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After leaving his uncle's sight, Xiaoxiao was in a very good mood. Along the way, he could be heard singing. The continuous chirping sound could be heard far away in the forest, attracting the birds in the forest to chirp along.
Walking down the mountain along the path, Du Heng saw red maple leaves all over the ground. The red and yellow leaves fell on the ground like palms, and no matter which one you picked up, they were all different.
The cheerful stream was running down beside him. Du Heng glanced and saw the little crabs busy running through the cracks in the rocks. The wind in the forest blew on his body with the coolness of autumn. Du Heng felt that the bee venom was being carried away by the autumn wind.
The path was covered with thick dead branches and leaves, and it was obvious that people often walked here. The forest floor on both sides of the path was covered with dense vines, making it impossible for ordinary people to walk.
Xuan Yu walked in front to explore the way, and Du Heng followed behind to listen to Xiao Xiao singing. When Xiao Xiao sang with great enthusiasm, Du Heng was responsible for applauding Xiao Xiao and praising him for singing well. Xiao Xiao was in a very good mood, squatting in the backpack, his eyes narrowed into two slits.
Xuan Yu said, "There is a lake ahead. Maybe we can find some wild vegetables by the lake. Let's go over and take a look." Du Heng nodded, "Okay, okay."
After walking for an incense stick, a long lake appeared in front of Du Heng. The lake was deep and quiet, like a gem in the mountains. However... it was more like a pond than a lake. There was a gentle slope on the south side of the pond, and a relatively open flat land on the north side where Du Heng and his team were.
There were some aquatic plants growing on the north side of the pond, but they came at the wrong time. The edible plants of this season either came too early and nothing edible had appeared, or came too late and the fruits had already fallen.
Du Heng scooped up the clear pond water to wash his face. His purple face was reflected in the water. He looked left and right and began to dislike himself: "Oh, I don't know how many days it will take for this to heal. It's so ugly."
Xuan Yu comforted her, "It's okay. With Jing Nan's medicine, you'll be well soon."
Du Heng was extremely depressed: "Can you believe this? A Jindan-stage cultivator who survived the heavenly tribulation and killed monsters was stung by a few bees. If Wen Qiong were here, she would laugh at me to death."
Xuan Yu said softly, "She won't. If they encounter man-eating bees, even a cultivator in the Nascent Soul stage will run for his life." Du Heng muttered, "Thank you, I feel comforted."
There was a splash in the pond, and ripples appeared on the surface of the water. Du Heng looked into the pond and saw the cow sticking its head out of the water. Seeing Du Heng and the others, the cow obediently swam from the middle of the water to the shore.
Seeing Niu'er, Du Heng subconsciously went to look through his storage bag. Niu'er loved salted duck eggs, so Du Heng always kept some with him. He took out three salted eggs and handed them to Niu'er. Touching Niu's big head, Du Heng praised it: "You've worked hard recently!"
Niu'er ate the salted egg happily, and then rubbed Du Heng's palm with his ear. Du Heng asked Xuan Yu: "Is Niu'er going to the human cultivation world with us?"
Xuan Yu said in a deep voice: "The 鯥兽 cannot go. Many people in the demon world and the human world have seen it. After two days, when it recovers, it will return to the village on its own."
The 鯄兽 was breathing heavily from its nose, and its snake-like long tail was swaying slowly in the water. It lay beside Du Heng very well-behaved, and its pair of warm big eyes looked at Du Heng with watery eyes, and Du Heng's heart softened. He took out two salted duck eggs to treat the 鯄兽, and touched the 鯄兽's head. Du Heng said to himself with some regret: "You can't go with us, so you have to go back alone."
How lonely it must be, the village has become a scorched earth, and the cows and fish can only stay in the pond at the entrance of the village...
Xuan Yu comforted him, "Don't worry about the bream. It will swim along the waterway to the Nanshan Wenxin Lake, where it has its nest." After hearing Xuan Yu's words, Du Heng felt better, "I see. That's good."
After the bream finished eating the salt duck eggs, it lay on the shore to bask in the sun. Du Heng looked at the sky and said, "Dongji Mountain is too big. It seems that I can't find any edible vegetables. If it doesn't work, I can just stir-fry some pork with sour beans tonight. But Jingnan will have a problem with that. How about adding some egg soup for Jingnan? He likes that."
