Chapter 96 Chapter 96 The Lion and the Steamed Lion's Head Restaurant Master...
When the autumn wind carrying the fragrance of osmanthus blew over Chengtian Gate, Chang'an finally bid farewell to the scorching summer and entered the golden autumn.
Duan Zhiwei woke up reluctantly to the sound of the neighborhood bell, put on his clothes and went to the backyard to wash his face.
The morning mist is slightly cool. She took a deep breath of fresh air and felt refreshed.
Yuan Shenji also changed into his guard armor and gently pinched her cheek: "On duty today, I will be back tomorrow morning."
Then he hurried out the back door.
Ah Pan was drawing water from the well and asked her, "Why did Captain Yuan leave through the back door today?"
Duan Zhi smiled so hard that he fell backwards: "Our wise and brave Captain Yuan couldn't stand the siege of the children and wanted to abandon his armor and escape."
It took A Pan a while to realize what she was talking about. He silently poured the water in the basin onto the yellow soil, and then he couldn't help laughing.
Today's breakfast is red bean paste buns and hot soy milk.
The red bean paste buns in the restaurant are white and plump and lie in the steamer. The sweet aroma of the red bean paste wafts far away along with the white steam.
It was the time when red beans were ready to be picked. Duan Zhiwei selected the best red beans in the West Market and patiently ground them into bean paste without any grains. The texture was delicate, dense and smooth, and it also contained some pine nuts fried with sesame oil.
Duan Zhiwei broke the steamed bun open, and the reddish-brown bean paste inside was tempting. The sweet aroma of the bean paste and the nutty aroma of the pine nuts blended together, making it very sweet.
The children in Xuanyangfang love sweets, and their favorite is the red bean paste buns in the restaurant. They all line up with their coins tightly grasped, and then peek at Duan Zhiwei who is busy in front of the steamer.
"Why are you all looking at me like that? Just say what you want to say." Duan Zhiwei looked down and saw a group of little people looking at her eagerly. She found it interesting and knew what they wanted to ask, so she pretended not to know to tease them.
The eldest of the children slowly moved forward a few steps and said, "Madam Duan, will Captain Yuan come back today?"
Duan Zhiwei shrugged and said regretfully, "He has to patrol Zhuque Street today."
The children lowered their heads in disappointment.
"But he will be back tomorrow." Duan Zhiwei quickly added.
The children cheered and ran away, each holding a hot, steaming red bean paste bun in their hands.
As the Qianqiu Festival was approaching, the Parthian Empire sent envoys to offer six lions and a box of talismans. The people of Chang'an had only heard stories about lions in Buddhist scriptures and had never seen a real lion, so they all crowded into the Tonghua Gate to watch the excitement.
In Buddhist scriptures, lions are guardian animals and are highly sought after and loved by the people of Chang'an. Unfortunately, the Parthian Empire was quite mysterious and wrapped the lion cages tightly with green cloth. People could only hear a few roars of the beasts but could not see the lions' appearance, which was a bit disappointing.
Yuan Shenji happened to receive this guarding job and accompanied the envoy to place the lions in the palace's menagerie, so he had the opportunity to see what the lions looked like with his own eyes.
This led to Yuan Shenji suddenly becoming the object of worship among everyone, especially children.
Every night when he returned to the restaurant, he had to face the admiring gazes of a group of children, and then he had to bite the bullet and describe to them what a lion looked like and how it was different from the painted lions in Buddha statues.
“Are lions meat eaters or vegetarians?”
“Does the lion really walk on auspicious clouds?”
"The Parthian Empire captured the lion and brought it to Chang'an, but the lion is the mount of Manjusri Bodhisattva. Wouldn't the Bodhisattva be angry?"
Their questions started to get more and more outrageous.
Yuan Shenji was a calm person to begin with, but was forced to become a storyteller. He racked his brains to answer their questions, but some of them were beyond his control, especially the question about "Will the Bodhisattva be angry?"
How does he know whether the Bodhisattva is angry or not?
Finally, when it was almost curfew, parents came to the restaurant to take their children home, and he finally breathed a sigh of relief.
Yuan Shenji went to the backyard and saw Duan Zhiwei relaxing under the osmanthus tree drinking walnut yogurt.
He said, "You are still free," and now rubbed his head in her arms, asking for a bowl of autumn pear water to soothe his throat.
"I have changed positions with General Zuo Zhonglang, and I will go to guard the Suzaku Gate tomorrow night." He really couldn't stand the child's enthusiasm, so he decided to hide away for two days.
Duan Zhiwei welcomed this with open arms. He went out and hid for two days, and was happy to relax in the restaurant.
Because of the six lions presented as tribute by the Parthian Empire, the entire city of Chang'an seemed to be injected with a certain vitality, and a "lion fever" was set off.
First, the popular lecture at Da Ci'en Temple started again, this time telling the story of "Manjushri Bodhisattva Riding a Lion", attracting countless devout men and women to come and support it.
Then the West Market Restaurant took advantage of the popularity and started performing lion dances at fixed times every day. Colorful lions rolled a ball in front of the building, and musicians performed majestic gong and drum music, which attracted many audiences to cheer. The restaurant made a lot of money.
Duan Zhiwei was buying seasonings in the West Market and saw that the restaurant made a lot of money from the lion dance, so he also got some inspiration for making money from the lion.
