Chapter 10: Stir-fried pork with chili peppers + spinach and pork liver soup...
As a third-grade homeroom teacher, Ms. Wang is under a lot of pressure. Just recently, the school held a teachers' meeting to discuss recent learning and conduct, and the school leaders offered suggestions and pointed out areas for improvement.
Teacher Wang was already used to it; the school had to hold a teachers' meeting only a few days into the new semester.
I noticed my English teacher sitting next to me, seemingly lost in thought. She was in the back, so I quietly took out my phone to dawdle.
With half an hour left before lunch, she started browsing food delivery platforms. She saw a new restaurant called "Tang Family Restaurant," located right across from the entrance of Xingguang Elementary School, which must be the restaurant owned by Xiaoyu's older sister.
The restaurant doesn't have a wide variety of dishes, but the prices are reasonable, and the photos are so appetizing.
Wait a minute, as soon as she saw the dish of stir-fried pork with chili peppers, her mouth started watering involuntarily, as if she hadn't eaten stir-fried pork with chili peppers for several days!
We'll have this for lunch, along with a pork liver soup.
Teacher Wang was placing orders downstairs, glancing at the leaders on stage every now and then.
The academic affairs director speaking on stage had a sharp eye; he could spot anyone in the audience who was slacking off or daydreaming at a glance.
"Teacher Wang, there are a few naughty students in your class. I hope you can spend more time on teaching."
"Isn't this normal?" Teacher Wang thought to herself after being caught, but she still nodded outwardly.
She has already ordered takeout; she's going to treat herself to a nice lunch.
Tang Yiyi sliced the pork thinly and cut the chili peppers into small pieces, preparing the ingredients.
The pig liver that the boss gave her was washed, drained, and sliced thinly. Next, she shredded the young ginger and set it aside. Since the pig liver had a strong fishy smell, she added starch, salt, ginger, and cooking wine to remove the smell.
Once the water boils, add lard and shredded ginger, then pour the pork liver into the pot. Next, add spinach leaves, skim off the gray foam with a spatula, and finally sprinkle with some chopped chili peppers and green onions before serving.
Just then, a voice came from the front desk saying, "Hello, you have a new takeout order. Please check it."
Tang Yiyi jogged over and saw the order information: the customer had ordered stir-fried pork with chili peppers and spinach and pork liver soup, and had selected "delivery as soon as possible".
The rider will arrive at the restaurant in about twenty minutes.
Heat oil in a wok, add chopped chili peppers and then remove from the wok. Add pork belly and stir-fry until the fat is rendered. Add minced garlic and a spoonful of fermented bean paste, and continue to stir-fry until each piece of pork belly is coated with the tempting sauce. Add the previously stir-fried green peppers and stir-fry over high heat until a rich aroma is released.
Passersby couldn't help but stop and exclaim, "It smells so good!"
Stepping into this unassuming shop with its mediocre decor, the more you get, the stronger the aroma of chili peppers mixed with the fragrance of meat fills your nostrils.
Tang Yiyi packed the stir-fried pork with chili peppers into a rice bowl, then put it into a takeout bag, while the spinach and pork liver soup was packed in another plastic bowl. Before the delivery rider arrived, the takeout was placed on the front desk so that the rider could see it at a glance.
"Boss, what are you cooking? It smells so good!"
Hearing the sound, Tang Yiyi turned her head and saw several young people looking in the direction of the iron pot.
"Stir-fried chili peppers and stir-fried meat."
Shi Yi is a programmer at a company, working from nine to six and often having to work overtime. If it weren't for the decent salary, he would have quit long ago.
The company lunch was only an hour long, so he went downstairs to find something to eat and soon found "Tang Family Restaurant" near the school gate.
Don't be fooled by the abundance of restaurants near the school gate; they're mostly just fast food, barbecue, and noodle shops. Once you get used to them, they all become the same.
Shi Yi originally wanted to eat a boxed lunch today. It only costs a dozen yuan and has more than ten dishes for you to choose from.
As a result, he was drawn in by the strong aroma of food and unknowingly walked into the restaurant. He wasn't the only one with such obsessive behavior!
The price of "stir-fried pork with chili peppers" on the blackboard was only eighteen yuan, which he could accept.
Shi Yi didn't dwell on anything and prepared to pack up the stir-fried pork with chili peppers to take home and eat.
The owner, with bright eyes and a gentle smile, asked them what they wanted to eat.
Shi Yi spoke first, "Boss, give me some stir-fried pork with chili peppers and seaweed and mung bean soup, to go." Seaweed and mung bean soup should just be mung bean soup, which is perfect for cooling off in the summer.
Tang Yiyi wrote down the guests' requests one by one, then returned to the kitchen to cook. Xiao Yu came home from school and came to help without taking a break.
Shi Yi was looking around the restaurant. It wasn't very big, just a few dozen square meters, enough for only five or six tables of people, but it was very clean and pleasing to the eye.
