Chapter 206 White Rice Porridge, Shepherd's Purse Cake
The old lady looked up and recognized the girl who bought all her radishes yesterday. She smiled brightly. "Yes, shepherd's purse grows in spring and autumn!"
It's just that more people eat it in spring, and more people know about it, so they think it's only available in spring. In fact, it's not. Shepherd's purse in autumn grows fatter than in spring! Why? Because this vegetable grows fast in spring, and you have to pick it as soon as it emerges, otherwise it will bloom in a few days.
But in autumn, it grows slowly and blooms slowly. If you can pick it slowly, it will grow fatter and tenderer, but the taste will be lighter, not as strong as in spring.
But they are also very delicious. These grew in my radish field, so I dug them all up here!"
When it comes to vegetables, the old lady started talking nonstop. She picked up a handful of shepherd's purse and held it in her hand to show Zhao Xiaojing, showing it continuously as if to prove her words.
"Look, these are all fresh ones I dug early this morning. I was just digging up the soil. They grow in my own fields and are very delicious. They can be kept in this season. You can keep them for ten or eight days without getting them wet! Want some, girl?"
Zhao Xiaojing took a look and saw that the vegetable was indeed quite plump and tender. She hadn't eaten shepherd's purse in a long time and was craving the taste. The mention of this piqued her appetite. "How much do you have? How much is a pound?"
"One yuan per pound, very cheap! Wait for me to weigh it for you." The old lady became excited when she heard it. She packed the shepherd's purse in no time, weighed it with a pole, and looked at it with squinting eyes.
"Eleven pounds, ten yuan for everything, okay?"
"Okay, I want all the radishes too." Zhao Xiaojing waved her hand and watched the old lady happily start to pack the vegetables. In her heart, she was already thinking about shepherd's purse fried minced meat, shepherd's purse and eggs, shepherd's purse dumplings, shepherd's purse buns...
"Grandma, what time do you usually set up your stall here?" The more Zhao Xiaojing thought about it, the hungrier she became. She quickly stopped thinking and asked about the real matter.
"Before 8am, we'll be here. After 8am, we'll chase people away. If we can't sell all the goods, we'll go sell them under the Third Bridge.
I don’t sell them every day. When there are more vegetables in the fields, I send some to my grandson and bring some back to sell.”
There were ten pounds of radishes in the basket. The old lady quickly filled two large plastic bags for Zhao Xiaojing. After weighing them, she felt that the radishes were too heavy, so she pulled two more bags over them.
"Then can you please leave me your phone number? You can't buy this radish at the vegetable market. Next time I need it, I'll call you and ask if you have a stall." When Zhao Xiaojing heard that he didn't sell it every day and was a mobile vendor, she immediately asked for his phone number.
"Okay! Come, I'll call you." The old lady put three big bags of vegetables on the plastic sheet, stood up with the help of her legs, moved closer to Zhao Xiaojing, grinned, squinted her eyes and looked at Zhao Xiaojing's mobile phone to call the number.
"Girl, you know what's good. I need someone like you who knows what's good. I'd even give it to you! This radish is very juicy and delicious whether it's stewed with meat or made into soup!
I told my granddaughter-in-law that she loved radishes, so I picked some and sent them to them. But they thought they were too small to peel and refused to take any! "You ignorant spendthrifts!" The old lady got angry when she mentioned this, cursing as she pulled out the old cell phone in her pocket that was blaring music.
"You called, right? Okay, got it. Please save your phone number for me. Next time I need food, I'll call you. I won't even deliver it to them!"
The old lady handed the phone to Zhao Xiaojing and asked her to save the number, but she was still angry and kept cursing before closing the stall angrily.
Zhao Xiaojing tried to persuade the old lady with a few words, feeling both amused and helpless. She also asked the old lady what vegetables she had planted. After chatting for a while, the old lady's expression finally softened. She put the rolled up plastic sheet in the basket, thanked Zhao Xiaojing and left.
Zhao Xiaojing put the dishes away, rode the shopping cart to pick up the ordered meat and vegetables one by one, and then walked around a few times to choose a beautiful old hen, as well as dried shrimp, leg bones, water chestnuts, pig skin and other ingredients, before riding slowly back to the store.
It was still early for the supermarket to open. Zhao Xiaojing looked at the shepherd's purse and couldn't help but feel itchy.
Without buying any three-fresh bean curd, Zhao Xiaojing took out the half bowl of rice left over from yesterday from the refrigerator, added water and stirred it well, then put it directly into the pressure cooker to start cooking the porridge.
Zhao Xiaojing also followed Xiaozhi's recommendations for the amount of rice Ouyang Yidan should cook each day. Xiaozhi estimated that leftovers were minimal, at most a bowl of rice. Zhao Xiaojing and Su Yuchen would store the leftovers in the refrigerator for porridge or fried rice the next day to avoid waste.
After the porridge was cooked, Zhao Xiaojing separated some shepherd's purse, cleaned it, blanched it, wrung it dry and chopped it, added eggs and flour, stirred it evenly, added a little salt, and started to heat oil in a pan to fry shepherd's purse egg pancakes.
A small amount of oil and salt are added when blanching the shepherd's purse. After being wrung out, it becomes even greener. The chopped pieces are mixed with the bright yellow egg liquid. After the oil is hot, it is poured into the pot and spread into a circle, which slowly begins to make a sizzling sound.
Zhao Xiaojing didn't rush to flip the pan. She waited until one side was shaped before holding the pan and gently pushing and pulling it, and the shepherd's purse pancake was flipped over steadily.
The turned-up side has been fried to a slightly burnt golden color. The green shepherd's purse and the yellow and green egg liquid have all changed color. The slight fragrance of shepherd's purse mixed with the fragrance of egg drifts into the kitchen with the heat of the oil.
Zhao Xiaojing fried the pancakes a little thicker for fear that the shepherd's purse would be over-fried and lose its fragrance. Therefore, she stopped after frying two and put the remaining pancake batter in the refrigerator. She would make the pancakes again after Su Yuchen woke up.
When frying shepherd's purse pancakes, Zhao Xiaojing had turned off the pressure cooker. Now that the pressure had been released, she unscrewed the lid easily, and the aroma of rice rushed out.
Zhao Xiaojing stirred it with a spoon and nodded in satisfaction. The leftover rice had been cooked through the pressure cooker, and each grain had blossomed. A thick layer of rice oil floated on top. The sight of it was so deliciously smooth and glutinous that it made one feel even happier.
Zhao Xiaojing filled a large bowl of white porridge, opened the pickled radish from yesterday and took out a plate. She ate the porridge and the pickled vegetables with shepherd's purse and egg pancakes.
After eating it, I found the old lady's words were completely true. Autumn shepherd's purse is indeed a little lighter in flavor, not as overbearing and rich as in spring, and has a more tender texture. Mixed with egg and rolled into a pancake, it has a subtle umami flavor, and the gentle aroma of shepherd's purse lingers on my taste buds. While the flavor is slightly different from spring shepherd's purse, it's equally fragrant and lingering.
After taking two bites, Zhao Xiaojing picked up another sour radish. The radish that had been soaked for a day had absorbed all the flavor. It was sour, crisp and refreshing as soon as she put it in her mouth. If she chewed it carefully, there was a faint sweetness. It was very appetizing, as if her entire taste buds had woken up from a slumber and began to immerse themselves in the rich sour taste.
This pickling method was learned from Dong Mei in her previous life. This time, Zhao Xiaojing adjusted the proportion of the seasonings herself. Although it is just a simple side dish, one can feel that the overall taste has been improved after taking a bite. Her cooking skills have obviously improved.
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