Pork bone marrow, bubble wontons (2) It feels like a lifetime ago...
Although this world is different from the era she grew up in, based on common sense, there are only two possibilities for a child to appear in such a place:
One is the child of a sentry inside the base, and the other is someone the base found.
But judging from the little girl's attire and her curious yet fearless face, it could only be the former, and at least one of her parents must hold a high military rank.
Sangye looked around and saw that the little girl had come here alone, without anyone else following her.
She was rather thin, with a pale face. Upon closer inspection, the gauze-like material wrapped around her knees was also newly changed. Sangye had a keen sense of smell and detected the scent of ointment emanating from the little girl.
"Why did you come here alone?" Sangye squatted down and asked in a friendly manner, but she was too tall, even when she squatted down she was a head taller than the little girl.
The little girl tilted her head slightly and said, "I came out to play. I smelled a very nice fragrance here, so I came over."
Sangye patted the girl's head with a hint of pity: "I'm making bubble wontons, would you like to have some with me?"
The girl tilted her head: "Bubbles? Blown bubbles? What are wontons?"
Kuwano stood up, and without her help, the little girl drove her wheelchair in herself.
With the help of the pressure cooker, the broth was quickly simmered. It was Sangye's first time using a pressure cooker, so he carefully released the pressure and waited a while before lifting the lid. A rich aroma wafted out, a blend of the freshness of mushrooms, the richness of fish slices, and the depth of oil... Only by being generous with ingredients can you make a good broth.
A boundless surge of spiritual energy burst forth unchecked, threatening to fill the entire kitchen.
"Wow!" the little girl exclaimed without any pretense, and propelled her wheelchair forward, her disabled legs swinging excitedly like fish trying to leap.
She took a deep breath: "Sister, it smells so good! What is this?" The five or six-year-old girl's voice still had a bit of a babyish tone, which made Sangye's heart melt.
"This is freshly made broth; I'll use it to cook wontons later," Sangye said with a smile, her hands still busy. "Have a bowl of soup first."
"Okay!" Children are most receptive to new things.
The broth was too thick, so Sangye added some boiled spiritual spring water and simply adjusted the seasoning. Considering that children have a light palate, she didn't even add too much salt.
When Sangye tried to skim off all the impurities from the bottom of the pot, he discovered that, apart from the pork bones, the chicken, duck, fish, and mushrooms had all become mushy and mostly dissolved into the broth.
She raised an eyebrow in surprise. It turned out that human technology had developed to this extent. Even when making broth in Shifangwu, fire-element disciples had to select the best red maple wood and simmer it for ten or more hours to achieve the same effect.
He scooped out a large bone and examined it. The marrow inside was milky white and bouncy, which was the perfect state for sucking out the marrow. If it was stewed for too little, it wouldn't be flavorful, and if it was stewed for too long, it would become mushy.
I served the little girl a bowl of soup, then scooped out two large bones. After rummaging through the kitchen utensil cabinet for a while, she actually found a long-handled spoon, long enough to reach the very bottom of the bones.
She placed it in front of the little girl, who excitedly propped herself up and craned her neck to look at the novel object in front of her.
Eating is a human instinct. Even without Sangye's instruction, the little girl took the long spoon, pinched the bottom two or three inches, scooped out a small spoonful of bone marrow, and before Sangye could remind her to be careful of the heat, she couldn't wait to put it into her mouth.
With just one bite, she let out another long exclamation: "Wow!! This is so delicious! I've never tasted anything so good before." The next second, she scooped out a large spoonful of bone marrow, her thin cheeks bulging as she ate.
Her praise was so sincere and flawless that it was the first time Sangye had ever smiled genuinely since his time travel. No chef would be indifferent to a diner's reaction.
Sangye placed a shallow spoon into the soup bowl, gently skimming away the floating oil to let the steam dissipate: "Be careful when you drink the soup, it'll burn your mouth." Her voice was gentler than ever before.
The little girl nodded vigorously, her eyes crinkling with laughter.
Sangye walked back to the bowl of dough, poked the dough, and found it wasn't soft enough; it could ferment a little longer.
So she started by making the wonton filling, cutting the pork into fine mince—purely out of patience, not knife skills.
However, the knives here became increasingly inconvenient to use, and Kuwano pondered where to get a set of knives made, but he had no idea what materials were used in this era.
Her old knife was forged by her master using the bone of a serpent and cold iron. It was warm to the touch and could absorb oil and sweat from her hands, preventing them from slipping. She had left it at the restaurant in her haste to go up the mountain that day and never took it with her again.
The little girl watched Sangye's actions with curiosity as she ate, her beautiful big eyes blinking.
The minced meat must not only be finely chopped, but also infused with a secret sauce made from spices, white sesame seeds, a pinch of cumin powder, sweet vinegar, oyster sauce, minced ginger, and minced garlic. Only the sauce can be poured into the minced meat; there can't be even the slightest impurity, otherwise it will have a strong, unpleasant odor when eaten.
After mixing the wonton filling, Sangye went to check on the dough, which had now fermented to her satisfaction.
The next moment, a scene that left the little girl speechless appeared.
Sangye took out a long wooden stick from her storage ring, which was as long as her entire arm.
She wanted to use the ingredients here, but the metal rolling pins were too smooth to roll out the dough, and she couldn't achieve the paper-thin effect she wanted.
Under the little girl's amazed gaze, she rolled the dough into a round disc, then wrapped it around a wooden stick, rolling and pressing it as she went. When she unfolded it again, it became a larger disc than before. She then sprinkled flour on it to increase friction and repeated the same action several times.