Xuan Yu smiled and said, "Okay. Then let's go back?"
The two stood up and carried the backpack. Only then did they realize that the backpack was empty. Xiaoxiao had disappeared. Du Heng shouted twice: "Xiaoxiao! Let's go back!"
A smiling response came from the south bank: "Chirp—"
After a while, Xiaoxiao flew over from between the trees, and there seemed to be gray-green spots on his body. Xiaoxiao landed in front of Du Heng and rubbed against Du Heng for help: "Chirp!"
Du Heng looked closely and saw that these were not spots at all. Xiaoxiao's back and buttocks were covered with half-palm-sized thorn balls. These were chestnut shells! Xiaoxiao had brought back chestnuts from the south slope! As if to confirm their identity, one of the chestnut shells had a mouth, revealing a thumb-sized hairy chestnut inside.
The chestnut shell was covered with thorns. Xiaoxiao didn't know how he had offended them, but they were particularly fond of Xiaoxiao and stuck all over him. The chestnut shell was very prickly, so Xiaoxiao didn't dare to move. He looked at Du Heng with grievance and complained about the chestnut's behavior.
Xuan Yu translated beside him: "Xiaoxiao said that he saw a fat pheasant flying into the woods. He wanted to help catch the chicken, but these things stuck to him. He is itchy and painful now, so let us help scratch him."
Du Heng didn't know whether to laugh or cry: "You are also a member of the Feathered Clan, why are you so unfriendly to chickens?" You actually want to catch chickens?
After a while, Du Heng pulled the chestnut balls off Xiaoxiao's body. Xiaoxiao was quite good at sticking to it. Eighteen chestnut balls were stuck to his body, each with two or three chestnuts. However, these chestnuts were wild chestnuts from the mountains. The largest one was only as big as a thumb, and the smallest one was only as big as a little fingernail.
However, these chestnuts are very plump. Du Heng peeled 18 chestnut balls in a row and got a small handful of chestnuts. The chestnut shell has a layer of hair on it, which doesn't look so smooth. It's not the season to eat chestnuts yet, but it may be because of the diverse climate of Dongji Mountain that the chestnuts here mature early. The chestnut shell is brown, and some chestnuts are slightly white.
The chestnuts have different shapes. Some have half of their cheeks bulging, while others are flattened on both sides.
Du Heng picked up the largest one and peeled it. As soon as he peeled off the shell, he saw a round, milky white worm rolling out from inside.
Du Heng: ...What a sin, the biggest chestnut has been wasted.
Xiaoxiao was interested in the round bug. He watched it fall to the ground and roll twice. Then he laughed at the bug and said, "Look! Round things can't even crawl!"
After laughing a few times, Xiaoxiao swallowed the insect in one gulp. He smacked his lips and shook his wings in satisfaction. This insect tasted good, not worse than a bee pupa!
Du Heng peeled another chestnut, and this time he got a ball of yellow-white chestnut meat. He handed the chestnut meat to Xuan Yu: "You can eat this."
Xuan Yu took it in his mouth and chewed it. Du Heng laughed: "Isn't it fragrant, crispy, and a little sweet?" Xuan Yu smiled and nodded: "Yes. Yes."
Du Heng squinted his eyes and looked towards the hillside to the south: "If this chestnut is bigger, it can be used to roast chicken. But chestnuts this small can also be eaten. Just boil them in water and they will be a good snack."
Xiaoxiao was flapping his wings, chirping. He wanted to eat chestnut meat too! Du Heng peeled chestnuts for Xiaoxiao while asking Xuan Yu, "Why don't we go pick some chestnuts? I'll cook them when we get home tonight. They're also good as snacks."
Xuan Yu nodded gently with a smile in his eyes: "Okay."
Soon the three of them arrived at the southern hillside. Du Heng originally thought there were only one or two chestnut trees here. Unexpectedly, half of the southern mountain was occupied by chestnut trees. The chestnut trees, big and small, high and low, blocked out the sky, and the ground was covered with fallen chestnut balls!
