After lunch, Lin Yan returned to his room for a short nap of half an hour. When he woke up, everyone who was going to make yuba had arrived. The tofu shop only had two pots, and two aunts were busy inside. Zhao Qiming had set up a makeshift stove and moved a pot from the kitchen over, so that everyone could work together and it would be more convenient.
Lin Yan picked up a lot of tofu skin in the kitchen that afternoon. He happily waited for it to drain and then put it in the basket. Unfortunately, there was no meat at home. It would probably be delicious if it was stir-fried with meat. Besides stir-frying, he wondered if it could be eaten cold or hot.
Lin Yan plans to try making it at home in the next few days so that he will be more confident when serving new dishes.
There is no more space to dry bean curd sheets at home. I have to discuss with my parents tonight to see if we can expand the tofu shop to make it more convenient.
At 2:00 PM, Zhao Shiyun and Yu Ge'er came back. They got off the donkey cart and carefully moved the things down. Zhao Shiyun drove the donkey back to the donkey shed through the back door.
"Brother, we bought some meat and a fish head." Yu Ge'er ran into the kitchen excitedly and handed the basket to Lin Yan. Lin Yan took one and found a piece of pork belly and a fish head. "Wow, perfect! I was just thinking of cooking some meat. I have a new treat tonight."
"What's the new food?" Yu Ge'er's eyes sparkled with anticipation when he heard about the new food. Lin Yan smiled and touched his head, saying mysteriously, "You'll know when we eat. I guarantee you'll enjoy it."
After saying that, he pushed Yu Ge'er out of the kitchen and started to prepare the ingredients. First, he washed the fish head, cut it in half, and marinated it with ginger slices, salt, and white wine.
Cut the pork belly into small pieces and set aside. Then, take the bean curd skin from the basket and cut it into sections. This time, Lin Yan decided to blanch it. He added water to a pot and added two slices of ginger. Once the water boiled, he blanched the bean curd skin for a while and then removed it. This would remove the bean smell, but Lin Yan didn't think it had much of a bean smell.
Then I cut up the side dishes, including green onions, ginger, garlic, green and red peppers, and went to the tofu shop to get two pieces of tofu to make soup with the fish head.
As the sun sets, every household starts cooking, smoke rises from the kitchen, and the aunties who have been working clean up and go home.
Lin Yan poured some oil into the pot, added onions, ginger and garlic and stir-fried them until fragrant, then put the pork belly in and stir-fried until the surface was golden brown. He added soy sauce and a little bit of sugar and continued to stir-fry. Then he poured in bean curd skin and green and red peppers, stir-fried quickly for a dozen times, and finally added a little bit of water and simmered.
The bean curd skin cooked quickly, and the aroma came out in a short while. Lin Yan sprinkled in a handful of chopped green onions and stir-fried it for a while before serving. Lin Yan took a bite and found that the bean curd skin had almost no bean smell after being blanched in water. When he ate it at noon today, although it was delicious, he could still smell a little bit of bean smell.
Next, Lin Yan made the fish head and tofu soup. He placed the marinated fish head in a pan of hot oil and pan-fried it until golden brown on both sides. He then added plenty of water and diced tofu. He brought the soup to a boil over high heat, then reduced the heat to a simmer. Soon, the milky-white broth began to simmer, its rich, fresh aroma filling the kitchen. He then sprinkled on a handful of chopped green onions and a few goji berries, and the fish head and tofu soup was ready.
As the sky darkened, the family gathered around the dinner table. Lin Yan served stir-fried bean curd sheets with pork and fish head tofu soup, instantly drawing the attention of Yu Ge'er and Zhao Shiyun. "Is this bean curd sheets? Why doesn't it look like bean curd sheets?" Yu Ge'er eagerly scooped up a piece of bean curd sheets with his chopsticks and placed it in his mouth. His eyes widened. "Brother, what is this? It's so fragrant and tender, so delicious!"
Then, impatiently, he took another chopstick and savored it carefully. Zhao Shiyun, hearing Yu Ge'er's words, reached for the tofu skin as well. He immediately noticed the difference between it and yuba (dried bean curd sheets). Yuba (dried bean curd sheets) were harder, but after soaking, they had a chewier texture. Tonight's new treat didn't have the same rich bean aroma as yuba, but it was more tender and soft.
"Is it delicious? This is the new food that Brother Yan just made today, tofu skin." Li Yuemei proudly picked up some food for the two little ones and asked them to eat more.
"Tofu skin? Is there any difference between it and tofu sticks?" Yu Ge'er asked curiously.
So Li Yuemei briefly recounted what happened today, and the others suddenly realized that it was just such a small difference that the food they made was different.
"Don't call it fupi, it doesn't sound nice, as if it's rotten..." Yu Ge'er said helplessly, holding his forehead.
"Then what do you want to call it?" Lin Yan also felt that it was not nice, but he couldn't think of any other name for the moment.
"It's made from soy milk, so it's actually bean curd."
"That's good." Lin Yan thought it sounded much better than bean curd sheets. Then he remembered what he wanted to say today and quickly said, "Dad, Mom, we have too many racks in the yard now, and we can't even dry the bean curd sheets. Why don't we expand the tofu shop and specialize in producing bean curd sheets, tofu, and bean curd sheets? That way, the aunts can work there without affecting our family."
"That's right, and he hasn't even stepped on the ground yet. What if Brother Yan trips and falls?" Zhao Shiyun continued.
Li Yuemei slapped her forehead. This was indeed a big problem. "Then let's ask the village chief to look at the land tomorrow. We need to expand as soon as possible. If this business grows bigger, there won't be enough space."
There is a large piece of land next to the tofu shop. It used to belong to someone else, but that family moved to the town and the land has been idle. I don’t know whether it will be sold or not. I will ask the village chief tomorrow to find out.
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