Just when the little girl thought she was going to stop, Sangye cut the large and thin dough into several pieces, took one of them and continued rolling it out. At this point, it was time to test the skill of the master and how fine the hand was and how much force was controlled. If you were not careful, it would tear and you would have to start over.
Sangye's hands were very steady; the thin skin was incredibly obedient in her hands, without a single hole or wrinkle.
The dough kept getting thinner until Sangye could clearly see the downy hair on her hands through it, and she nodded in satisfaction. Only then did she stack the dough together and cut it into small squares, each no bigger than her palm. The wonton wrappers for the bubble wontons were now complete.
"Would you like to make wontons with me?" Sangye asked, bringing wonton wrappers and meat filling to the little girl.
The little girl's noodles were glistening with oil, and she was puffing out her little mouth as she scooped up the remaining soup at the bottom of the bowl.
"Yes! I want to play too." She didn't know what making wontons was, but she wanted to participate because it looked fun.
Sangye first helped her wash her hands and face, then handed her some dough and a small metal spoon, and sat down opposite her to demonstrate.
Lay the seemingly weightless wonton wrapper out in your palm, scoop a small amount of meat filling (about the size of a fingernail) into it, and gently pinch it closed with your five fingers. Then, push your thumb inward, creating a small air pocket on the wrapper. This is the "bubble" of the bubble wonton.
The essence of making bubble wontons lies in using less meat, applying pressure, speed, and the ability to pop out the bubble.
If you pinch it too tightly, the meat will become very firm, no different from eating regular wontons.
Sangye did it with ease, but it wasn't so easy for the little girl opposite her. She stared blankly as Sangye magically molded one wonton after another, quickly filling the bowl in front of her with a shallow layer. When she tried to imitate Sangye, even with her "master" guiding her, she either burst the wonton wrappers, causing the filling and dough to mix in her hands, or she couldn't get that little bubble out of the wonton.
Sang Ye watched her struggle with a stubborn streak, then started chatting with her: "My name is Sang Ye, what's yours?"
"My name is Wu Jia Ning, you can call me Jia Ning or Ning Ning." The little girl blinked, her voice cute and childlike.
Did you run away alone?
"..." Wu Jianing suddenly fell silent, no longer looking at Sangye, her big eyes flashing with guilt.
"Don't worry, I won't tell anyone. Look, I just arrived here and don't know anyone yet," Sangye reassured him.
"My parents went on a mission, and my family thought I was asleep, so I secretly ran out the back door!" Wu Jianing shook her head, very proud of herself.
"What happened to your leg?" Sangye asked, genuinely curious.
The little girl's leg was clearly amputated intentionally; someone with a naturally disabled leg wouldn't need bandages or medication. And living in this base, with parents who are high-ranking officials, what kind of serious accident must have happened to cause her to end up like this?
Is this base really safe?
People are always apprehensive about the unknown, and at the moment she had no other way to find out, so she could only ask the little girl indirectly.
“My parents said that I lost my leg before I came to this base. My mother had a mental breakdown because of my leg, so we moved here.”
Sangye nodded. After all, the person on the other end was just a child, and their family might not reveal anything about it.
Leave the dough and filling for Wu Jia Ning to play with. Sangye scooped out some broth and put it into another pot, brought it to a boil with Lingquan over high heat, and then quickly threw in the wontons that were still covered in flour.
Once the wontons are in the water, count to 37 and then scoop them out; they cook very quickly.
Place it in the bowl that Sangye had prepared beforehand. The bowl contained dried shrimp, lard, scallions, and white pepper powder, as well as sweet vinegar and a little chili oil, which could be added according to personal taste.
The bubbly wontons floated in the oily soup, each one puffing up with tiny bubbles, looking inexplicably adorable.
Bright green scallion bits and bits of pork with bits of meat on them floated slowly on the water.
Wu Jianing had never seen any of this before.
After being warned for the third time today by Sangye to be careful of the heat, she cautiously took a sip of the soup.
This tasted completely different from the broth she had just drunk, and after she added a little sweet vinegar at Sangye's suggestion, it was even more different.
This sweet vinegar was originally a seasoning used by Sangye when making medicinal chicken hot pot. It contains a variety of spices such as chicken essence, oyster sauce, white sugar, soy sauce, and rice vinegar, making it sweet and sour without any jarring flavors.
Later, Sangye discovered that it also had a unique flavor when used to drink wonton soup.
All the materials came from the caves of the Shifangwu disciples. Each of their caves was different, and each person had their own strengths.
Some people's caves are like the rainforests of Lingnan, suitable for the growth of mushrooms; others' caves are like those of Xinjiang, with large temperature differences between day and night, making the fruits extremely sweet... Sharing the delicacies from their caves has become one of the parts of their gatherings.
Sangye was the youngest disciple, and her cultivation in the cave was still in its infancy, so she naturally received the most pampering from her senior sisters, masters, and grandmasters. She always received the largest share.
She doesn't have much sweet vinegar, but fortunately it's very easy to make; it just needs time to ferment.
So delicious, so bouncy, so fragrant. This is Wu Jia Ning's most genuine thought at this moment.
When you bite into the bubble, the broth, infused with the aroma of stock and seasonings, bursts in your mouth, slightly soupy yet incredibly delicious.
The little girl's face was covered in oil from eating again, making her look like a little kitten.
Sangye ate them one after another, savoring this long-lost delicacy.
After being taken in by her master when she was a child, her master would always patiently make these troublesome delicacies for her, raising her like a beggar child, like a bubble being squeezed to make wontons, pinching and nurturing her from time to time until she grew up.
Looking back now, it feels like a lifetime ago. And she never had the chance to see her master again.
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