She planned to take advantage of this popularity and try to make a steamed crab head and put it on the menu, but it was a pity that crabs were not on the market yet. When crabs were on the market, the steamed crab head could be upgraded to crab meat crab head, which would be even more delicious.
A Pan pasted hemp paper on the wall outside the restaurant. The big words "Today's special - steamed lion head" written in ink that had not yet dried were blown away by the wind, attracting the attention of passers-by.
The butcher shop delivered the three-tenths-fat front leg meat that Duan Zhiwei had specifically requested, and the sweet and juicy water chestnuts were also on the market.
This is the best season to make steamed lion head.
Everyone in the restaurant was busy chopping the water chestnuts into dices and mincing the pork into fine paste. Duan Zhiwei stood behind Pu Tao and grabbed her wrist to teach her how to knead the dough.
"You can't coat the meat with starch directly, as it won't taste good. You should apply it on your hands and knead the meat paste in one direction, so that the meatballs will be naturally coated with starch."
You can also add some pine nuts originally used to wrap red bean paste buns, and fresh seasonal vegetables such as mushrooms, water chestnuts, melons and ginger can be cut into small pieces and mixed in.
Finally, the lion head needs to be fried in an oil pan until the surface is golden brown, then placed in a steamer and steamed, and drizzled with sweet wine and autumn oil. The fresh aroma immediately spread throughout the kitchen.
The effect of riding on the popularity was very good. When it was time for dinner, diners came in one after another. They all found it very novel and asked to try the so-called steamed lion's head.
"Mrs. Duan, is there a lion in your lion head?" the diners joked with her.
Duan Zhiwei wiped his hands with a ramie towel and said, "Of course there is. Tomorrow I will make another tiger soup, and the day after tomorrow I will make a peacock cake. I will close this restaurant and change it into a Hundred Playhouse. You all must come and support me."
The diners laughed.
Su Qi and Zhen Hui got off work and came to the restaurant. They sat down with pale faces and ordered the usual egg custard, lychee meat, pickled cucumber strips, and a pot of Xinfeng wine.
Duan Zhiwei asked curiously, "We have steamed lion's head today, it's a limited dish, it tastes great, why don't you try it?"
She felt very curious that these two people who were most willing to try new products decided not to try it this time.
Su Yu made a bitter face and said, "Don't mention it. Today, I used my connections to sneak into the zoo to see what the lions looked like, but the lion opened its bloody mouth and roared at me. I was scared to death."
The lion probably had just eaten raw meat and his mouth was full of fishy smell. He was lucky enough to be able to eat the meal, so he was not willing to order the lion's head.
The two refused to order, and Duan Zhiwei did not force them. He only served them some ordinary dishes and poured them the wine they ordered.
When dusk fell and the diners gradually dispersed, everyone in the restaurant put the dining tables in the hall together and prepared to sit down to eat.
Duan Zhiwei specially left a bowl of Lion Head for everyone. The soup in which the lion's head is soaked looks light, but it actually concentrates the essence of meat juice and vegetables such as mushrooms and water chestnuts. It is extremely delicious when you take a sip.
The lion's head is stewed until it is soft and rotten. It flows smoothly with a spoon. It is so tender that it melts in the mouth. There is no need to chew it. It can be dissipated with a light touch of the tongue. The meat is very rich and soft, but due to the addition of crisp seasonal vegetables such as water chestnuts, it does not appear greasy.
Duan Zhiwei also deliberately added a spoonful of scallion and ginger water when pounding the meat patties, which not only removed the fishy smell, but also enhanced the fragrance and stimulated the freshness.
Perhaps they were hungry, for unlike before, no one was chatting today. They all focused on eating. The little wolf simply poured the lion's head on the rice, mixed it all together, and then stuffed it into his mouth.
Soon, all the dishes on the table were devoured in no time. Everyone felt their bloated stomachs and sat down on the couch, too lazy to move.
Duan Zhi smiled and looked at everyone: "Did you eat too much?"
She smiled meaningfully and everyone looked at her warily.
Duan Zhiwei pretended to cough and said, "Since you are full, let's go to the backyard to digest the food."
She said, "The golden osmanthus in the courtyard is about to bloom. We can harvest some of them first and then make osmanthus fermented glutinous rice wine for everyone to eat."
Everyone sighed.
Yuan Shenji led the team to guard Zhuque Street today. Today, the Jinwu Guard’s corridor banquet was a plate of pickled cabbage, a dish of steamed fish and a bowl of yellow rice.
He ate without any appetite and missed his new wife's cooking very much, especially when she said with a smile when she sent him out: "Today I'm going to make steamed lion's head meat. It's a big meatball with rich and fresh flavor. It's a pity that you are on duty today, so it's a pity that you can't eat it."
Yuan Shenji felt a little disappointed and could only cheer himself up and wait for the light of dawn so that he could go back to the restaurant to eat the steamed lion's head cooked by Duan Zhiwei.
When the last gong of the third watch was struck, the waxing moon was at its highest point. It was the darkest night in Chang'an, but the young Jinwu Guards could not feel sleepy at all.
Suddenly, the sound of bells was heard in the distance.
The Jinwu Guards immediately became alert, and each of them quickly pressed the hilt of the knife.
In the thick fog, someone was running towards this side.
"Form a battle line!" Yuan Shenji drew out his Mo Dao. The Jinwu Guards immediately put arrows on the bowstrings.
The man was still running towards this side: "Don't kill me! I violated curfew and I will accept the punishment of twenty lashes willingly! But save me now, a lion is chasing me! "
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