"I thought you'd be eager to make it, so I added some salt to the water yesterday." Zhao Xi said with a smile when she heard Lin Qing's question. As for adding salt to the water, she had thought about it for a long time before doing it yesterday. This was because she could tell that Qingqing really didn't lack salt, since the salt jar at home was always full, and Qingqing was very generous with her salt.
"Add salt? Why add salt to the water?" Lin Qing asked Zhao Xi, puzzled. She only knew that loaches had a lot of mud and sand in their bellies and needed to be kept in clean water to allow them to expel the mud and sand, so that the loaches would not have a muddy smell.
As Zhao Xi placed the cleaned fish and loach into the basin, she explained to Lin Qing, "Adding salt is to help the loach expel the mud and sand from its stomach as quickly as possible. You can also omit it, but it will take longer to expel the mud and sand."
Lin Qing nodded: "Oh, I see! I really didn't know that. I only knew that it needs to be kept in clean water. But Zhao Xi, you even know how to do that? I remember that loach isn't a dish in your line of work!"
"Of course not. Nobles look down on loach for being low-class, and most commoners don't know how to clean it. Besides, cooking loach requires a lot of oil, and even those who know how to clean it are reluctant to use so much oil. So loach has always been a dish that people dislike. But my master loves it, especially dried loach. He likes to drink with stir-fried loach." As he spoke, a nostalgic look appeared on Zhao Xi's face.
"Then let's make stir-fried loach for lunch! Let us also try your master's favorite appetizer." Lin Qing said with a smile, looking at the nostalgia on Zhao Xi's face.
"Okay, watch me! This is one of my specialties." Zhao Xi smiled, eager to cook the dish right away.
"Chenchen, what are you doing?" Just then, Lin Qing saw Zhao Chen come in from outside, followed by Zhao Qiu and Zhao Yu.
"I'm building a grill in the yard. We'll need it to make dried fish and dried loach later." She and Zhao Xi had discussed this last night. Zhao Xi guessed that Lin Qing wanted to make dried fish, so she told Zhao Chen to ask Lin Qing today if she wanted to make dried fish, and to ask Zhao Chen to help build a grill. When Zhao Xi asked Lin Qing just now, Zhao Chen overheard her and went out to find Zhao Qiu and Zhao Yu to bring some soil.
"Chenchen, you're amazing! You can even make an oven?" Lin Qing said to Zhao Chen with envy. Zhao Chen and Zhao Xi were truly capable. She knew some things because she had a system that allowed her to look up information, but Zhao Chen and Zhao Xi were genuinely capable and knew a great many things.
"That's because I've done it for Xixi before, and I learned it from others. Qingqing, you can eat more loach. Loach is very nutritious, good for your health and good for the baby." Zhao Chen smiled shyly when he heard Lin Qing praising him.
"Is eating loach good for pregnant women?" Gu Nanxun asked, puzzled, after hearing Zhao Chen tell Lin Qing to eat more loach.
“Yes, loach is very nutritious and can also be used as a medicinal ingredient. Loach has the effects of replenishing qi, removing dampness and relieving jaundice, benefiting the kidneys and strengthening yang, and dispelling dampness and stopping diarrhea.” Hearing Gu Nanxun’s question, Zhao Chen put down his work, turned around and answered Gu Nanxun with a serious expression.
"Then Qingqing, eat more. I'll catch some more for you after you're done." Actually, Gu Nanxun himself had never eaten loach. He knew that such a thing existed, but he had never eaten it before, so he couldn't help but be a little curious.
Moreover, Gu Nanxun remembered that the villagers didn't like to eat this kind of thing, and they wouldn't catch loaches when they saw them in the river. When he was a child, he saw that no one caught these things, so he didn't think about catching them himself. It was only after regaining his memories of his previous life that he realized that loaches were also a dish, so when he saw them yesterday, he caught them.
As expected, Zhao Xi made stir-fried loach at noon. Lin Qing looked at the stir-fried loach and couldn't help but feel a little nostalgic. She didn't know if Zhao Xi's version was the same as hers, but she quite liked this dish.
Lin Qing couldn't wait to pick up a piece of loach and put it in her mouth. The freshly stir-fried loach had a golden and crispy skin that made a "crunch" sound when bitten into, and the meat was firm, tender, and elastic. It was savory and slightly spicy. The more she chewed, the more fragrant it became, and Lin Qing couldn't help but eat it bite after bite, completely unable to stop.
Gu Nanxun watched Lin Qing squinting as she ate the stir-fried loach, and smiled as he put a few more pieces of meat into Lin Qing's bowl.
Lin Qing also picked up a piece of food for Gu Nanxun and said, "Nanxun-ge, you should eat too. This stir-fried loach is much better than mine."
"Hmm, it really is delicious. No wonder Qingqing likes it." Gu Nanxun took a bite of the stir-fried loach. It was indeed very delicious. It was just a pity that the villagers hadn't known how delicious the stir-fried loach was for so many years. If they had known, they probably wouldn't have given up on this delicacy.
"Delicious, really delicious! Is this really made from loach?" Lin Yunfeng was so engrossed in eating that he couldn't even lift his head. This was completely different from the loach he remembered. The loach he remembered had a muddy, fishy taste and was terribly unpalatable. It was nothing like the stir-fried loach in front of him.
"Can my little sister make this too? Can she teach me how?" Lin Changyuan looked thoughtfully at the stir-fried loach in the bowl. Although resources were scarce in the Northwest, loach was still available, but like the people here, everyone disliked it and no one ate it. If he learned how to make it, he and his comrades could enjoy it from time to time.
"No problem, I'll write down the recipe in a bit and teach you to make it tonight. You can practice a lot these next few days. Xixi is also making dried loach this afternoon. If you're not going out this afternoon, you can learn from her too."
"Dried loach, is it delicious?" Lin Changyuan asked Zhao Xi with shining eyes.
"It's not as good as stir-fried loach, but it's still quite tasty, and it keeps well."
"Okay, then I won't go out this afternoon. I'll see how you make dried loach."
"..."
After lunch, Zhao Xi and Zhao Chen got busy again, and Lin Qing joined in to make dried fish and dried loach. Lin Changyuan followed behind Lin Qing, helping out while carefully learning how to make dried loach. Seeing how attentively her second brother was learning, Lin Qing explained to him how to make the loach spit out sand and how to clean them. Lin Changyuan then realized that the loach he had eaten before had a muddy taste because it hadn't spit out all the mud.
Loach is rich in nutrients such as protein, vitamin A, vitamin B1, iron, phosphorus, and calcium. Moderate consumption can supplement the nutrients needed during pregnancy and help the fetus grow and develop.
I suddenly have a craving for stir-fried loach! It's so delicious, I wonder if anyone has ever tried it.
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