When some chestnut balls fall from the tree, the chestnuts inside are smashed out, and these fallen fruits are picked up by small animals in the mountains as food. However, there are so many chestnuts that you can pick up a whole basket just by picking them up.
Du Heng's spiritual energy turned, and the chestnuts on the ground fell into his backpack. He deliberately left the chestnuts with worms in them, but Xiaoxiao enthusiastically picked up the chestnuts with worms and threw them into the backpack. Du Heng could only take out another storage bag to store these chestnuts with worms.
On the way back, Xiaoxiao sat down in the backpack, holding the chestnuts with worms in them with his claws, and deftly cracked the chestnut shells with his mouth, taking out the round worms one by one. When they arrived at Yunzheng Cave, a handful of chestnut worms had already been placed on the large leaf in front of Xiaoxiao.
The moment he saw Feng Gui, Xiao Xiao held the big leaf in his mouth and flew towards Feng Gui: "Chirp~"
The uncle and nephew, who had disliked each other before setting out, now hid aside to crack insects, while Du Heng poured out the chestnuts and washed them carefully.
Jing Nan looked at the hairy chestnuts. He reached out and took one and peeled off the shell: "Why is it so small? I remember there are big chestnuts around here."
Du Heng was amused: "Hey? Jingnan, do you know chestnuts?" Jingnan put his hands in his pockets: "Of course I remember. There is a small chestnut forest on the south mountain of our village. I planted it myself. Every autumn I would go there to pick chestnuts."
Du Heng narrowed his eyes and said, "I didn't expect you would eat chestnuts."
Jing Nan nodded: "Yes, but the chestnuts on Nanshan Mountain are bigger than these. Xiaoyu helped me pick them when I was not at home last year. This thing stinks when it blooms in spring. I can't stand it and can only plant it far away."
Du Heng turned his head and looked at Xuan Yu: "Xiao Yu..." This guy looked like he had never eaten chestnuts before, which made Du Heng think he had found a new snack! And Xiao Xiao, these two teamed up to deceive Du Heng!
Xuan Yu said embarrassedly: "Well... I've never eaten such a small one. I heard you say it's edible..."
Du Heng was not convinced: "Only wild ones are fragrant! Big chestnuts are not as fragrant as small chestnuts!"
Xuan Yu scratched his head and thought, forget it, whatever Du Heng says is fine.
After a while, Yun Zheng and Lao Dao came back. Seeing the washed chestnuts in Du Heng's basket, Yun Zheng said enthusiastically, "Mr. Du, did you pick the wild chestnuts from the pond at the foot of the mountain? Can I help you pick some bigger ones? I have some big ones planted on another hill."
As he spoke, Yun Zheng carried the basket on his back and set off with Lao Dao and the others.
Du Heng poured the chestnuts in the colander into the water, and the chestnuts all sank to the bottom. Du Heng added two spoons of sugar to the pot. Such chestnuts taste very good as long as they are boiled in water. When eating, just throw them into your mouth and chew them. After the skin bursts, the flesh inside will pop out. After eating the flesh, just spit out the shell. Although this way of eating will waste some flesh, the feeling of the chestnuts bursting in your mouth is very good.
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Yun Zheng and Lao Dao returned soon, each carrying a basket on their back. In the basket were large chestnuts, each of which was very clean. Compared to the wild chestnuts of varying sizes that Du Heng had picked up, the chestnuts Yun Zheng and his friends brought back were of much better quality.
There are more than one variety of chestnuts here, including the large, flat, round chestnuts that Du Heng is familiar with, and the conical chestnuts that look like acorns. The two kinds of chestnuts are different, but they are both packed in the basket in the same neat and clean manner.
Chonghua placed a basket of chestnuts from his back in front of Xiaoxiao: "Xiaofengjun, there are bugs in them. Can you take a look?"
Feng Gui said seriously, "Chonghua, you guys spoil him too much. Just let him dig it himself. You actually brought it back to him."
Xiaoxiao rolled her eyes at her uncle, then happily jumped into the basket, picked up the chestnuts and started peeling them.
Soon a pile of bumpy chestnuts appeared on the ground. Xiaoxiao ate the worms with his butt facing Feng Gui. He never wanted to peel chestnuts for Feng Gui again!
