Chapter 159: Candied Haws (Additional chapters after 120,000 recommended votes)
"Oh, that would take so much sugar, I won't do it!"
Manbao was stunned for a moment, and after a moment of hesitation, he said, "But sister-in-law, I want to eat."
She felt that since she had promised her nephews and nieces, she had to keep her promise. After all, she was the elder and had to set an example.
After thinking about it, Manbao insisted, "Sister-in-law, come on, I'll buy the brown sugar."
Datou didn't run away, but lay at the door, staring at his mother eagerly. Xiao Qian was about to refuse, but she was just thinking about it. Even the youngest three girls, San Ya and Si Tou, ran up to her, raised their little heads and looked at her eagerly.
Xiao Qian thought, it was winter now and it would be rare for the children to relax, so she decided to make some snacks for them.
She agreed reluctantly, but asked Manbao: "Do you know how to make candied haws? I don't know."
Manbao immediately said, "I'm going to read a book!"
Keke has carefully searched out the relevant records and integrated them for her. In fact, the production of candied haws is similar. The yam bean only has one more step than the fruit version.
That is to cook it.
Xiao Qianshi is very talented in cooking. Manbao tells her to make many of the things he wants to eat. Sometimes he doesn’t explain clearly, such as a little salt, a little oil, without giving specific amounts, but Xiao Qianshi knows how much to add.
Feng, He and Zhou Xi all take turns cooking, but if it were up to the Zhou family, young and old, to make a choice, they would very much prefer that Xiao Qian be in charge of the kitchen all the time.
It's a pity that she is very busy, and Qian is unwilling to let her daughters-in-law be fixed on one thing. In her opinion, if little Qian is only responsible for the kitchen at home, then after the old couple is gone and the six rooms are separated, little Qian will definitely not be familiar with other things in the eldest room, and the cooking skills of the other daughters-in-law will definitely not be very good.
So even though Xiao Qian was the best cook in the family, Qian didn't let her stay in the kitchen all the time.
This time was the same. Manbao didn't know how to make candied haws, and had never even seen it being made. But as soon as she said that the yam beans should be boiled first, then dried, and then skewered, Xiao Qian knew how to make it.
She asked Daya and others to wash the yam beans, and then boil water to cook them.
The family has eaten yam beans several times, and she has figured out a way to peel them. She boils them at high temperature, takes them out, lets them dry and cool, then scrapes the skin with a bamboo knife, and rubs them gently, and the skin of the yam beans comes out.
It is much easier to peel it with a knife than when it is still raw, and it is easy to make your hands itchy when it is raw.
Manbao drooled at the yam beans and ran to the village chief's house to borrow brown sugar.
It’s too late to buy it at the market now, so just borrow it first and return it when you buy it tomorrow.
As Manbao ran, he asked Keke, "Are yam bean candied haws really delicious?"
Koko said nothing.
Manbao didn't need his answer and started talking to himself, "If it tastes good, then I'll eat two more strings. Yam beans are so delicious, its candied haws may also be delicious..."
Thinking of this, Manbao finally became looking forward to it and ran faster towards the village chief's house.
When she brought the brown sugar back, Xiao Qian had already chopped the chicken and stewed it with yam beans. Datou and the others were working hard to peel the yam beans. This is the advantage of having many children in the family. There are people to do these odd jobs, and the adults don't have to waste time.
Then Xiao Qian took Manbao into the kitchen while watching the fire and studied how to hang sugar on the candied haws.
Of course, Manbao read according to the information given by Keke. Xiao Qianshi listened to her reciting, and she didn't understand many of the words, so she had to ask her to explain.
By the time she finally figured it out, the chicken and yam beans were cooked.
Xiao Qian served the dishes and cooked some more cabbage before carrying them out. She said to the children who were excitedly rubbing the dough, "Okay, let's eat first. We'll cook after dinner. Big Head, go call grandpa, grandma, dad, mother, uncle, aunt, and eldest aunt to come back for dinner."
A group of children had already smelled the fragrance. Although they could often eat meat at home this year, they still couldn't help drooling at this time.
Datou turned around and ran to the next room, and Daya and the others also stopped and went to set up the tables, chairs and dishes.
Manbao was responsible for standing aside and waiting for food. Of course, she was checking how the yam beans were being peeled.
Although Xiao Qian agreed to make candied haws, she did not intend to spoil the children. She collected most of the two large bamboo baskets of yam beans, boiled and peeled the rest, and then put the peeled ones into the pot and stewed them with the chicken.
She had never made candied haws before and was not very confident about it, so she poured a lot of it into the pot without hesitation, thinking that if the candied haws were not successful, she could stew it with the chicken, so at least it would not be wasted, right?
She thinks that all dishes stewed with chicken are delicious. You can tell by looking at the adults and children at the table who keep picking up the yam beans from the chicken after finishing it.
So Xiao Qian cooked the remaining yam beans and found that there were only seven strings. She glanced at the children and decisively peeled one string from each string and put it on another bamboo stick. Well, there were eight strings in total.
Eight children, not one missing.
After Manbao finished teaching Daya and the others the characters they were supposed to recognize today, he ran over and said, "Sister-in-law, why are there so few characters in one string?"
"That's a lot. There are seven or eight on each string."
Xiao Qian started to cook sugar.
Sugar is not cheap, and brown sugar is even more expensive than malt sugar. Xiao Qian was afraid that the sugar would be wasted, so she turned the fire down very low. She planned that if it really couldn't be cooked, she would add a spoonful of water and boil it into syrup for everyone to drink.
Brown sugar replenishes blood.
Manbao, who knew nothing about it, squatted beside and drooled at the sight of the brown sugar in the pot.
In order to facilitate operation, Xiao Qianshi did not use a big pot but a small pot.
Manbao swallowed his saliva and said, "It smells so good, better than the candies we usually eat. Sister-in-law, I won't eat malt sugar or candy anymore. How about brown sugar?"
Xiao Qian knew that Manbao didn't like sweets very much, so she thought about it and nodded, "Okay, then I'll boil eggs with brown sugar for you every morning."
Manbao asked, "Is it delicious?"
"It's delicious," Xiao Qian said as a matter of course, "Eggs are delicious, and brown sugar is delicious too. Putting these two delicious things together will definitely make them taste even better."
Manbao doesn’t think eggs are delicious, but brown sugar looks really delicious. Anyway, she can’t not drink egg water, so eating eggs boiled with brown sugar is not bad.
Manbao happily agreed.
The brown sugar became thicker and thicker. Xiao Qian thought it was almost ready. She clumsily put the skewered yam beans into the pot, stirred them, and picked them up. Seeing that the brown sugar kept falling down and could not hold the yam beans at all, she used a spoon to pick up some more.
The first string was not very smooth, and Xiao Qianshi even broke out in a sweat.
But she didn't hesitate and quickly picked up the second string...
(End of this chapter)
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