Chapter Nineteen Potato Pancakes
Most of the residential buildings near Yuncheng No.1 Middle School are self-built houses, inhabited by students and their accompanying parents. As a result, the area is very quiet, so quiet that you can hear the wind rustling through the leaves.
Little Tangbao stepped on the pebbles, making a soft sound. She looked at the moon and said, "The moon is so round today."
Yu Miaoyin looked up and saw that it was indeed very round, like a glowing jade plate. "It is very round. Come on, shall I take a picture of Xiaotangbao with the moon?"
Little Tangbao hummed in agreement and stood under the moon. Yu Miaoyin specially chose an angle to take a picture of Little Tangbao. Under the moon, Little Tangbao smiled, her eyes crinkling, her hair seeming to glow; she looked beautiful.
"Sister, we had art class today, and the teacher asked us to draw a mooncake. She said the Mid-Autumn Festival is coming soon."
Yu Miaoyin paused as she turned the doorknob. Since she ran her own shop, she had no concept of dates. Only after Xiao Tangbao mentioned it did she glance at the calendar and realize that the Mid-Autumn Festival was just a few days away. Time flies!
Thinking of this, Yu Miaoyin went into the kitchen and found a plate of salted duck eggs in the cabinet below. These salted duck eggs had been made beforehand, and by the Mid-Autumn Festival, they would probably turn into golden-yellow salted duck eggs that could be used to make salted egg yolk mooncakes.
Thump thump thump—
Yu Miaoyin came out of the kitchen to open the door.
"Xiaoyin, I have some mung beans here. I kept them because I thought they were cooling, but the weather in Yuncheng has been so weird lately. You can use them to make mung bean soup." Grandma Chen handed her a jar of mung beans.
Yu Miaoyin seemed to have nothing to say but thank you. She felt that Grandma Chen really treated her and Xiaotangbao as her own granddaughters. After thanking Grandma Chen, she grabbed a handful and looked at them. The mung beans were all round and plump, with a deep green color, and they were very beautiful.
Yu Miaoyin agreed, saying that the weather in Yuncheng was really strange. It had been so hot these past few days that people had no appetite. However, she said that there should be a heavy rain in a few days, and the weather would gradually cool down.
"Okay, I'll cook mung bean soup tomorrow, and Grandma can try some to cool off in the summer," Yu Miaoyin said. She added that the shop doesn't have a wide variety of dishes, so adding more options would give everyone more choices.
Thinking about it, she pulled out some dried tangerine peel that her aunt had sun-dried herself. People in Yuncheng all sun-dry their own tangerine peel. Although the drying time isn't very long, adding a piece when making mung bean soup is just the right way to add flavor.
Tangerine peel and mung bean soup, one is warm in nature and the other is cold in nature, so when combined, they become balanced. Some people in Yuncheng also like to add kelp, which is also cold in nature, and the combination of the two perfectly meets the needs of Yuncheng people to reduce internal heat.
Xiao Tangbao stayed in the living room doing her homework, while Yu Miaoyin slowly cooked. After they finished eating, they watched TV and chatted together, and time passed by in this way.
In the middle of the night, a sudden rainstorm hit. When Yu Miaoyin took Xiaotangbao to school, she noticed that the ground was still damp.
After the rain, it became even more humid and the air felt sticky.
Yu Miaoyin said that soaking the mung beans would make them easier to separate into a sandy texture.
She cut the potatoes she bought from the market into perfectly round pieces. Yu Miaoyin loved potato dishes; potatoes were great—they could be steamed, fried, or paired with almost anything. Sweet mashed potatoes were delicious, as were French fries.
She's a follower of the potato cult!
Thinking about how hungry she was, Yu Miaoyin quickly chopped up some stir-fried beef brisket and put it into the casserole, then added a pre-prepared spice packet. The beef brisket would be even more fragrant and tender after being braised and then simmered.
