Chapter 149: Stir-fried River Shrimp with Toona Sinensis and Spring Pancakes [First Update]...
Wen Fan has been looking forward to this toon sprout for a long time. It is the latest batch of toon sprouts in spring, with reddish-brown leaves and tender stems.
There's a saying that goes, "Eating toon sprouts in spring is better than deer antler."
At this time of year, whether in ancient or modern times, people always keep an eye on the branches of the Chinese toon tree. If they pick the leaves too early, the leaves are small and the stems are thin, and they only get a small amount from each tree, which is never enough. If they pick them too late, by the time the reddish-brown leaves turn green, the Chinese toon tree is already old.
Ideally, the toon leaves should be picked before they turn green. Whether blanched and then mixed with tofu, or stir-fried with eggs, they are a fresh and delicious taste of spring.
Wen Fan has loved eating toon since she was a child, and now that spring has arrived, Feng Huijuan said that she has seen a lot of toon on the mountain.
“I paid special attention and picked them from the foot of the mountain upwards; it took quite a while to pick them.”
The atmosphere on the mountain and at its foot is different. Some say that while the flowers of April have faded in the human world, the peach blossoms in the mountain temple are just beginning to bloom. The same applies to the Chinese toon tree.
The toon shoots at the foot of the mountain are already edible, but those further up the mountain will have to wait a while longer.
Feng Huijuan would also pick some wild vegetables that weren't very good in appearance, or mountain products that Wen Fan didn't want, and she would take them to the vegetable market to sell.
To her surprise, the business was booming.
Feng Huijuan was also very surprised when she told Wen's mother: "Such a small bunch of bracken fern sells for more than ten yuan a pound, it's ridiculously expensive."
Wen Fan didn't want the bracken she brought this time, because she thought it wasn't tender enough. But even bracken like that was quickly snapped up at the market.
Feng Huijuan has tasted the sweetness of success. Now she goes up the mountain with her husband every day, carrying down any edible wild vegetables she can find, and sets up a stall anywhere near the market. They sell very well.
When Wen Fan received these toon sprouts, he first made them at home by frying them with eggs and making tofu, then coated them in flour and deep-fried them. He ate them all. Then he made several bottles of toon chili sauce.
Freshly made chili sauce with toon leaves sealed with a layer of oil can last for a year.
Wen's mother picked out a bottle of chili sauce and sent the shepherd's purse wontons that she and Wen Fan had made to Song Hui's family.
Song Hui's surgery was already complete. She waited for the swelling to subside for over a week, and then stayed in the hospital for another week after the surgery. After half a month, Song Hui urged her son to go back to school as soon as possible.
"You don't need to worry about things at home. I'll hire a caregiver, and your Aunt Yingzhi and the neighbors visit me regularly. I'll be fine!"
Yang Tao wanted to say something, but then he remembered that Wen's mother had been going to the hospital almost every day recently. Wen's restaurant was under renovation, and Wen's mother had finally had a long-awaited vacation. Besides taking care of the renovation and the new house, she brought her own food to the hospital for almost every meal.
Sometimes it was a light soup, and sometimes it was a special pork trotter, pork rib, and beef bone soup made by Wen Fan. As a result, the people sharing the same ward were really unlucky.
They were all hospitalized because of fractures. The patient next to them was suffering from physical pain while also having to endure the fragrance in the ward.
I was tempted to swallow my pride and ask Song Hui which relative had delivered the food. With such excellent cooking skills, why wasn't she running a restaurant? Oh, she already was, and it was a well-known one called Wen Ji.
The patient took out his phone and searched online, and well, now he couldn't even bring himself to ask for a free meal.
Remember...
Once I'm discharged from the hospital, I'll definitely have to eat a few meals!
Song Hui stayed in the hospital for a full two weeks. In the later days, her room became a single room because the doctors didn't want to assign other patients. She was so hungry from making rounds that she couldn't stand it anymore; she wanted to eat but had to work, suffering terribly. How miserable was that?