Seeing so many chestnuts, Du Heng started to get excited. He took a basket of chestnuts, washed them, and then carved a cross on the tip of each chestnut: "Wait, I'll make sugar-roasted chestnuts for you!"
The boiled chestnuts in the pot were cooked after a stick of incense. Du Heng poured the chestnuts into a colander and called out to everyone: "The boiled chestnuts are cooked. Come and eat them!"
As soon as the words fell, Lao Dao and the others gathered around, and everyone grabbed a handful. Under Du Heng's guidance, everyone put the wild chestnuts into their mouths one by one, and only heard a slight crunching sound, and everyone tasted a mouthful of deliciousness.
Just like Du Heng said, wild chestnuts are fragrant. Jing Nan thinks wild chestnuts taste better than the big chestnuts he planted in Nanshan.
Xiaoxiao was no longer looking for bugs to eat. He stretched his neck and took a mouthful of wild chestnuts. He could hear the sound of the shells breaking. He squinted his eyes and smacked his lips, then tilted his head and spat out the chestnut shells all over the floor.
Du Heng soaked the cut chestnuts in clean water, and Xuan Yu fed him the chestnuts. Xuan Yu was very thoughtful, and the wild chestnuts he fed to Du Heng were all shelled. Du Heng smacked his lips, the wild chestnuts tasted so fragrant and sweet.
Xuan Yu peeled chestnuts slowly, and whenever he finished peeling a handful of chestnuts, he would put them into Du Heng's mouth: "Didn't you say you want to make sugar-roasted chestnuts? Why do we need to soak them in water?"
Du Heng smiled and said, "After soaking in water, the chestnuts won't be too dry when you fry them. By the way, Xuanyu, can you help me find some red gilded sand? We'll need it when we fry the chestnuts later."
Xuan Yu stuffed a handful of shelled chestnuts into Du Heng's mouth. He smiled and said, "Okay, put them in the cave, right?" Du Heng tasted the sweetness in his mouth and said, "Hmm!"
The water in the pot was drained, and the golden red Chiliujin poured into the pot looked very beautiful. Seeing that Du Heng wanted to stir-fry sugar-fried chestnuts, Feng Gui asked faintly: "Are you sure you don't need my help?"
Du Heng hesitated for a moment, then silently handed over the shovel: "You should do it."
Du Heng was not very confident about using red gilded sugar to stir-fry chestnuts. When he was in his hometown, the sugar-roasted chestnuts he ate were all stir-fried by others on the street!
When he made sugar-fried chestnuts at home, he would just boil the chestnuts in water first, and then add oil and sugar when the water was almost dry. However, every time he fried the chestnuts, the shells were burnt black, and his mouth and hands were covered in black when he ate them.
Seeing Feng Gui pick up the shovel, Chonghua and Yun Zheng were stunned. Their expressions were no less than those of the Zhou brothers when they saw Xuan Yu squatting on the ground killing fish.
Feng Gui poured the drained chestnuts into the pot. Watching Feng Gui frying the chestnuts in a very professional manner, Du Heng said flatteringly, "Feng Daxianer, you are so capable!"
Feng Gui rolled his eyes and sighed, "Stop flattering me. Didn't you say you need to add sugar? Where's the sugar? Oh, and add a little soybean oil, otherwise the fried chestnuts won't look good."
Du Heng was about to kneel before Feng Gui. He said to Jing Nan, "How did Feng Gui know to add oil and sugar? Have you eaten sugar-roasted chestnuts before?" Jing Nan put his hands in his pockets and said, "Yes, Feng Gui would come back when we picked chestnuts in previous years, and then he would fry chestnuts for everyone to eat."
Jing Nan concluded: "I found that Feng Gui always stir-fries these shelled things very well. Is this the nature of the Feather Tribe?"
Feng Gui was so angry that he almost threw the shovel: "Bullshit, I practiced this skill hard!"
The chestnuts in the red gilded sand expand their shells when heated, and the pattern becomes more obvious. At this time, the fire at the bottom of the pot should not be too big, and it needs to be stir-fried slowly over medium or low heat.
