"vomit--"
Mo Xuan was retching against the wisteria tree, his handsome face turning green, as if he wanted to vomit his guts out. He looked at Xu Milu with a strange, fearful gaze.
"This, this is what you said we were going to sell today... food?? This smell is so bad even a dog wouldn't eat it!! Your human cooks are terrifying, it's so smelly, ugh, how can you eat something this smelly!!"
"Don't worry, this stuff only smells bad, but it tastes quite delicious."
Xu Milu laughed while holding a chubby jar.
When she was grinding tofu last time, she also made a few jars of stinky tofu, which are perfect to eat now.
She makes traditional stinky tofu. First, she cuts the brine tofu into pieces, steams them until cooked, and then air-dries them until thick mold grows on them. Next, she soaks them in millet oil in a jar for fifteen days. After opening the jar, it becomes stinky tofu.
Wash the fermented black beans and put them in a pot. Add cold water in a 1:5 ratio and simmer for half an hour. After it has cooled completely, add winter bamboo shoots, dried shiitake mushrooms, white wine, salt, garlic slices, and a little alkaline water in that order. Stir and let it sit for about ten days, stirring once a day. When the brine starts to smell bad, filter out the residue, crush the fermented black beans and add them to the brine. Seal it again for half a month. Then put fresh tofu in the brine and soak it for two days.
What's made at this stage is the stinky tofu that you usually see deep-fried at food stalls.
"I don't believe you! Don't try to fool me! This smells like rotten fish and shrimp! I'd rather starve to death than eat this filth!"
Mo Xuan looked like he was being forced into prostitution, clinging tightly to the pillar and refusing to let go. Even the wisteria tree was wilted by the "soul-stirring" stench, with many of its leaves drooping.
Xu Milu patted the jar in her arms:
"When have I ever made anything that tastes bad? Trust me, it will definitely be delicious, I promise you."
"real?"
Mo Xuan hesitated for a moment, but the stench was so strong that it was too much for his eyes to bear; he wanted to believe it but dared not.
Is this thing really edible?
He was immediately caught in a mental struggle.
"Hey! Young lady! Why does your house smell so bad? Did your outhouse explode?! My nose is completely blocked!!"
Suddenly, a fat, dark-skinned man appeared on the wall next door and started yelling at Xu Milu. Upon closer inspection, it was clear that he had two cotton balls stuffed in his nose.
Xu Milu: "..."
How was she supposed to respond to that?
...
...
After a stick of incense had burned, another person, Zhu Bajie, joined the ranks of those sitting in Xu Milu's courtyard questioning whether stinky tofu was safe to eat.
"I, Old Pig, originally came to find my eldest brother. Some time ago, that Sudhana's mount, the Flower-Faced Tiger, insisted on following Master into Buddhism and becoming a sweeping servant for Master. Sudhana came to me every day demanding an explanation, so I came to find that damned monkey. But I didn't expect him to go to drink with Laozi and hasn't returned yet. Instead, I ran into this young lady making this novel dish."
Zhu Bajie was originally Marshal Tianpeng in Heaven, but unfortunately, he was reborn as a pig on Earth and is now the Clean Altar Messenger. He inevitably carries some indelible characteristics:
"It turns out that you, my little lady, resolved the misunderstanding between my master and Lady Yin. They say that 'those destined to meet will meet even if they are a thousand miles apart.' Isn't this a preordained fate that brought you to live next to Lady Yin's house and also made you meet that monkey? Hehe, it's also convenient for me, Old Pig, to come and beg for a bowl of vegetarian food."
Xu Milu poured a pot full of oil, fed the fire spirit several pieces of refined charcoal, and then washed and chopped the cilantro before she had time to answer Pigsy's question:
"This is a small eatery. If the envoy wishes to come, he is welcome to do so at any time. I happen to be serving vegetarian food today. Would the envoy find it to his liking?"
"Yes, yes, yes, it's definitely a good match. Those few bowls of vegetarian noodles I ate that day made me, Old Pig, feel so good for days. For half a month, I didn't taste anything else in my mouth. I'm not afraid of being laughed at by the young lady. I, Old Pig, just crave a good meal. As long as my belly is happy, I don't have any other worries."
Pigsy patted his round belly, looking quite pleased with himself.
“In the past, when my master and I went to seek Buddhist scriptures, we mostly ate vegetarian food on the way. I remember one time it was late at night, and my eldest brother went to a family that made tofu and got half a bowl of vegetarian food and a piece of tofu. We sprinkled some salt on it and the four of us ate it. It was quite delicious!”
This was something Xu Milu hadn't heard of before, making the pilgrimage group seem even more authentic.
As darkness fell, the oil temperature in the pot gradually rose. By the time the full moon was high in the sky, Xu Milu had almost finished preparing.
After marinating for two days, the stinky tofu is taken out, carefully wiped dry with gauze, and then picked up one by one with special long chopsticks and deep-fried.
"Sizzle sizzle—"
The black stinky tofu blocks slowly expanded in the oil, with countless tiny oil bubbles rising all around them. As Xu Milu turned them over from time to time, an indescribable aroma slowly spread.
"Inhale—inhale—"
Pigsy twitched his nose and couldn't help but smack his lips again:
"The taste has changed again, it's really amazing. The stinky smell has turned into a fragrant smell. Hehe, I, Old Pig, have never tried eating like this before."
"Actually, stinky is also a flavor. There is stinky tofu, stinky mandarin fish, and stinky amaranth. People in the south rub salt on mandarin fish, then press it down in a wooden barrel with stones. When the fish meat smells slightly stinky, they cook it with chili peppers. Although the smell is strong, the fish meat is tender and extremely delicious."
In the south, there's another type of noodle soup made with a broth simmered over high heat with snails, served with fermented, pungent bamboo shoots. A spoonful of hot snail soup is poured over it; the smell is strong, but the noodles are smooth and have an indescribable spicy and savory flavor.
Xu Milu scooped out the stinky tofu pieces, drained the oil, and fried them a second time. Then she scooped them out, placed them in a porcelain bowl, and sprinkled them with diced radish, chopped pickled vegetables, and chopped cilantro. The finishing touch was her carefully prepared sauce.
This chapter is not finished yet. Please click on the next page to continue reading the exciting content!
Continue read on readnovelmtl.com
