparrow would be scared away.
*
When the last rays of the sun were no longer too intense, Jiang Zhi began to pack up the pastries.
She took a jar and dropped the pastries into it one by one, separating them with parchment paper in between.
We can pack it up and take it out tonight. It's easy and effortless, just right!
She also kept enough for those few people, planning to let them try it out later, and of course, she also wanted to make some money from it!
According to Jiang Zhi, those five VIP clients are the ones who can afford to spend the most money!
*
With the pastries almost finished, Jiang Zhi started a fire again and began steaming the fish that had already been placed in the steamer.
She washed some more rice, added some red dates to it, and planned to eat it with the steamed fish later!
As for why Jiang Zhi added red dates, firstly, she bought a bit too many when making the pastries, and secondly, adding red dates to rice really makes it taste delicious!
This is also one of Jiang Zhi's personal secret recipes, which explains why rice in restaurants is often sweeter and softer than rice at home!
Jiang Zhi forgot the exact reason, but this method does give rice a slightly sweet taste!
After both items were steamed, Jiang Zhi began to prepare the sauce.
Yes, although the fish is said to be steamed, it still needs to be served with some dipping sauce.
Half a dish of soy sauce, some minced garlic and ginger, along with finely chopped scallions, and a touch of Shaoxing wine, will be poured over the dish while it's still hot.
The aroma was simply intoxicating!
*
Two steamers in the kitchen were steaming and swirling with white vapor, while Jiang Zhi, who finally had some free time, simply sat on the doorstep and nibbled on the ginger candy cake she had just made!
Although this was Jiang Zhi's first time making the pastry, it was unexpectedly delicious.
Although a fair amount of ginger was added, the ginger flavor was surprisingly mild. Instead, it was completely masked by the aroma of the red dates and the pure sweetness of the longan, leaving only a slightly invigorating ginger taste.
Then, as you chew further, you'll find that the longan shreds aren't torn into very small pieces, giving them a chewy yet slightly soft and glutinous texture. Combined with the red dates, it creates a unique flavor profile.
Jiang Zhi couldn't help but smack her lips as she ate.
*
The fish is steamed, the dessert is ready, and the rice is cooked.
What else needs to be done?
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