Just now, Liu Che asked him to find a place to play by himself, and Liu Tan ran out to enjoy the snow scenery.
It wasn't cold when it snowed, but when the snow melted, Liu Tan felt a little cold while walking even though he was holding a hand warmer and wearing a fur cloak. For a moment, he just wanted to eat something hot to warm his stomach.
Usually at this time, people would think of all kinds of porridge, but today Liu Tan wanted to eat rice dumplings made with fermented glutinous rice, and then he wanted to eat Yuanxiao (Chinese Yuanxiao).
Rice wine dumplings are easy to make, but they are not available at this time of the Yuanxiao Festival.
But the only advantage is that glutinous rice is already available these days, so all he needs to do is have someone mix glutinous rice flour and yellow rice flour and set them aside. The original Yuanxiao should have used rice flour, but rice was nowhere to be found these days, so he had to use yellow rice flour as a second best option. Of course, this yellow rice flour was the non-glutinous kind.
Then comes the key point of Yuanxiao - the filling.
Although there were various flavors of Yuanxiao before he traveled through time, Liu Tan’s favorite was the one with black sesame filling.
And at present, black sesame is also the easiest filling to make. If you want to make fruit flavor, not only are there few flavors available, but the processing also takes some time.
Liu Tan planned to give this thing to Liu Che as a dessert. It was almost lunchtime, so he had to hurry up.
Liu Tan had the walnuts peeled, roasted, and ground into powder, and the black sesame seeds also stir-fried until fragrant and ground into powder.
I should have added some peanuts, but unfortunately peanuts are still in America these days, and we don’t even know if peanuts as a crop have evolved. Where can I find peanuts? I can only use walnuts instead. If it were all sesame seeds, the taste would feel a bit monotonous.
After both were done, Liu Tan had someone add a little oil. These days, animal fats were generally used, so Liu Tan subconsciously wanted to add sesame oil. The cook looked bewildered and asked, "Sesame...oil?"
Liu Tan: ...
Okay, although sesame has been cultivated for many years, the smart people have not discovered that it can be used to produce oil.
Liu Tan had no choice but to keep this matter in mind and let them continue to make the fillings for the Yuanxiao.
After adding the oil, Liu Tan asked someone to add sugar and asked that the proportions be according to Liu Che's taste.
He and Lu Xuan were young and their tongues were relatively sensitive, so they were more sensitive to sweetness, but Liu Che was not like that. The food he ate was always sweeter than what Liu Tan himself ate. In the past, Liu Tan would ask his subordinates to prepare food according to his personal taste.
Time is tight today, and since Yuanxiao is a dessert, it doesn't matter if it's a little sweet. So I just asked someone to make it according to Liu Che's taste.
Sugar and oil made the walnut sesame powder become easy to clump together. Liu Tan asked the chef to roll the filling into balls, then dip them in water and put them into a wooden box filled with glutinous rice flour and shake them back and forth, so that the filling inside rolled back and forth in the glutinous rice flour. After rolling on a layer, take it out and dip it in water again, and then put it back into the wooden box to roll.
After rolling it four or five times, Liu Tan estimated that the crust was almost done and ordered his men to stop.
In this way, the Yuanxiao is ready, which is why Liu Tan said that Yuanxiao is easy to make.
However, in addition to Yuanxiao, he also asked people to make rice wine dumplings. This is simpler. Just use glutinous rice flour and water to roll them into small dumplings, and then cook them with rice wine.
When it was done, it was time for lunch.
Liu Tan led his men back to Yanshou Palace, but they found nothing. He couldn't help but ask in surprise, "Where's my father?"
The young eunuch who stayed behind whispered, "Your Majesty has taken the King of Wusun to the parade ground."
Liu Tan gasped, and instantly the image of Lu Xuan, beaten black and blue, appeared in his mind. He turned and walked quickly towards the training ground, ready to rescue his boyfriend.
As a result, when he was halfway there, he saw from afar Liu Che and Lu Xuan walking towards him, one in front and one behind. The two were talking and laughing, and there was no sign of any conflict.
Liu Tan hesitated for a moment, feeling as if something was wrong.
Liu Che saw him as soon as he raised his eyes and waved to Liu Tan.
