Why aren't the green rice, braised pork with preserved mustard greens, and loofah and egg drop soup included...?
Some dishes can taste sweet even if not much sugar is added during cooking, such as braised pork belly with preserved mustard greens.
The saltiness of the preserved mustard greens, the oil secretion of the pork belly, and the appropriate amount of white sugar for seasoning create a wonderful chemical reaction where one plus one equals more than two.
Almost anything can be made into dried plum vegetables. Dried plum vegetables don't refer to a specific vegetable, but rather to a "method of preparation." The most commonly used vegetables for making dried plum vegetables are snow cabbage, rapeseed, and even green beans and bamboo shoots can be made into dried plum vegetables.
After being pickled, fermented, and dried, the vegetables have a dark black skin; and because a large amount of salt is added during the processing, they develop a unique flavor.
Sangye took out the dried plum vegetables, soaked them in water for a while, and then cut them into small pieces of equal size, about half a finger long.
Bring a pot of water to a boil, then blanch two pieces of pork belly (about the size of her hand) along with scallions, ginger, and garlic to remove any unpleasant odor. After blanching, prick the fatty side of the pork belly with a toothpick. During this process, the fat will continuously render out, so wipe it clean with absorbent paper.
This step is for better flavor absorption and coloring.
To color the pork belly for braised pork with preserved mustard greens, you don't need to caramelize sugar. Simply coat the surface evenly with dark soy sauce, then heat oil in a pan and fry the fatty side of the pork belly over low heat until it turns golden brown.
Sangye actually dislikes this step because frying large pieces of meat, especially since the meat has a lot of moisture, will cause oil splattering, especially after blanching. The oil cools down quickly after splattering, and although it doesn't cause any harm, it still stings when it hits the skin, which doesn't feel very good.
She frowned, trying to move away from the oil pan, waiting until the fatty side was golden brown before frying the other sides, at which point she could put the lid on the pan.
Sangye visibly relaxed and took the opportunity to prepare the main course.
The staple food was green rice, also known as black rice, which was soaked overnight. The rice was made by juicing the leaves of the Nan Zhu leaf and soaking it overnight, turning the snow-white rice into a bluish-black color, and filling the air with the unique fragrance of the Nan Zhu leaf.
The leftover green rice can be steamed. Put water in a pot, place a steamer and a steaming cloth on top, spread the green rice evenly on the steaming cloth, and steam until cooked. Then add red bean paste, raisins, and walnuts to make eight-treasure rice. You can also add osmanthus and a little white sugar to make osmanthus rice. Both are equally sweet, sticky, and chewy.
After the pork belly is pan-fried, there is a crucial step – creating the "tiger skin" effect. This involves making the surface of the pork skin wrinkle like tiger skin. The wrinkles increase the surface area for soaking, helping the strongly flavored fat layer to absorb the flavor quickly.
Soak the pork skin-side down in cold water for about fifteen minutes to create a distinct tiger-skin pattern. Prepare a sauce with light soy sauce, dark soy sauce, oyster sauce, chicken bouillon, a pinch of salt, and a sprinkle of fine pepper. Lin Changli specifically requested a sweet version, so a small spoonful of sugar was added and stirred in.
Cut the two pieces of pork belly lengthwise into evenly thick slices, each with alternating layers of fat and lean meat. Coat each slice with sauce and set aside to marinate for a while. Using the oil left over from frying the pork, stir-fry the scallions, ginger, garlic, sauce, and dried mustard greens together for a short time.
Next, spread the marinated meat slices all over the bottom of a large bowl, and then spread the stir-fried preserved mustard greens all over the "small pits" formed by the meat slices. Place the bowl on a steamer and steam for forty minutes, until the meat is tender and melts in your mouth.
The final step is to "invert" the bowl by covering it with a shallow plate and turning it upside down so that the meat is on top and the preserved vegetables are on the bottom.
The braised pork belly with preserved mustard greens is now ready.
By this time, the green rice was almost cooked. Lifting the lid, the aroma of southern leaves wafted out with the steam. Kuwano picked up a chopstick and poked it; the rice, having absorbed a lot of water, was not sticky at all, but was still soft and springy enough.
