Chapter 307 Pearl Meatballs
Zhao Yeqing saw another item in the introduction of clouded leopards in the manual in Meishan.
It is said that the reason why clouded leopards are so scarce is partly because male clouded leopards are prone to domestic violence, and females are often killed by males.
This is also the reason why Zhao Yeqing has always been hostile and prejudiced towards the male clouded leopard. If she hadn't seen that Xuebing was in a completely suppressed position, she wouldn't even let the leopard in.
It's like seeing my daughter, who has just reached adulthood, find a yellow-haired guy.
An inappropriate living location for leopards can also increase their stress and make them more prone to domestic violence.
The two of them decided to build a long platform on the inside of the brick wall, like a wall shelf, and let a few leopards hang on the wall to live.
Being high up can make them feel more secure than being low down.
Anyway, clouded leopards are small in size and not even as tall as dogs, so living on them won’t be too cramped.
As for the food issue, they don't need a lot of meat to be fed every day. A few pounds will be enough to sustain their daily consumption. As long as the snow doesn't stop falling for several months, it is still within our ability to ensure that the three clouded leopards do not die.
When Zhao Yeqing thought about the impact of this polar night and extreme cold on all living things on the earth, he could guess how high the mortality rate would be.
She wanted to make more contributions within her ability. After all, she was not without food to eat. There were so many chickens, cows, sheep and pigs in the basement. Doing this was really insignificant to them at the moment.
What's more, these are two children that she raised single-handedly.
When Mu Xi took the meat to the leopard, Zhao Yeqing drew a simple blueprint of the wooden frame on the wall, marked the dimensions, and then just sawed the wood and nailed it to the wall.
The room was gradually filled with the aroma of red beans, and then she remembered the pressure cooker on the stove.
Hurry over and take the pot down.
When Mu Xi came back from feeding the leopard, he heard the sizzling sound of the pressure cooker's valve releasing air, and the thumping sound of chopping meat.
Zhao Yeqing chopped the thawed pork into minced meat and put it into a bowl to prepare seasoning.
Simply add cornstarch, salt and MSG to the pork filling, and mix in a little onion, ginger and garlic water. This will remove the fishy smell and increase the moisture of the meatballs, so that the inside will not be dry after steaming.
I should have marinated the meat earlier, which would have saved some time.
Zhao Yeqing sighed, feeling very upset that he had not planned his time perfectly.
I have to wait for half an hour in vain, so I might as well deal with the glutinous rice balls first.
The simple method is to mix the prepared glutinous rice flour, starch, sugar and oil together. Vegetable oil can also be used, but there is a lot of butter made last year at home, and using butter can increase the milky flavor.
It is best to soften the butter in advance. Zhao Yeqing put the butter in a small milk pan, raised it high over the fire, and used the outer flame of the fire to dissolve the butter into liquid.
You can't put it directly on the stove, because the stove is used to provide heating for the floor heating, and it has strong firepower. If you put the pot on it, the oil will boil in a short while.
Oil that is too hot is not suitable for making glutinous rice balls. It is best to mix it with other ingredients just after it melts.
By the time Zhao Yeqing had prepared the semi-finished glutinous rice balls, the meat filling had been almost marinated.
Mu Xi drained the water from the soaked glutinous rice. The amount of glutinous rice prepared was quite large. The two were originally planning to make rice cakes, but Zhao Yeqing temporarily changed it to pearl meatballs, so the amount of glutinous rice needed was reduced by half.
But the glutinous rice had already been soaked in water, and it was too late to put it back, so I just steamed it in a pot to make glutinous rice.
The steamer has three layers, the bottom one is for steaming glutinous rice, the middle one is for steaming pearl meatballs, and the top one is for steaming glutinous rice cakes.
It takes a long time to steam the glutinous rice, so put it on first, cover it with the lid, and then come back to make the balls.
Use the thumb and forefinger's mouth to pinch the meat filling into round meatballs, then roll them on the soaked glutinous rice, using the stickiness of the meat filling to coat the surface with glutinous rice.
The pearl meatballs were neatly arranged on a plate and then put into the middle layer of the steamer. Zhao Yeqing put the prepared glutinous rice paste on the top layer and closed the lid.
The fire below is very strong, and the pearl meatballs are the fastest to be out of the pot. It only takes a dozen minutes to steam them over high heat.
The two of them didn't plan to cook a proper meal today. Since they were going to eat glutinous rice balls, which were difficult to digest, they would definitely be too full if they cooked other dishes.
They took the pearl meatballs out of the steamer and each of them finished them with a pair of chopsticks.
The glutinous rice on the surface of the steamed pearl meatballs becomes crystal clear, and after being soaked in the oil from the meat filling inside, the surface becomes shiny and oily, which looks very appetizing.
Zhao Yeqing gently blew away the hot air on the surface, poked the middle of the meatball with chopsticks to let the hot air inside escape before eating it in one bite.
The glutinous rice on the surface of the pearl meatballs is sticky. After biting it, the juice of the meatballs is instantly squeezed out by the teeth, and the sweet meat juice is mixed with the glutinous rice outside...
Absolutely.
Zhao Yeqing ate three in a row before slowing down. "It's so delicious. It would be even better if there were water chestnuts in the meat filling."
Mu Xi nodded in agreement, "That's fine. You can still find wild water chestnuts."
It is hard to say about other plants. How many of them can survive the polar night remains to be verified. It is estimated that not many plants can survive the current winter of minus 30 degrees Celsius.
There is still hope for the water chestnut. It can bury its bulbs in the soil over the winter and sprout again when the spring warms up.
Adding some water chestnuts to the meat filling can enhance the taste and add a hint of sweetness to the meat filling.
If you can find wild lotus root or wild yam, you can also put it in the meat filling.
Zhao Yeqing was chewing a pearl meatball and speaking with a slurred voice, "You know what, I haven't eaten yam for a long time. It would be great if I could find it."
In some places, yam bean is called cold potato, and in some places it is called sweet potato. Zhao Yeqing remembers that he could often find it in the mountains when he was a child. Every household in the village at the foot of the mountain would also grow some. It can be eaten as both a fruit and a vegetable.
But that thing is very not cold-resistant, and I don’t know if I can find it in the wild in the future.
The two of them did not forget to eat while chatting. As soon as they finished talking about yam, a plate of pearl meatballs was cleared.
It is also the right time to take out the semi-finished glutinous rice balls from the steamer.
The container was a stainless steel bowl, which was very hot to the touch. Mu Xi did not let Zhao Yeqing touch it. He took the edge of the bowl with a cloth towel and put it on the small table between the two rocking chairs.
Zhao Yeqing washed his hands, blew on the glutinous rice balls in the bowl before trying to rub them.
The originally snow-white glutinous rice paste turns into a milky white rice cake ball after being steamed at high temperature.
Cut it into small pieces by hand and then coat it with soybean flour.
It turned out that blowing on it a few times with your mouth would not lower its temperature. Zhao Yeqing felt the burn as soon as he touched it and quickly took his hand away.
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