So Song Hui finished her hospital stay comfortably and returned home in a great mood.
As soon as she got home, Song Hui found herself a caregiver and sent Yang Tao back to school.
The caregiver was a middle-aged woman around Song Hui's age. The two kept each other company day and night. The caregiver also felt that the job was too easy. Although it included cooking, she didn't have to worry about what to eat at all. Her employer's friend, who supposedly owned a restaurant, would occasionally send her things, and she only needed to cook them simply, and they tasted great. In just over a week, she felt like she was gaining weight.
As the doorbell rang, the caregiver smiled and said to Song Hui, "It's probably the landlady coming to deliver something again."
Song Hui gained seven or eight pounds while in the hospital, and her double chin was now visible when she pursed her lips.
"That's good, I'm starving."
When Song Hui opened the door and saw that her mother had brought her toon chili sauce and wontons, she was even happier.
After putting down her things, Wen's mother hurried back to the shop without saying a few words. The caregiver put the wontons into the pot and scooped a spoonful of toon chili sauce into a dish.
Shepherd's purse is tender and fragrant. Dipped in chili sauce, it's like spring blowing into your stomach.
After the meal, the caregiver suddenly announced that she had canceled her remaining appointments.
"Sis, didn't you say you needed to recuperate for three months? How about I stay with you for the full three months? Don't worry, I'll give you a discount."
...
Back in the shop, after Wen Fan had tried all the different kinds of toon leaves, she discovered another amazing thing.
That's—a small river shrimp!
Although many people enjoy eating small river shrimp in May, this is the time when river shrimp are carrying eggs, also known as roe shrimp. Buying some small river shrimp and stir-frying them with chives makes for a delicious dish.
River shrimp in March and April, after hibernating all winter, have exceptionally tender meat.
Wen Fan saw someone selling river shrimp at the market, so she simply bought the whole stall. She bought seven or eight pounds of river shrimp, keeping some for her own family and stir-frying the rest with toon leaves.
After cleaning the small river shrimp, fry them briefly in oil. Use only a small amount of toon sprouts, blanch them first, and then stir-fry them. This pure and exquisite combination of wild vegetable freshness and river shrimp freshness is so delicious that it's intoxicating without any seasoning.
Sitting next to Grandpa Duan were the Qu family. Qu Qingqing, whom he hadn't seen in a long time, was eating river shrimp. The tender little river shrimp didn't need to be shelled or have their heads removed. After being fried, she could pick up three or four with her chopsticks. The chewy river shrimp meat was so delicious that she didn't feel tired of eating it.
"It smells so good."
The two tables next to them also expressed similar sentiments. They had been frowning when they entered the restaurant, thinking that Wenji would have a private room after the renovation, but who would have thought that they would put all three tables together.
In a setting like this, there's no time for business talk. Let's just focus on eating.
But this disappointment disappeared when I ate stir-fried river shrimp with toon leaves.
One of the guests couldn't help but start talking after taking a few bites of the food.
“When I was a child in my hometown, my favorite thing to do was to go shrimp fishing. I would strip a willow tree, remove the leaves, leaving only the branches, tie a rope to the end of the branch, thread half an earthworm through a wire, and I could catch about ten in an afternoon, but they were all small. I could only cook half a plate of them when I got home, and I would get a scolding.”
The man next to him chimed in, "That's right, but back then we went fishing. We used a tin can, crushed a small piece of bread, tied the can to the top with some rope, and hung it on the riverbank. When we saw a fish go in, we'd quickly pull it up. Looking back, we were really brave; that river was wide."
"It's true, I went to collect river clams while others were taking a nap at noon. I almost drowned. I managed to dig myself out, soaking wet, but I didn't dare go home to tell anyone. I hid until night before going home."
"And me, and me too, when I was little..."