At this point, you can add raisins, red bean paste, and mango slices and steam them together for a while to make fruit rice. The sugar from the three ingredients will seep into the rice, giving it a sweet and refreshing taste.
Today's sugar intake is too high. Soup and drinks after meals should not be sweet.
A refreshing loofah and egg drop soup can effectively cut through the greasiness.
Like rice cakes, loofah is a "nightmare food" for children in the Wu and Yue regions when it is out of season.
In summer, there are more loofahs than you can eat. They grow all over the ground and the top of the plant along the vines. If they are not picked in time, they will turn into loofah pulp and can only be used for washing dishes.
In winter, there is an endless supply of rice cakes. To prepare for the winter, people in the Wu and Yue regions often make a lot of rice cakes and store them in water. They make rice cakes for all three meals a day. The sticky, uneaten, and indigestible rice cakes are a real "devil's nightmare".
The children who were eating looked very worried.
However, occasionally having a loofah and egg soup is a light and refreshing meal that is easy on the palate and aids digestion.
Cut the loofah into chunks and soak them in salt water for a minute or two. Make sure the wok is clean before frying the loofah, otherwise it will form a bunch of black bits and make the soup look dark.
Stir-fry the loofah briefly, then pour in boiling water to make the soup milky white. Beat the eggs until runny and pour them along the edge of the pot; soon, egg flowers will float to the surface.
Drizzle two drops of sesame oil on top when it's done cooking, and the fresh aroma will burst forth instantly.
Sangye turned off the stove, called out to the door, "Lunch is ready!" and reached for a bowl.
A deep, milky-white soup bowl with a glossy sheen was handed to Sangye, its surface slightly cool.
Sangye looked up and saw that Lin Changli's expression had returned to normal and his eyes looked clear, but he was still holding onto the iced drink pitcher that he hadn't finished.
Sangye poured a full pot of loofah and egg drop soup into a bowl, and Lin Changli steadily and effortlessly carried the bowl to the table with one hand, without even feeling the heat.
Then he went back and picked through the cupboard, choosing his favorite set of bowls and chopsticks.
Sangye peeked out and saw a set of fiery red maple leaf-shaped bowls. Rong Cheng had made them herself, and they were much better than Sangye's. They were exquisite and perfect, without any deviation from the original design, and were comparable to modern machines.
However, he was at a loss when it came to preparing the green rice.
Sangye stepped forward, took out the same set of rice spoons that Lin Changli had overlooked from the cupboard, with a long handle and a maple leaf-shaped top for easy gripping, and handed them to him.
Some things don't need to be taught. Seeing the shape of the rice spoon, how could Lin Changli not know how to use it? Sufficient brain association is essential for a sentry who has been through many battles.
Sangye didn't look at him again, turned around and went back to serve the braised pork with preserved vegetables.
To be honest, Lin Changli's initiative to lend a hand was already beyond Sangye's expectations.
Sang Ye had seen countless low-ranking officials and insignificant people from outside the eighteen major sects who put on airs and acted arrogantly in the countryside. He had also seen top-tier experts who looked down on others and treated everyone as disposable resources.
Although I've never actually lived with royalty, based on my limited experience, the grandeur of royalty in the interstellar era would only surpass that of the original world.
However, Lin Changli, a true member of the royal family, did not presume upon his status.
The sound of two people chasing each other and Wu Jianing's laughter came from outside the door, pulling Sangye back to his thoughts.
"I want a bear cup!" Wu Jianing rushed into Sangye as soon as she came in, wanting her to carry her to pick out her favorite cup. The little child exuded a puppy smell that had been sun-dried, and was sunny and adorable.
Sangye held her and chose her favorite brown bear-shaped cup, its large size allowing it to hold a lot of iced drinks.
Then Wu Jianing, holding the cup, skipped and hopped to the dining table, trying to climb onto the chair. In the end, Lin Changli couldn't bear to watch and helped her up.
After setting aside a portion for Wu Huansheng and his wife, Sangye went to the dining table to officially begin the meal.
Today's dishes were indeed on the sweeter side, but apart from Lin Changli being picky, everyone else always ate everything.
Mango rice is a bit astringent when eaten alone, but it becomes quite different when seasoned with other ingredients. With a little mixing, the mango pulp coats each grain of rice, making it sweet and soft, yet chewy and resilient.
