Steamed buns, all kinds of steamed buns. Phoenix said: As expected of the two of us...
There are no dormitories left, but the sentries can choose to sleep on the spot or set up a tent.
The senior officers unanimously chose to set up tents.
Kuwano and Rongcheng shared a room.
The next day they would set off to search for the missing Lieutenant General Keliu, the sentry, and Du Yuan, and this time Kuangye was determined to join them. This would be her first time facing the snow-capped mountains, and she needed to be as well-prepared as possible.
In addition to keeping Rong Cheng with him, Sangye also prepared many "energy packs" for himself and the sentries. These packs contained not only rice balls, bread, instant noodles, and rice noodles, but also a lot of homemade milk candies, all of which were foods that could quickly replenish energy and mental strength.
Whether you say Sangye is always busy or that she gets a sense of accomplishment from "organizing her mind," in fact, she thoroughly enjoys the process of preparing and cooking food, finding it very stress-relieving and bringing her inner peace.
After preparing the fuel packs for the next day, Sangye started making breakfast.
To be honest, she could easily have made do with rice balls and bread for a meal, but having been here for so long, she hadn't had a proper Chinese breakfast yet, and she really missed it.
The so-called "Chinese breakfast" also comes in many forms. In the south there is morning tea, in the north there are fried dough sticks, jianbing guozi, and further west there is spicy soup and roujiamo.
But the most representative one is still the steamed bun.
From south to north, from west to east, dietary differences have been unified when it comes to steamed buns.
Sangye plans to make braised pork buns, vegetable and mushroom buns, and shumai. As for the more delicate soup dumplings, chicken soup dumplings, shrimp dumplings, and crab roe soup dumplings, she will make them after returning to the base.
There's a trick to making dough for steamed buns: first, let the rough dough rise and ferment in a humid environment for a while, then add lard and knead it to get a smooth dough.
Even without a humid environment, it's fine. Sangye can achieve the same effect by covering the dough with a damp steamer cloth.
Let the kneaded dough rise for a while, until it is about 2.5 times its original size.
If you poke a hole in the dough at this point, it will spring back instead of shrinking in and remaining still; if you peel the dough apart and it has a honeycomb-like structure inside, then the dough is ready. In the trade, this is called the first fermentation, or the first proofing.
Sangye likes to eat steamed buns that have undergone a second fermentation, which means they have been degassed, are softer, and taste better.
This requires letting the filling sit and ferment for a while after it's wrapped, rather than steaming it immediately. Therefore, it's easy for it to over-ferment and become a "dead bun".
Making the braised pork filling is very simple. First, prepare pork belly. Soak it in water with large pieces of ginger and scallions to remove the fishy smell. Then, mince the pork in batches and stir-fry it with cooking wine, light soy sauce, oyster sauce, and pepper until fragrant. Add water and simmer until the sauce thickens. Turn off the heat and add some chopped scallions for flavor. Finally, refrigerate it to allow the meat and sauce to solidify, making it easier to wrap.
Mushroom and vegetable buns are made with just the two ingredients mentioned in the name. Dice the mushrooms and chop the vegetables into small pieces, stir-fry them with lard until fragrant, and add a little sesame oil to make the filling moist and not dry.
To make shumai, you need to soak glutinous rice in advance. First, steam the glutinous rice until cooked. Then, fry the pork cubes and shiitake mushroom cubes in a pan until they release their oil. Next, add the glutinous rice and stir. Pour on the prepared filling—which is basically the same as the filling for braised pork buns—and the shumai filling is ready.
Now you can take the dough that has just risen. Sangye is an expert, so she doesn't need to do anything too precise. She can pinch out dough pieces of the right size with just a few strokes.
Spread the dough out with a small rolling pin, scoop out a spoonful of meat filling, and deftly flip it with your five fingers to pinch the bun into even and pretty pleats.
Rong Cheng was not very skilled to begin with, and after many years in the interstellar world, he had forgotten most of it. It was no different from learning it all over again.
It has to be said that the robot learns much faster than Rong Cheng.
Sangye assigned the task of making meat buns and vegetable buns to Rongcheng and the robot.
As for Sangye, she had something more important to do—making the "paper wrappers" for shumai.
The key to making shumai wrappers is that they should be translucent but not thin. This requires further processing of the dough, rolling it into thin wrappers that are similar to dumpling wrappers but slightly larger, before the juicy glutinous rice and meat filling can be wrapped inside. Because they are as thin as paper, they are nicknamed "paper wrappers".
This task can only be done by Sangye himself; robots cannot perform such delicate movements, let alone Rongcheng.
After Sangye finished rolling out the shumai wrappers, he glanced at Rong Cheng and the robot, who had placed dozens of buns of various sizes on the table.
Sangye sighed silently: Oh well, at least he looks like a steamed bun.
She was naturally the only one who could wrap the shumai; if she poked a hole in the shumai wrapper, all her efforts would be wasted.
As early as when Sangye was making the filling, many sentries, with their round bellies, piled on top of each other like a human pyramid, peeking out of their tents to look down at the makeshift kitchen emitting warm light.
A curtain was drawn at the kitchen doorway, but it couldn't hide the enticing aroma wafting out. Although the filling cooled down quickly, it still created a warm and comforting atmosphere.
The first batch of steamed buns was quickly put into the steamer. They needed to rest in the steamer for another twenty minutes before being steamed with cold water. This way, the water and buns would cook together, ensuring the buns wouldn't deform or collapse. The steamed buns came out perfectly round and lovely, like flawless jade—of course, this only applies to Sangye buns.
The wrapped buns can't be steamed the next day; at this temperature, they'd all turn into uncooked dough by then.