After frying for an incense stick, the aroma of the chestnuts slowly spread. At this time, Feng Gui added two small spoons of soybean oil and sugar to the pot. After the sugar was put into the pot, it was smothered by the hot golden sand and immediately turned reddish brown. The pot was filled with a caramel aroma. The dry chestnut shell became oily, but the golden red red gold was stained with caramel color, and the color became mottled. Some of the golden sand even clumps together.
Feng Gui did not stop what he was doing, he continued to stir-fry the chestnuts. But when he was stir-frying, his movements were a little bigger than before. The spatula pressed against the bottom of the pot, bringing the red gilt sand and chestnuts up, and when the red gilt sand stopped condensing into a ball, Feng Gui stopped the fire in the stove.
He closed the lid on the pot and said, "It will be ready in just one more cup of tea."
At this time, the chestnut aroma on the platform was very strong. Du Heng felt that this aroma was sweeter than the sugar-roasted chestnuts he smelled in his hometown.
Under everyone's expectant gaze, the sugar-roasted chestnuts finally came out of the pot. In the colander lay the oily chestnuts, and now the original cuts were opened wide, and everyone could see the golden chestnut kernels in the openings.
Take one while it's still hot and give it a gentle squeeze. The shell will become crispy and the whole chestnut kernel will fall into your palm. Throw it into your mouth and bite it with your teeth. The soft and sticky chestnut will instantly break into pieces. The sweet and soft chestnut kernel will instantly fill your entire mouth.
He couldn't eat the hot chestnuts in a hurry, so Du Heng blew air with his mouth to cool the chestnuts down. Although he was no longer afraid of ordinary flames, his long-term habit told him that eating too hot food was not good for the esophagus.
At this time, the chestnuts that Xuan Yu handed over were particularly friendly, neither cold nor hot. Eating one was sweet in the mouth and warm in the heart.
The Zhou brothers finally came back, holding two fat pheasants in their hands: "Mr. Du! We caught some chickens in the mountains, do you think we can eat them?"
Du Heng looked at Xuan Yu in surprise: "Hey, how come it's such a coincidence?"
He had told Xuan Yu before that chestnuts could be used to roast chicken, but he didn't expect that fresh chicken would be delivered to his door. He had originally planned to use the chicken in the storage bag to make a chestnut chicken after eating the sugar-fried chestnuts.
But these two chickens were really unnecessary. The chickens for the chestnut roast chicken dish needed to be fat and tender. Although the meat of this pheasant was firm, it was still inferior to the tender chickens sent by Yunyan Tower.
Xuan Yu tied a rope around the feet of the two chickens and tied them to a tree outside the platform, so that Du Heng could catch and kill them whenever he wanted to eat them. The two chickens were terrified and wanted to escape, but they couldn't find a way, so they huddled under the tree and stopped moving.
The chestnut kernel actually has a layer of hairy inner membrane, which tightly wraps the chestnut meat and is difficult to remove. But with the help of spiritual energy, Du Heng easily got half a basket of yellow-white chestnut meat. It must be said that raw chestnuts are also delicious. The crispy and sweet raw chestnuts are even more popular with Jing Nan. With Du Heng's basket, Jing Nan has already eaten seven or eight of them.
The red-gilt sand in the pot miraculously regained its luster. After Du Heng filtered out the sand, he found that the bottom of the pot was charred black.
Feng Gui said calmly: "It is said that water can wash away the filth in the world, but few people know that fire can also clean up dirt." Du Heng gave Feng Gui a thumbs up. Since Feng Gui made such delicious sugar-roasted chestnuts, whatever he said was right.
Feng Gui looked at Du Heng seriously: "Why don't you say anything?"
Du Heng asked in confusion: "Huh?"
Feng Gui said resentfully: "Express your opinion. Is it delicious or not? Please tell me."
So Feng Gui had been expecting Du Heng's evaluation from the beginning? Du Heng reflected on himself and realized that he seemed to have been too busy eating to praise Feng Gui.
Du Heng quickly added with a compliment: "I've never had such delicious sugar-roasted chestnuts in my life! Fenggui, you are amazing! You fry the melon seeds well, and the sugar-roasted chestnuts are also so delicious! It's amazing! Oh, and you also poked the beehive yesterday, right? That's awesome!!"
Feng Gui raised his head proudly: "Humph, this is nothing, if you like, I can also fry other nuts."