The braised pork belly with preserved mustard greens has a perfect balance of salty and sweet, with the preserved mustard greens being slightly saltier, making it ideal for mixing with sweet green rice. For an even more delightful surprise, Sangye would wrap the rice balls in bamboo leaves, making them firmer and more compact. You can also wrap the braised pork belly with preserved mustard greens inside as a filling, making it incredibly flavorful.
That's a good idea. It can also be made into a semi-finished product. When you want to eat it, you can use a steamer or put a pot of water in the microwave and heat it up a little before eating.
However, the freshness of bamboo leaves is short, and they turn yellow very easily.
If only there were a more perfect alternative, I wonder if it would be possible to put a layer of plastic bag on the outside and use vacuum packaging technology, so that it could keep it fresh for at least one or two months.
As Sangye ate, he pondered the situation. When he came to his senses and decided on the new semi-finished product to test next, he found the dining table eerily silent.
She was lost in thought and didn't speak; Lin Changli wasn't much of a talker to begin with.
So the two of them were sitting on the table. Rong Cheng was engrossed in eating rice with his eyes closed and his mind at ease, while Wu Jianing was drinking the loofah and egg soup with great force but only dared to make soft gurgling sounds.
Look how pitiful the child is.
So Sangye took the initiative to start the conversation: "Where did Your Highness go this time?"
Lin Changli looked up at her upon hearing this, appearing harmless, but his words were incredibly irritating: "I'm not telling you."
"?" Are you a child? Sangye was speechless and almost blurted out the question.
She lowered her head and couldn't help but roll her eyes.
“I can see it,” Lin Changli added casually at this moment.
"You should leave," Sangye blurted out.
"Why should I?" Lin Changli raised an eyebrow, his sharp eyebrows suddenly arching upwards. "This is my house."
Are you two kids? Rong Cheng shoved a big mouthful of rice into her mouth, warning herself: Keep your mouth shut, don't talk, don't laugh.
Sangye knew that this person liked to tease people when he was normal; to put it nicely, he was sharp-tongued, but to put it bluntly, he wouldn't say anything.
After she "got a cold shoulder," she gave up on herself and simply stopped paying attention to him, only occasionally putting a piece of food on Wu Jianing's plate.
Rice soaked in the broth from braised pork belly with preserved mustard greens is also a must-try; even kids eat it with their mouths full of oil.
"I had another mental breakdown," Lin Changli said, noticing that she seemed a little unhappy. After thinking for a moment, he took the initiative to answer, "and then I went to soak in the Chaohai Lake for a few days."
Kuwano looked puzzled. Humans can survive underwater now? What's with spending days in the Tide Sea?
But this time, Lin Changli didn't have that mischievous look on his face; he was telling the truth.
“When my spiritual body riots, it unleashes a high-temperature flame that stretches for thousands of kilometers, and I fall into a state of consciousness wandering. If it remains on land, it will cause massive casualties, so if I have time, I take my spiritual body into the Tidal Sea and use the extreme cold of the seabed to cool the flames. My mother built me an uninhabited island in the Tidal Sea, and my spiritual body will leave me on the island.” Lin Changli casually spoke of matters of life and death, “It will come back to me when it calms down.”
He gave a smile, showing no sign of self-pity, but rather an indifferent composure, with his usual wickedness: "But don't try to get close to me at this time. The flames of my spiritual body will burn every guide who approaches me, along with her spiritual body, to ashes."
"..." But I didn't say anything, Sangye hated himself for asking that unnecessary question.
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Author's note: I received some negative comments and even got a negative score yesterday, just because a reader characterized the female protagonist as "assisting capitalists in monopolizing rare resources and seizing high profits".
First of all, let me clarify: this article of mine is far from reaching that level.
① The female protagonist only provided the raw materials and formula, and agreed to the exclusive agency rights and profit sharing; as someone who had no channels, no customers, was exiled, and needed to pay off debts, it was normal for her to choose a partner and authorize an exclusive agency.
②As for the profit, I really can't agree with the logic. Since it is "rare", it must mean "expensive". It is impossible for the female lead to spend a lot of effort to save money one coin at a time.
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