Liu Tan glanced at Lu Xuan and found that there seemed to be nothing wrong with his movements, so he walked over to Liu Che.
Liu Che reached out and rubbed his face with disgust and said, "What have you been doing? Your face is all white and red?"
Liu Tan:!!!
He hurriedly wiped his face with a handkerchief and turned to ask Miao Rui: "Anything else?"
Miao Rui: "No... no more."
Liu Tan breathed a sigh of relief and said, "It should be glutinous rice flour."
"Glutinous rice flour?" Liu Che asked curiously, "What did you make?"
"You'll know soon, Father. This is perfect for the cold weather!"
Liu Che was intrigued by him, and the group went straight back to Yanshou Palace for dinner.
When the Yuanxiao and wine-fermented dumplings were served, Liu Che sniffed and said, "Wine?"
Liu Tan said, "The smaller one is cooked with rice wine, and the bigger one has sesame filling and is sweet!"
When Liu Che heard that it was sweet, he temporarily put the rice dumpling with glutinous rice wine aside, picked up the Yuanxiao and looked at it carefully.
The Yuanxiao is not big, but it is round and white. When you poke it with chopsticks, it feels very soft and seems to taste good.
Liu Tan saw Liu Che open his mouth and quickly said, "Wait wait... The filling inside is quite hot, take a small bite first."
Liu Tan demonstrated as he spoke. He took a small bite, and after the white and soft skin was bitten through, the black filling inside flowed into the green spoon. The contrast between the white, green and black colors was very beautiful, and it looked appetizing.
Liu Che also imitated him and took a small bite. The soft and glutinous outer skin of the Yuanxiao was very chewy when put in the mouth. When the sesame filling inside flowed out, the hot steam emitted the unique fragrance of sesame and walnuts. Combined with the sugar and oil inside, it formed a very sweet taste. Just smelling it makes people's mouths water.
Liu Che tried it and waited until the temperature dropped before eating it in one bite. The Yuanxiao was moderately sweet, mixed with the fragrance of sesame and walnuts, and it tasted really good.
Liu Che obviously liked this very much. He put down his spoon after eating two and started looking at the glutinous rice balls on the other side.
Liu Tan said at the right moment: "This should be eaten with soup. There is no filling in it, so don't worry about burning your mouth."
The little dumplings were made like pearls and looked very cute. Liu Che scooped up a few and put them into his mouth along with the soup. He was surprised to find that they were not bad at all.
The small dumplings were obviously chewier than the Yuanxiao wrappers. Paired with the sugared rice wine, they were sweet but not greasy, and Liu Che was very happy eating them.
Well, his son was right. These things are indeed suitable to eat in winter. They are sweet, fragrant and warm.
Seeing Liu Che enjoying his meal, Liu Tan turned to glance at Lu Xuan, and was shocked to find that there was nothing left in his bowl. He then witnessed the speed at which he ate. Yuanxiao (Chinese dumplings) were usually eaten in two bites, not to mention small dumplings. However, Lu Xuan's movements were clearly discernible while eating, and even if they were not elegant, they were not rude at all.
Liu Tan coughed lightly and turned to Liu Che and said, "Father, although this tastes good, it is not advisable to eat too much. Glutinous rice is difficult to digest."
Liu Che, at this age, naturally began to pay attention to health preservation. After hearing this, he felt quite sorry and asked, "What if you don't use glutinous rice?"
Liu Tan was at a loss for words: Even if we don’t use glutinous rice, we can’t eat too much oil and sugar.
After lunch, Liu Tan and Lu Xuan accompanied Liu Che for a stroll, and finally they were free - Liu Che wanted to take a nap.
After sending Liu Che back to his bedroom, Liu Tan immediately pulled Lu Xuan towards his own bedroom.
He originally thought that the food he had at noon was difficult to digest, so it would be better to walk more, so he did not let the sedan chair follow him.
Just as he was about to ask Lu Xuan what he had said to the emperor, he suddenly heard a gurgling sound.
Liu Tan paused, turned to look at Lu Xuan, and asked after a pause, "Not... not full?"
Lu Xuan looked away somewhat embarrassedly: "Yeah."
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