The long-awaited New Year's Eve finally arrived. After breakfast early in the morning, An Ning and An Dashan began to put up couplets. Gao also helped to put up all the window paper-cuts. Finally, An Dashan pasted a festive New Year picture in the main room. As soon as the couplets, window paper-cuts and New Year pictures were put up, the atmosphere of the New Year came out, and it seemed particularly festive.
The custom in Huaishu Village is to have a New Year’s Eve dinner on the night of New Year’s Eve, so at noon An Ning simply cooked a big pot of dishes and then ate some steamed buns.
After lunch, An Ning took a short break and then started to show her cooking skills. The New Year's Eve dinner couldn't be too shabby, so An Ning decided to cook eight dishes, four cold dishes and four hot dishes. So An Ning cooked, and An Dashan was in charge of lighting the fire. The father and daughter worked well together.
Chicken is a must-have dish at the New Year’s Eve dinner, and roasted chestnut chicken is a symbol of “good luck”, so An Ning decided to make roasted chestnut chicken as the first dish.
Because the old hen was to be kept for chicken soup, An Ning chose a pheasant to make chestnut roast chicken. First, cut the pheasant into pieces, put it in a pot with cold water, and blanch it. While blanching, An Ning peeled the chestnut kernels and set them aside for later use.
After blanching the pheasant, remove it and drain the water. Add oil to the pot, add onion, ginger, star anise, cinnamon and bay leaves, sauté until fragrant, then add the chicken and stir-fry evenly, then add soy sauce and a little white wine. Put the fried chicken into the casserole, add boiling water and simmer for about a quarter of an hour, then add chestnut kernels and salt, and then simmer for another half an hour.
An Ning planned to make braised carp as her second dish, because braised carp symbolizes "abundance every year."
An Dashan bought the carp in town yesterday and had kept it in a bucket. It was only this morning that An Dashan processed the fish and put it in a basin of water to soak.
An Ning cut the fish into pieces and marinated it with some white wine, scallions and ginger to remove the fishy smell and enhance the flavor. An Ning put some lard in the pot and asked An Dashan to lightly cook it. Then he put scallions and ginger in the pot to sauté the fish until they were fragrant. After sautéing the fish, he put the marinated fish in and fried it until both sides were golden brown. Then he added boiling water and salt and simmered it on medium heat for half an hour.
For the third dish, An Ning decided to make Four Happiness Meatballs, because the Four Happiness Meatballs are round in appearance, so they symbolize reunion.
An Ning first selected a piece of meat that was 30% fat and 70% lean, chopped it into minced meat, and put the minced meat into a large bowl. Then she minced the green onion and ginger and put them into the minced meat. Then she added starch, egg white, and salt to the minced meat, a little bit of white wine to remove the fishy smell, and some soy sauce for coloring. After mixing the minced meat evenly, she set it aside for later use.
An Ning cleaned the other pot, then said to An Dashan, "Dad, light the fire over here, I'm going to start frying the meatballs." An Dashan agreed and came over to light the fire.
After An Dashan lit the fire, An Ning put the oil she used to fry the tofu balls last time into the pot. When the oil was 60% hot, she put the meat filling, which had been kneaded into balls, into the pot and fried them, exactly four.
The meatballs only need to be fried for half a quarter of an hour. An Ning takes out the meatballs and drains the oil. Then pour out all the oil in the pot, leaving a little bottom oil. Add rock sugar, stir-fry until the sugar color comes out, then add onion, ginger, garlic, pepper and star anise to sauté until fragrant. Then add water and soy sauce, then put the fried meatballs in and simmer for more than a quarter of an hour.
The fourth hot dish An Ning prepared was stir-fried bacon with garlic sprouts. An Ning first put the garlic sprouts and cut the bacon and put them aside. There is no rush to stir-fry this dish, as it will not taste good if fried too early.
After An Ning chopped the garlic sprouts and bacon, she started to cut the kelp into strips, planning to make a cold kelp salad. After cutting the kelp into strips, she minced the green onion, ginger, and garlic, and chopped the dried chili peppers, put them in a bowl, and then poured some hot oil on them when she was ready to cook.
At this time, the fish and four-happiness meatballs were ready. An Ning put the two dishes on a plate and put them aside. She cleaned one of the pots and added half a pot of water, put the steamer on it, put some steamed buns, red bean paste buns and flower buns, then washed the Chinese sausage and put it on the plate, and then put the braised carp and four-happiness meatballs that she had just put into the steamer to steam.
Clean the other pot and put a spoonful of vegetable oil that An Ning secretly took out from the space in it. When the oil is hot, pour the oil on the chopped green onion and ginger. There is no need to brush the oil in the pot, save it for frying the bacon later. Mix the kelp shreds, An Ning cut a plate of elbow flowers, a plate of pig ears, and prepare a dipping sauce.
After finishing all these, An Ning started to stir-fry the garlic sprouts and bacon. After the dishes were cooked, the steamed buns in the pot were also heated up.
An Ning said, "Dad, there's no need to light the fire. Just bring these dishes over. I'll cut the sausages and we can eat."
An Dashan agreed, took the firewood out of the stove, and brought the dishes An Ning had prepared to the table. Gao had already cooked the sour plum soup and warmed up the wine.
After serving the food, An Dashan went outside to set off firecrackers. After An Ning cut the sausages and brought them to the table, firecrackers also started popping.
As Xiao Hei is a member of the family, An Ning picked out a little of each dish for Xiao Hei before sitting at the table and starting to eat.
When An Dashan's family sat around the table and started to eat, the sound of firecrackers rang out in the village. Those who had no money to buy firecrackers also lit the bamboo they had cut, making crackling sounds.
An Dashan raised his glass and said, "This year, our family has gone through a lot of things, but we got through them all smoothly. Not only that, but thanks to Ningning, we also made a lot of money. Not only did we build a new house, we also bought land, and saved a lot of money. This first glass of wine is for Ningning."
Gao also smiled and nodded, raising the glass in her hand. An Ning smiled and said, "Dad, Mom, this is the result of our family's hard work. Let's drink this first glass of wine to celebrate the day we have today!"
After hearing An Ning's words, An Dashan and Gao nodded and said, "Okay, cheers." After that, the three members of the family raised their glasses and took a sip. Of course, only An Dashan's glass contained wine, while An Ning and Gao's glasses contained sour plum soup.
After drinking the wine, they ate a few bites of food. Both husband and wife praised An Ning's cooking. An Dashan said, "This four-joy meatball is good. It's really delicious when you take a bite!"
Gao also said: "These kelp shreds are delicious, fragrant and spicy, and they are especially refreshing." The New Year's Eve dinner was spent in laughter in the house.
After dinner, it was already dark. An Dashan lit the red lantern he had bought, and the dim yard instantly became bright.
An Ning and An Dashan cleaned up the dishes. Because they had to make dumplings for tomorrow morning, the father and daughter got busy again. An Dashan was in charge of chopping the meat, while An Ning was in charge of kneading the dough.
After An Dashan had chopped the meat and An Ning had kneaded the dough, An Ning began to mix the stuffing. After mixing the stuffing, An Dashan moved everything to the dining table in the main hall, and the three of them chatted while making dumplings.
The three of them wrapped the dumplings very quickly and finished them in no time.
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