A plate of river shrimp instantly brought back childhood memories. A group of people talked about how to catch shrimp and fish with great expertise, making Qu Qingqing, who was watching from the side, grimace.
"So that's why my dad loves fishing but always comes back empty-handed, right?"
Mr. Qu: "...Nonsense, I clearly caught something while fishing the other day!"
I don't know if it's because he goes fishing less now, but every time he cherishes a fishing opportunity, he manages to catch something, finally shedding his reputation of being a "nobody catches anything".
Qu Qingqing complained, "You bet I just bought several hundred yuan worth of bait a few days ago. It would be a problem if I still couldn't catch anything with this."
The cost of that bait alone could buy so many fish.
Mrs. Qu gave her husband a dangerous look, while Mr. Qu felt guilty and just kept eating his food.
Mi Xiao walked over with a tray: "The second dish is spring pancakes."
The spring pancake wrappers, as thin as cicada wings, the stir-fried bean sprouts with vinegar, the hot and sour shredded potatoes, and the shredded pork with sweet bean sauce were all served in small bowls. In the empty space next to them were cleaned wild vegetables.
Dandelion, cilantro, shredded scallions, and a plate of very thinly sliced pork knuckle with a little sauce.
"Come on, let's do it ourselves and have plenty to eat and wear."
The initially distant relationship had been bridged when they reminisced about their childhoods during the previous dish. The spring pancakes, however, brought the atmosphere to a lively level. Spring pancakes aren't meant to be passed around; those thin, translucent wrappers, once kneaded in someone's hands, would make the person who was offered them one unwilling to eat it.
So let whoever wants to eat whatever they want.
The chewy pancake wraps around shredded potatoes with chili and sour sauce, topped with a touch of chili sauce—it's both satisfying and delicious. Wrapped with shredded pork in sweet bean sauce, the sweet and savory flavor is also very appealing. But among the men at this table, few are not big eaters; their favorite is still the braised pork knuckle.
A touch of scallion paired with a large pork knuckle, especially with a dash of spicy sauce—the red oil practically seeps through the pancake, almost bursting out—and then you pop it into your mouth. The knuckle is bouncy, smooth, and savory. Add a dandelion, and you can comfort yourself that it's balanced out; dandelion is known for its cooling and blood pressure-lowering properties. The fresh, tender dandelion, rolled up with the pork knuckle, neutralizes its greasiness.
Although a considerable amount of spring pancakes were served, each table finished them very quickly.
However, because there were so many people, there were always some leftover pancakes or vegetables. In the past, in business settings, no one would have eaten those. But today…
This person unceremoniously picked up the pancake and scraped off the remaining sauce, while the other person rummaged through the small bowl containing the food, saying something about the "Clean Plate Campaign".
When Mi Xiao came out of the kitchen, she was a little confused to see that all the tables were empty in a short period of time.
But the person who had finished eating the spring pancakes suddenly felt something was amiss: "We've been eating vegetables all along, can you at least give us some soup?"
If you're eating at home, a pot of corn porridge is a must. The warm, whole grain goes perfectly with the colorful spring pancakes.
Soup was served immediately. After asking Wen Fan, Mi Xiao decided to adjust the order of the dishes.
He pointed to a large earthenware pot behind him.
"The food inside is almost ready. Serve it to whoever wants it."
That big pot even included portions for our own family.
Mi Xiao learned of Wen Fan's words and went out to explain to the guests.
"There's wolfberry leaf and pork liver soup in the kitchen, who wants some?"
Goji leaves, pork liver...
The locals, who rarely have access to food, fell silent for a moment upon hearing this.
Grandpa Duan stroked his beard and said, "Goji berry leaves are good for blood circulation and eyesight, clear heat and detoxify... and nourish the liver and kidneys."
Everyone: ...
"Here, I'll have a bowl."
"I'll have a bowl too. I'm already taking liver-protecting pills."
"Waiter, give me a large bowl."
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Author's Note: Two updates in total! I'll be here a little late, around 1 PM.
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