The store is about to open the day after tomorrow, but Lin Yan has a different idea. Ever since he discovered the deliciousness of bean curd sheets, he has been thinking about making a dish of fried bean curd sheets with meat to sell in the store. However, this dish is obviously not good for mixing with noodles. He tossed and turned and couldn't sleep last night. Zhao Shiyun drank some wine during the day and slept soundly.
"Oh~" Lin Yan got up early in the morning, cooked some porridge, and sat on the steps at the door of the main hall, sighing and looking sad.
Zhao Shiyun was cleaning the millstone in the yard. Seeing Lin Yan's expression, he quickly put down his work and asked, "Brother Yan, what's wrong? Why are you sighing?"
Lin Yan moved his butt to let Zhao Shiyun sit next to him. He thought about it and decided to discuss it with everyone during breakfast. "Nothing, I'll go see if the porridge is ready."
Zhao Shiyun was completely confused and could only continue working.
For porridge alone, pickled beans and sauerkraut are the best pairing. Dried radish is also good; soak some and stir-fry with chili sauce. Lin Yan took a few pickled beans from the jar, chopped them, and mixed them with a spoonful of chili sauce and a spoonful of lard.
"Oh, right, we can stir-fry some chicken kidneys." Lin Yan remembered that the chicken he brought back yesterday had a portion of chicken kidneys, some chicken intestines, and some chicken liver. They'd gone to sweep the public cemetery yesterday, and afterward, they'd had dinner together. The remaining uncut chicken was distributed among the families, and the Zhao family got half a chicken and some offal.
He also planned to stir-fry some pumpkin for breakfast. It had been a while since he'd picked this pumpkin, and he hadn't even remembered to eat it. He'd make pumpkin pie another day.
Lin Yan found a medium-sized pumpkin, washed it, peeled it, removed the pulp, and cut it into small pieces, making the size as uniform as possible so that it could be heated evenly.
Chop green onion and garlic and set aside.
Pour a spoonful of lard into the pot, add minced garlic when the oil is hot and stir-fry until fragrant. When the minced garlic is slightly golden, pour in the pumpkin pieces.
Stir-fry the pumpkin cubes until they are coated with oil. Continue to stir-fry for a few minutes, until the edges of the pumpkin cubes are slightly colored.
Add a small amount of water to cover about half of the pumpkin pieces, cover the lid, light a piece of firewood, and simmer on low heat. This will allow the pumpkin to be cooked thoroughly.
Once the pumpkin is soft, remove the lid and simmer over high heat until the juice is reduced. Add salt to taste, and a small amount of soy sauce for a more attractive color or flavor.
When the soup is almost reduced, it can be served out of the pot and sprinkled with some chopped green onions at the end.
Lin Yan brought the prepared dishes to the yard and invited everyone to come for breakfast. Zhao Shiyun was already hungry, so he picked up the bowl and took a sip. "Be careful, it's hot..." Before Lin Yan could remind him, Zhao Shiyun was scalded and grimaced.
Li Yuemei glared at him. This kid is not a good person.
When they were almost done eating, Lin Yan put down his chopsticks and said, "I have something to discuss with everyone."
The others looked at each other in confusion. Yu Ge'er was anxious: "Brother, tell me, what's going on?"
"We had previously discussed selling noodles for lunch and making some stewed dishes, but I've been thinking about it these past few days and think that if we sell yuba, it might not be very suitable for making stewed dishes."
Lin Yan paused and continued, "I'm thinking, should we switch to a different food? Instead of noodles, we could sell rice and steamed buns. We could make seasonal dishes like minced meat and tofu, stir-fried bean curd with meat, cucumber and egg. We could also make rice bowls with the soup mixed in with the rice, which would be delicious too."
"That makes sense..." Li Yuemei nodded. "If you're selling noodles, you'll always have the same sauces. If you want to make something new, you have to consider whether it's suitable for mixed noodles. Besides, here in the south, the number of people who like noodles isn't as high as the number who like rice."
The others also lowered their heads in thought, and Zhao Shiyun continued, "But mixed noodles are delicious too. It seems that there are only soup noodles in town, not mixed noodles."
"Can you sell both?" Yu Ge'er felt that he liked to eat both.
"In the early stages, it's not good to have too many varieties," Lin Yan said, not wanting to give up on mixed noodles. "Why don't we start by selling rice bowls, and then add mixed noodles once the business gets underway?"
Bean curd sheets must be sold, not only in the shop, but also in the tofu shop. By promoting bean curd sheets to let more people know about them, when more people like them and buy them, they can produce more in large quantities. This will benefit the tofu shop in every way.
Others also thought of this. If bean curd sheets were used to mix with noodles, it would not bring out its greatest flavor. It would be better to launch the bean curd sheets first and deal with the other things after the shop opened.
"By the way, mom, we don't have much sauerkraut left at home. Can you buy some from the villagers?" I still have to continue making fragrant tofu. Even if I can't sell much, any profit is good.
"Okay, I'll go to the village head's house this afternoon to collect some. He made a lot of them. Aunt Zhao asked me if I wanted some last time."
Zhao Qiming said, "Shiyun, I've saved a pot of soy milk for making yuba. I'll let you do it later."
"How many do you want to make?"
"Try to make as much as possible. This bean curd sheet can be kept for a long time."
＊
After breakfast, everyone went about their own business. Yu Ge'er washed the dishes, Zhao Shiyun made bean curd sheets, Li Yuemei sold tofu, Zhao Qiming continued to make tofu, and Lin Yan planned to try making some pumpkin cakes. If they tasted good, he would sell them for breakfast.
We're running low on glutinous rice flour at home, so we'll have to buy some tomorrow. We still have seven or eight pumpkins, which should be enough for now. Lin Yan brought in a large pumpkin and prepared some glutinous rice flour, white sesame seeds, and sugar.
"Brother, let me help you peel the pumpkin." After washing the dishes, Yu Ge'er came over to help.
"No need, just boil the water for me," Lin Yan started to do it himself, letting Yu Ge'er do other things.
"Why."
Lin Yan deftly peeled and cut the pumpkin into pieces. When he saw that the water was almost enough, he put the pumpkin in a steamer and steamed it until cooked.
After steaming, remove the pumpkin and mash it into a paste. Add an appropriate amount of sugar and mix well. Gradually add glutinous rice flour to the pumpkin paste and knead until it becomes a smooth, non-sticky dough. Then, roll the dough into small balls, dampen the surface with a little water, sprinkle with sesame seeds, and press into small round cakes.
After making the pancake, Lin Yan took out the frying pan, lit the fire, brushed some oil in the pan, and slowly fried the pumpkin pancake over low heat, paying attention to turning it over during the frying process. Fry until both sides are golden brown and the pancake is puffed up.
After a while, the golden pumpkin pie was ready. The pumpkin pie was still hot out of the pan and the aroma was fragrant.
Lin Yan handed one to Yu Ge'er, letting him try it first. Yu Ge'er took a bite, finding a crispy outer layer and a soft, glutinous interior with a rich texture. The sweet pumpkin filling spread across his tongue, its natural sweetness, not cloying, tinged with a subtle grain aroma. As he chewed, he could feel the delicate texture of the pumpkin. Yu Ge'er praised, "Brother, this is delicious! Sweet but not greasy! I could have two more." Lin Yan didn't make these pumpkin pancakes very large; he could sell them for two cents each.
After Yu Ge'er swallowed it, the lingering fragrance of pumpkin still remained in his mouth. He squinted his eyes happily. Lin Yan looked at him with amusement and said quickly: "Call dad, mom and your brother to come and eat."
Yu Ge'er agreed and skipped out.
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