Then she took out two potatoes, grated them into shreds, added half a spoonful of salt, starch, and seasoning to make potato paste. She poured a little oil into the pan, pressed it down with a spatula, and the potato paste collided with the aroma of oil, releasing the fragrance of potatoes. When she flipped it over, one side of the potato pancake turned golden brown. It smelled so good!
Yu Miaoyin spread out several of them, put them on a plate, and handed them to He Li.
"My potato pancakes are fresh out of the pan, eat them while they're hot." The golden potato pancakes lay on the plate, emitting the aroma of potatoes.
He Li's eyes lit up. "Thank you, Xiaoyin."
She grabbed a potato pancake and put it in her mouth; even before tasting it, she knew it must be very crispy.
As expected. The potato pancakes were crispy, with a subtle salty and savory flavor that blended perfectly with the original taste of potatoes. They also had a faint aroma of oil, but weren't greasy at all. The outside was crispy while the inside was soft and chewy, creating distinct layers of texture.
After finishing the potato pancakes, Yu Miaoyin put the pre-soaked mung beans and dried tangerine peel into a pot and cooked them for about an hour. When she opened the lid, the simple fragrance of mung beans and the steam rose out together. Yu Miaoyin added sugar cubes and turned down the heat.
Meanwhile, the stewed beef brisket was ready. She put in the diced potatoes and turned on the lowest heat. Once the potatoes were cooked, she mashed them and mixed them with the tender beef brisket. Whether poured over noodles or placed on top of rice, it would be very fragrant.
At eleven o'clock, the small restaurant smelled of mung beans, beef brisket, and potatoes. Even Uncle Yu, who was on guard duty, got hungry just smelling it.
Liu Jiang was holding a brief meeting with the teachers. Recently, many tasks had been assigned from above, and he needed to push them forward.
"Thank you all for your hard work." After saying this, Liu Jiang packed his things and hurriedly went downstairs.
He was going to eat at Yu's Restaurant today. He could tell from the teacher's words that many students would eat there. It wouldn't be right for him, the dean of students, to be among a group of students and compete for food with them.
So he went to eat before the students were dismissed from school.
Teacher Li and Qi Yue thought the same thing. Since neither of them had classes, they arranged to go to a small restaurant for a meal. They talked quietly, "The weather has been so strange lately, it's a bit stuffy."
Qi Yue nodded, "It's really stuffy. I wish we had a bowl of mung bean soup."
—
Yu Miaoyin sent a WeChat message to Grandma Chen, asking her to come over and have some mung bean soup.
He Li knew she was making mung bean soup, so she came over and bought a bowl too.
The mung bean paste was chilled in the refrigerator, and a few water droplets seeped out from the bowl. After the mung beans were cooked, they turned bright green and became sandy, with a fragrant aroma.
After finishing a bowl, the original stuffiness vanished. It was so delicious. He Li couldn't help but praise Yu Miaoyin, "Xiaoyin, you even make mung bean soup so well. It's better than what those dessert shops sell."
Yu Miaoyin laughed too. She felt that everyone was praising her a bit too much and that it would make her arrogant.
When Grandpa Xu saw that it was time, he prepared to cook for the children. After all, Zhou Gui and Xu Changxing worked hard, and being able to eat a hot meal when they came home, even if it wasn't very delicious, was still a comfort.
Mr. Xu had just picked up the inner pot of the rice cooker when he received a WeChat message from his son.
Xu Changxing: Dad, just cook your own portion today, I'm not coming home for dinner.
Grandpa Xu replied with a "hello".
Then Zhou Gui sent a WeChat message.
Zhou Gui: Dad, I'm not coming home for dinner today, so don't make my portion.
Grandpa Xu scratched his head, somewhat puzzled, but didn't think much of it. Since no one was going home for dinner, he decided to have a meal at Yu's Restaurant.
A note from the author:
----------------------
Continue read on readnovelmtl.com