I'd rather steam everything today, keep it warm in the steamer, and reheat it the next day.
So, after enjoying the delicious aroma of braised pork filling, the base sentinels were then greeted by the delicious taste of steamed buns.
The pure, rich aroma of meat permeated every tent. While it lacked the sweet, fluffy texture of bread, it possessed a wonderful chemical reaction between pasta and meat, brimming with energy.
The moment they stepped out of the steamer, the unique aroma of the buns, with a slightly sour smell, wafted out. As the steam dissipated, the oil had seeped into the outer layer of dough, and the thinnest part trembled, holding the meat juices. This was followed by the rich aroma of pork fat, the fresh fragrance of mushrooms and vegetables, and the sweet scent of glutinous rice...
Sangye picked out a snow-white, plump bun, let it cool slightly, and then broke it in two to reveal the thoroughly steamed meat filling inside, glistening with oil. The dark brown pork filling was thick and sticky, and even the dough inside was coated with a layer of reddish-brown sauce.
I ate too much tonight, but that won't stop Sangye from continuing to enjoy the delicious food.
The satisfaction brought by steamed buns is no less than that of bread.
Sangye had often heard people talk about "southern stomach" and "northern stomach," which essentially means that they have been used to certain foods since childhood, and these habits are deeply ingrained in their bodies and are difficult to change.
Rong Cheng, standing to the side, was not the type to be full after eating eight dumplings. She swallowed a steamed bun in two bites, specifically choosing the ones from Sangye. Soon, she had finished the entire steamer.
Sangye looked at the wound on her back. The deep wound had almost healed, leaving only a faint pink mark. He estimated that it would be unrecognizable when she woke up the next morning.
A few younger, impatient sentries slipped to the kitchen door, grinning broadly as they asked Sangye for some food.
Kuwano gave it to him generously.
Before long, the lingering aroma of mutton in the base was mixed with a light pork sauce fragrance, permeating everyone's dreams and lingering for a long time.
As for what to pair with steamed buns? Well, it has to be porridge, of course.
Using the leftover, unminced pork bits and vegetables, mash a few preserved eggs, rinse the rice, pour it into several pots, add water, set the timer, and you can enjoy a thick and delicious preserved egg and lean pork congee the next morning.
After finishing all this, Sangye stretched comfortably and was about to crawl into the tent when he realized that Lin Changli had disappeared. The tent the sentries had set up for him was empty.
In fact, Sangye also found it strange. People like Aso Mente and Wu Huansheng had personal guards and deputies with them, but Lin Changli had nothing. He was like a lonely person exiled to this planet, wandering like a ghost.
But he was freer than anyone else; no one could order him around or force him to do anything, and no one dared to stop him from leaving the planet.
*
A world of ice and snow. A vast expanse of white. A biting wind.
On a snow-covered mountain, a lone figure walks alone.
A fiery red behemoth was flying above his head.
With its sharp beak and claws, and enormous size, it seemed capable of blotting out the sky; looking up, one couldn't even see the perpetually gloomy clouds of Black Tower Star. Every feather on its body shone with a dazzling golden light, as if on fire. When its tail feathers swept across the clouds, the friction created a shower of light that fell like fine fire rain, turning everything to ashes.
Phoenix kept tumbling up and down, stirring up the air currents and affecting the weather on the snow-capped mountains.
Lin Changli walked silently, feeling no cold at all.
The phoenix's departure from its body would result in a huge drain on its mental energy, but at least it would be quiet.
"I miss Chuan Chuan a little." The silence didn't last long before the phoenix started chattering again. "She must have grown up quite a bit by now. She's definitely prettier than Jiang Sili's sister. Chuan Chuan's spiritual power is even stronger than her mother's. When she grows up, no guide in the entire empire will be able to compare to her."
Lin Changli rolled her eyes: "Then go back and see her yourself."
"It's not like you don't want to," Phoenix said bluntly. "I am your spiritual entity. Don't forget that I represent the other side of your subconscious."
My subconscious desires you to become mute.
"You could poison yourself just by licking your lips." The phoenix swooped down beside him, and Lin Changli almost sank into the snow that had melted instantly.
"Go outside and clear your head, I want to go back to sleep." Lin Changli said with a hint of helplessness, "You seem so calm today, why do you insist on coming out for some fresh air?"
"I am a phoenix, a divine beast!" the phoenix declared confidently. "What divine beast is kept in a cage? Of course I want to come out and explore. By the way, where are we?"
Lin Changli stopped and looked around. The snow-covered plain was a vast expanse of white, making it impossible to discern directions or location. All signals had been lost on the terminal; even the signal network established by the fleet could not transmit.
"We've arrived in Sydney Plains."
The phoenix landed beside him: "Isn't this a sacred place revered by the Snow Mountain tribe?"
Lin Changli scoffed. The so-called holy land was the area with the highest content of black crystals and the strongest radiation in the entire snow mountain. Anyone who got too close to this area would be infected by the radiation, which could cause vomiting and mutation at best, or death on the spot at worst.
Almost no one can get into the heart of the territory.
Even the base wouldn't dare to enter rashly. The base originally planned to finish mining the surrounding veins, allowing the magnetic field and radiation to weaken and recover, before using large mining ships, operated by Eve, to carry out mining operations.
The snow mountain tribes, who use radiation to evolve their spiritual bodies and enhance their spiritual power, naturally regard this place as a sacred site and have been vying for control of the base for many years.
The proud phoenix held its head high, its colorful feathers fluttering in the wind: "It has to be the two of us, we're so amazing!"
“We’re not the first to arrive.” Lin Changli’s gaze was directed to a very, very far place, where there seemed to be faint shimmering light.
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