Du Heng smiled, Feng Gui was so easy to coax. Thinking about it carefully, Xuan Yu was the most difficult person to coax in the village. Once Xuan Yu got angry, Du Heng was terrified.
After the oil in the pot was heated, Du Heng turned around to get the colander. When he looked inside, he saw that half of the raw chestnut kernels in the colander were missing!
He looked at Jing Nan accusingly, and Jing Nan chewed raw chestnut kernels with his mouth bulging: "Huh? What's wrong?"
Du Heng scratched his head with a headache. He retracted what he said before. Although Jing Nan and Feng Gui were easy to coax, they were really a headache when they acted stupidly!
Xuan Yu promptly added a bowl of freshly peeled chestnut kernels, which perfectly solved Du Heng's problem. Du Heng winked at Xuan Yu. Xuan Yu, who was the most difficult to appease, actually understood him the best.
Du Heng poured the round chestnut kernels into the oil pan and fried them. Chonghua walked around the stove and asked, "Hey? Aren't you going to roast the chicken? Why do you roast the chestnuts first? Chestnuts will rot easily."
Du Heng explained: "Chestnuts are not easy to break after being fried in oil. I will take them out after they are fried. They will not be kept in the pot."
Sure enough, after the color of the outer layer of the chestnut kernels changed, Du Heng put them in a large bowl.
There was still oil from frying chestnut kernels in the pot, so Du Heng sprinkled the ginger slices he had prepared long ago into the pot. After the ginger slices were stir-fried and fragrant, he poured the chopped chicken into the pot and stir-fried it.
The tender chickens in the demon world are not like the chickens fed with feed in the hometown. They will not smell fishy even if they are not blanched. When Du Heng is lazy, he will just throw them into the pot and stir-fry them.
When the chicken skin shrank and began to brown slightly, Du Heng added seasonings. After adding soy sauce, salt, white wine and a little sugar and stir-frying evenly, Du Heng added boiling water to cover the chicken, and then poured the fried chestnut kernels into the pot.
Du Heng closed the pot and said, "The chestnut roast chicken will be ready in two sticks of incense! Xiaoxiao, keep an eye on the time and remind me when the time comes."
Du Heng started fiddling with his pots and pans again. Seeing him pull out a handful of yellow sour cowpeas from the jar, Jing Nan was completely repulsive: "Ahhhh, can we not eat this? This thing is sour and spicy, I can't stand it!"
Feng Gui became excited: "Hey? What is this?" He smelled a sour and spicy smell that made him feel dizzy!
Feng Gui hadn't tasted the kimchi made by Du Heng since she came back. Du Heng picked up half a sour cowpea and handed it to Feng Gui: "Would you like to try the kimchi I made?"
Lao Dao came over and said, "Mr. Du, give me one too!" Lao Dao is a big fan of kimchi. He can eat two bowls of rice with one piece of pickled radish.
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Feng Gui bit the sour cowpea carefully. It was not the first time for him to eat cowpea, but it was the first time for him to eat cowpea with this taste and texture. There are vegetarians in the Feather Tribe in the south. They will grow these cowpeas and then eat the beans inside.
Feng Gui didn't like this kind of dish before, he would rather eat the worms inside the beans. Unexpectedly, after Du Heng soaked the beans, they were sour and spicy, and still had a crispy texture.
Feng Gui liked the taste. He and Lao Dao each held half a cowpea and chewed it happily.
Feng Gui looked at Du Heng's kimchi jar with curiosity. Just as he was about to reach out to take something else from the jar, Du Heng clapped his hands: "Hey, don't take it with your hands, it will bloom!"
Feng Gui retracted his claws: "Isn't it good to write beautifully? Wonderful writing makes beautiful things happen?"
Du Heng didn't know whether to laugh or cry: "The flowers I'm talking about are not the flowers you said. If there is grease or other dirt in the kimchi jar, a layer of white flowers will grow. Then the kimchi water will go bad, and the vegetables inside will also go bad."
As he spoke, Du Heng used special bamboo chopsticks to pick up a piece of pickled radish for Feng Gui: "Try this radish."
The radish Du Heng uses is white radish. If it is a red-hearted rouge radish, the pickle water will be dyed a beautiful pink, and the vegetables will also be pink. But if you don't have the conditions, you can't force it. Du Heng's principle of cooking has always been: eat what you have, and put what you have.