This time, Teacher Wang picked up the takeout delivered by the delivery rider, shielding her head from the scorching sun with one hand, and rushed back to her office without stopping.
It's still more comfortable in an office with the air conditioning on.
Ms. Hua, who was about to go to lunch, saw her coming over with takeout and couldn't help but ask, "Ms. Wang, what are you having for lunch today?"
Not only do students love to ask what to eat for lunch, but even teachers are worried about what to eat for three meals a day.
Teacher Wang smiled slightly and said, "I ordered a rice bowl and soup."
After saying that, he couldn't wait to take out the takeout and open the lid of the food container.
Large chunks of dark brown meat are mixed with chili peppers and white garlic cloves, all set against a bed of fluffy white rice, the broth soaking into the rice.
Ignoring the stares of others, Teacher Wang picked up her chopsticks, took a slice of meat, and put it in her mouth. She could taste the tenderness and smoothness of the meat, which was a little spicy but tolerable, and it was very chewy, becoming more fragrant the more she chewed.
Suddenly, her appetite returned.
Even better, you can mix the meat slices with rice, one bite of meat and one bite of rice, it's so delicious and satisfying. And the rice is cooked so well, the grains are plump, soft and chewy, not mushy, and it has a faint aroma of rice.
Teacher Wang tasted the chili peppers again. The chopped peppers had crisp skins, were very fresh, and not too spicy.
It's so delicious, you can't stop eating it!
The stir-fried pork with chili peppers rice bowl, which cost just over ten yuan, was totally worth it!
Under the envious gazes of her colleagues as she returned to the office—after all, the school cafeteria food wasn't exactly delicious—Teacher Wang devoured the stir-fried pork with chili over rice and even let out a satisfied burp.
This was the most satisfying meal she had in the past few days!
The spinach and pork liver soup hadn't been touched yet, but Teacher Wang was already filled with anticipation.
The dish consisted of spinach and pork liver, topped with some small red chilies, which looked rather odd.
Teacher Wang took a spoonful of soup. Spinach and pork liver soup is the soul of this soup. She took a sip and found that the soup was very fresh, without the usual fishy smell of pork liver, and had a faint aroma of vegetables.
After eating this much, she was able to accept the spinach and pork liver soup.
She picked up a piece of spinach with her chopsticks and tasted it. It wasn't bitter and was a little sweet. The spinach was very fresh and tender. The pork liver was the right size and didn't have the fishy smell she disliked. It was a little spicy and chewy.
Teacher Wang ate with relish, a smile never fading from her lips.
Sister Xiaoyu's cooking skills are top-notch, giving her a five-star rating is not an exaggeration!
After finishing his spicy hot pot at his workstation, Gu Dawei was about to rest, like his other colleagues. Suddenly, a delicious aroma wafted over, captivating him. Who eats something so delicious for lunch? He had thought his own spicy hot pot was quite tasty.
A little while later, he found Shi Yi eating a rice bowl. It was definitely him who was poisoning people's mouths.
"Shiyi, what are you having for lunch?"
"Stir-fried pork with chili peppers over rice".
Many of her colleagues had only been asleep for a short while when they woke up and looked at Shi Yi with eyes full of anger. How could they sleep when she was eating so heartily at this time, especially since she had eaten such a poor meal at noon?
It wouldn't be appropriate to ask someone to take it to the balcony to eat, since it's not a strongly flavored food like durian or stinky tofu.
Shi Yi didn't expect to attract so much resentment. He was already starving and started shoveling food into his mouth.
Looking at the meat chunks mixed with chili peppers in the lunchbox, the dark brown meat chunks smelled delicious, along with a hint of chili pepper aroma.
Seeing this, Gu Dawei swallowed hard. "You're eating so well, tell me which restaurant you ordered from after you're done."
Shi Yi nodded. He had a decent relationship with his colleagues. He picked up a slice of meat and took a bite. The slices were cut to the right thickness, neither too thin nor too thick. The meat had a rich, savory flavor, but he could also taste the tenderness and deliciousness of the meat. It was unlike the takeout he had ordered before, where he suspected the pork was pre-prepared spoiled pork.
Then comes a bite of chili pepper. It's mildly spicy, very tender and crisp, and chewy, but not mushy. Then comes a mouthful of plump and fragrant rice, which is fluffy yet chewy.
Shi Yi loves to mix rice with broth. She scoops two spoonfuls of broth onto the rice and then stirs it to coat the rice thoroughly with the broth, giving the rice a glossy, sauce-like color.
You can eat it without getting tired of it, and before you know it, a bowl of stir-fried pork with chili over rice is gone.
Shi Yi ate to her heart's content, and the whole office was filled with the aroma of stir-fried pork with chili peppers, which lingered for a long time.
The company's CEO, who came to check, smelled it and exclaimed, "No way! What are we eating? It smells amazing!"
The other colleagues took a deep sniff, immersing themselves in the fragrance, when they suddenly saw the big boss and quickly lowered their heads to get back to work.
A note from the author:
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