This method was taught to her by her college roommate, who even brought some to school. After trying it, Xu Lai couldn't forget it and tried to make it herself a few times.
Cut the fish into pieces, add salt and cooking wine, and marinate overnight before cooking. This will make it more flavorful.
She fried the fish pieces, filling the kitchen with the aroma of fried food. There were also a few potatoes at home, so she peeled and cut them into strips and fried them as well.
First, drain the oil from the fried fish, then stir-fry it in a pan with green and red peppers and pickled cowpeas. It's especially good with rice. It can also be made into braised fish chunks. The fried fish is soaked in the broth and is very flavorful, but today Grandma ordered fried fish chunks, so she didn't make it.
Boiled fish is also quite simple. She had hot pot base that she had bought at home. After stir-frying the scallions, ginger and garlic until fragrant, she added the hot pot base and a spoonful of broad bean paste. After stirring until dissolved, she added water and then added the side dishes. She prepared bean sprouts and water spinach.
After the side dishes are cooked, take them out and place them at the bottom of the bowl. First, put the fish head in, then add the marinated fish meat. Once it boils, it's ready to serve. Sprinkle with dried chili peppers and drizzle with hot oil.
Xu Lai called out, "Dinner is ready!"
She took the crucian carp soup to the next room. This soup was specially cooked for Zhao Qingyun. The broth was milky white and looked especially fresh and sweet.
He had just gotten home from get off work and was cooking in the kitchen. He looked quite energetic. Xu Lai held up a bowl of soup and said, "I've brought you some extra food."
Zhao Qingyun took the shovel and walked to the table, brought it close and smelled it. "Hmm, it looks pretty good."
Xu Lai thought to herself, "Of course, you should drink more. It's to help you recover."
She went back to eat after she finished speaking. Zhao Qingyun took a moment to process what she had said. "Nourishing the body"—had he made a mistake?
Despite not admitting it in his heart, Zhao Qingyun kept drinking bowl after bowl of soup until he finished the third bowl.
The next morning, Xu Lai took the fish that had been marinating overnight out of the refrigerator, rinsed it more than a dozen times, and finally rinsed it several times with clean water before stopping.
This step is to remove the fishy smell and saltiness. After marinating for so long, the fish has absorbed all the flavor.
After washing and drying, prepare some chili ash, which Grandma ground herself last year; it's still a bit spicy.
Add a little tea seed oil to the chili ash and mix well. This step is to make the chili more sticky and more fragrant. You can skip this step if you prefer.
Place a steaming rack in the pot and line it with a layer of lotus leaves. If you don't have lotus leaves, you can use bamboo leaves or a clean cloth.
Coat the fish fillets evenly with chili ash, place them in a pot, and steam over medium heat for ten minutes.
This dish is called "Qumi Fish," a specialty from my roommate's hometown. It's actually made with red yeast rice, but she's never bought it. Using chili ash will achieve the same effect, and the taste is just as good as that made with red yeast rice.
The freshly steamed fish looks bright red, has a delicate texture, and is very spicy. You can taste the chili in every bite, making it a great accompaniment to rice. It tastes even better when it cools down, as the fish meat becomes firmer.
The grandparents had never seen this kind of cooking before, and at first they were hesitant to take a bite because it looked so spicy. Xu Lai picked up a piece for them and said, "Actually, it's not bad. I used chili peppers from home, so you should be able to handle it. Why don't you try it?"
Grandma tasted a piece and exclaimed, "It's delicious, and it smells especially good!"
Grandpa took a bite with some skepticism and said it was delicious. Xu Lai had a "See? I didn't lie to you" look on her face.
...
After several days of rain, the sun finally came out. She had time to pick the lotus pods she had promised her fans. Since she didn't know the market price and only a small number of her fans wanted to buy them, she decided to go to the village to collect about 100 jin (50 catties).
She posted a link and mentioned in the comments that interested fans could purchase it. The price was 12 yuan per jin (500g), which was 2 yuan lower than the current market price. She also suggested that people in the same province purchase it so that the goods would be fresher.
Some fans wanted lotus buds, but Xu Lai was worried that these things couldn't be transported for a long time, so she offered to deliver them to people in the same province for 8 yuan. She said that if they didn't mind the product quality issues caused by the long shipping time, they could still place an order.
This link actually generated dozens of orders. Xu Lai planned to send fifteen lotus flowers with each order. She took the gifts to her third uncle's house and said, "Could I pick a hundred or so lotus flowers from your pond to give to my fans?"
Third Uncle readily agreed, "Just go, why bring anything? We're all family, no need for formalities."
Xu Lai said, "That's true, but I can't let you suffer a loss, can I?"
"How can you call it a loss? It's just a few lotus flowers. Anyway, none of the children in the village are here now, so no one has picked those lotus flowers."
Xu Lai still made him leave the things behind. The next morning, she took a bucket and went to pick them. Xia Ning was dragged along by her to do the hard labor.
Picking lotus flowers meant they couldn't go boating, so Xu Lai, dressed in a fishing outfit, went to a shallower area where the water only reached their knees.
Xia Ning, stinging from the mosquito bites, couldn't help but say, "Honestly, you're giving it away for free, and you're going through all this trouble. Is it worth it?"
Xu Lai explained, "Most of them are my long-time fans. Without their support, my short videos might not have been so successful. Please help me this time. I'll pay you a salary and treat you to something delicious after I'm done."
Xia Ning snorted, "Then I'll have to ask for an exorbitant amount."
"Okay, just don't stuff yourself to death."
After picking the lotus flowers, she reached into the mud to feel for the lotus root tips. Xia Ning saw that her entire upper body was on the water's surface and asked with some confusion, "Xiao Lai, what are you doing?"
Xu Lai plucked a lotus root tip and showed it to her, saying, "Here, pull this one."
Xia Ning asked curiously, "You just touched it in the water and it got pulled?"
Xu Lai smiled and said, "What are you thinking about?" She pointed to the tender lotus leaves that had not yet unfolded, "You can only touch them by following the bottom of this leaf."
Xia Ning followed her instructions and touched around, and actually pulled out a white lotus root tip.
Xu Lai continued searching, and she also picked a tender lotus leaf, which she could use to wrap meat and fry it up – it was delicious!
The two spent most of the day in the pond, picking lotus tips that covered an entire lotus leaf. Xu Lai carried the lotus flowers to the road, washed the mud off her shoes by the stream, and then rushed off to pack them up.
She had several aunties pick the lotus seeds for her early in the morning. She asked them to peel some and left some lotus pods so that customers could experience peeling lotus seeds.
After peeling them, she quickly packed them up, putting them in plastic bags as well. She also packed the lotus buds, putting each one in a mesh bag, carefully packing them before sending them off.
In one morning, all the orders were shipped out. She settled the money with the aunties. It was ten yuan an hour for eighty-one days. They had only worked for half a day, and Xu Lai gave them one hundred yuan. The extra money was for picking lotus seeds, after all, it wasn't easy for them to get up so early.
After she finished her work with the lotus seeds, someone approached her and asked her to help sell yellow peaches in the village.
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