The pickled radish was especially delicious. Lao Dao whispered in Feng Gui's ear: "Mr. Feng, the pickled radish that Mr. Du made is really delicious. It's sour and spicy, so satisfying!"
Du Heng knew what Lao Dao meant, so he quickly picked up a carrot and handed it to Lao Dao: "Stop praising me, I feel embarrassed."
Feng Gui bit into the crunchy radish, his face slightly reddened from the spiciness. But even in this state, he was reluctant to throw away the radish in his hand: "How is this dish made?"
Du Heng handed a piece of pickled bamboo shoots to Xiaoxiao who was joining in the fun. He closed the lid on the pickle jar and said, "It's very simple. Just wash the vegetables to be pickled, let them air out for a while, and then put them into the clean jar. After arranging the vegetables layer by layer, add garlic seeds, peppercorns, and fresh chili peppers, sprinkle enough salt, add a handful of rock sugar, and then pour white wine. Add clean water to cover the ingredients, and then wait for the ingredients to slowly ferment. After ten days or half a month, the pickles will be ready!"
Feng Gui nodded: "Is it that simple?"
Du Heng said affirmatively: "It's that simple, but be careful when making it, don't get it greasy."
Feng Gui thought about it and gave up regretfully: "Forget it, it's too troublesome, let's just eat the ready-made ones." As he said that, he started to crunch the pickled radish beside him, and the sour and spicy taste wafted out.
Jing Nan was beside him, fuming: "Oh, this is terrible, can't we eat something delicious?"
Du Heng said seriously: "Yes, stewed mutton."
The spiritual mutton that was stewed in the pot before departure was already cooked, and now it was piled on the plate in large chunks, emitting the aroma of meat. Du Heng was going to prepare the mutton after the chestnut roast chicken was ready. He arranged for Xuan Yu to say, "Xiao Yu, can you help me put up the grill? I'll grill some lamb chops?"
Hearing that there were lamb chops, Chonghua and the others immediately put down the sugar-roasted chestnuts in their hands and moved to the grill. Chonghua said, "Du Heng, can you give me some chili powder? A little more will make it taste better."
Jing Nan has a light taste: "I just need salt." Xiaoxiao also took the opportunity to make some comments: "Chirp, chirp~" If you don't understand what he is saying, just ignore it.
The platform was originally very large, but after putting a simple stove and grill on it, and cramming so many people on it, it suddenly became crowded.
The lamb chops were grilled in a short while, and they were still tender, but Du Heng didn't dare let everyone eat as much as they wanted. He had a lot of dishes to cook today, and if everyone was full just by eating lamb chops, wouldn't it be a waste of his hard work?
Xiaoxiao was gnawing on the lamb chops while looking at the chestnut chicken on the stove. After two incense sticks had burned, he chirped to remind Du Heng.
Du Heng wiped his hands on the rag beside the chopping board, and he lifted the lid of the pot expectantly. After a puff of white smoke, Du Heng saw the chestnut chicken in the pot with thick oil and red sauce.
There are yellow chestnut kernels lying in the plump chicken. Under the high temperature, some of the chestnut kernels have conflicts and are temporarily separated. But it doesn’t matter, they will be reunited in everyone’s mouth in a while!
A plate full of chestnut chicken was placed on a white porcelain plate. The chicken was soft and the chestnuts were chewy. Just seeing the red and yellow color combination would increase your appetite.
Du Heng called everyone: "Eat while it's hot, I'll go make other dishes." Just as Du Heng was about to turn around, Xuan Yu stuffed a piece of chicken leg into his mouth: "Eat first and then make the dishes, there's no time to waste."
Du Heng is not everyone's babysitter, there is no reason for him to be busy, everyone is sitting and waiting for food. Du Heng smiled and chewed the chicken bones. In fact, the chicken still tasted the same, but the soup was soaked with the sweetness of chestnuts, and the sweetness of the chicken was more obvious than usual.
As soon as he swallowed the chicken and spit out the chicken bones, Xuan Yu picked up a chestnut kernel and handed it to Du Heng: "Try it."
How could Du Heng not know the taste of something he made himself? The chestnut turned into a soft and sticky ball between his teeth. The soft and sticky ball had the aroma of chicken and the saltiness of the soup, which made the original sweetness of the chestnut more obvious.
The chestnuts in the demon world are of good quality and taste sweeter than the chestnuts I eat in my hometown. Du Heng narrowed his eyes and said, "Please give me another chestnut."
Xuan Yu smiled and stuffed two more chestnuts into Du Heng's mouth. Du Heng looked at everyone who was satisfied with their food. He turned to the chopping board, where the cooked mutton he was going to use for the stew was placed. With a flick of his knife, the mutton was cut into fat and lean pieces.
Du Heng had just cooked chestnut chicken on the stove, and now he had to reassign tasks to his three pots. He put washed spiritual rice in the big pot, poured soybean oil into the small pot, and on the stove, Du Heng put his family's large casserole.
There was no food in the casserole at this time, but when Jing Nan saw the casserole, she knew that Du Heng was going to cook soup.
Just when Du Heng was grilling lamb chops, Xuan Yu slaughtered a silver carp. The silver carp head had been marinated with ginger, cooking wine and scallion knots for an incense stick of time. When the soybean oil in the small pot was heated, Du Heng threw ginger slices into the pot and fried the silver carp head.
Feng Gui asked in confusion: "Didn't they say they were going to cook mutton? Why are they cooking fish again?" Jing Nan narrowed his eyes: "Hey, you don't know this, do you? I guess Du Heng is going to cook something like that... a pot of fish and mutton?"
As expected, Jing Nan guessed right. After the silver carp head was fried, Du Heng transferred it to the casserole. The fire on the stove was lit, and the big casserole squatted on the stove like a general guarding a pass.
Du Heng poured the mutton soup left over from cooking mutton into the casserole. Nothing was added to today's mutton soup except the three main ingredients for removing the odor.
The mutton soup covered the big fish head, and Du Heng closed the lid with satisfaction. He called Xiaoxiao: "Xiaoxiao, keep an eye on it for me. Remind me to season it after one stick of incense!"
Xiaoxiao, who was eating chicken, nodded: "Chirp~"
Du Heng divided the cut mutton into two parts. Most of it was used to make stewed mutton, and a small part was put into the casserole and stewed with the fish head to make a delicious pot.
With the remaining soybean oil from frying the fish head, Du Heng poured most of the mutton into the pot. It is easy to make stewed mutton, just cook it like sweet and sour spareribs, but it is also difficult. If it is too sweet, the taste will not be right.
After frying the mutton for a while, Du Heng added soy sauce and white wine to the pot to adjust the base flavor, and the white mutton was immediately stained with soy sauce. In fact, he was also quite nervous, wondering if he could replicate the taste of stewed mutton in his memory.
This person should not be nervous. The more nervous he is, the easier it is to make mistakes. Du Heng's hand shook and he spilled too much salt. If there is too much salt in sweet and sour meat, the taste will be weird.
Du Heng slapped his thigh: "It's broken..."
Xuan Yu just came over to feed Du Heng. When he heard Du Heng say this, he asked softly, "What's wrong?"
Du Heng scratched his head awkwardly: "Too much salt...." Xuan Yu smiled and said: "It's okay, everything you cook tastes good."
Seeing Xuan Yu so calm, Du Heng also smiled. That's right, there is no standard way to cook, as long as it tastes good, it's fine! If he can't make sweet and sour flavors, he can make salty and fresh flavors! It's decided to make the stewed mutton salty and fresh, and he can also try the bean paste he made some time ago.
Du Heng took out the bean paste he had sealed for a few days from his storage bag. As soon as he opened the lid, a strong aroma of the sauce wafted out. Du Heng had dried the sauce for a long time, so the bean paste had a strong aroma. The spicy smell of the chili peppers and Sichuan peppercorns he added later was masked by the aroma of the sauce.
He took out two spoonfuls of bean paste with a special spoon, and saw a layer of red oil on the paste. Du Heng smiled and poured the bean paste on the mutton. He said, "I don't know how the mutton will taste in the end, so don't be disgusted."
Everyone was very supportive: “Don’t mind!” If they did, no one would cook, and they are not stupid.
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