Chapter 74 Chapter 74 Cold Noodles
After the harvest, there was some free time, and my grandmother and Li Hongying took Fu Lingzhi to do needlework in the yard.
The weather is getting hotter and hotter. Miao Ying has no appetite these days and wants to eat something cold, such as cold skin and cold noodles. However, both of these things use a lot of flour. Although the family has just harvested wheat, they cannot afford to eat like this every day, so Miao Ying did not bring it up.
It was another sunny day. Miao Ying sat in the corridor somewhat listlessly, watching the three of them embroidering patiently. He felt a surge of heat in his heart. He turned his head to look at Mantou and Wotou lying in the yard. Both of them were listless, lying in the yard with their tongues hanging out all day long. Mantou didn't even go up the mountain.
Miao Ying made up his mind and stood up: "Huo Xing, I need to get something to eat!"
Li Hongying laughed at him: "No one is stopping you from eating. Just make whatever you want."
Miao Ying went to the kitchen, took out the flour they had recently ground, took some, added salt and water, and kneaded the dough.
Huo Xing stood beside him and said, "If you want noodles, just tell me. Freshly ground flour will definitely make delicious noodles."
Miao Ying shook his head: "I don't make noodles."
The task of kneading the dough was given to Huo Xing, and Miao Ying stood by and watched, waiting for him to finish kneading the dough, which lasted for an incense stick of time.
Huo Xing thought he was going to knead the dough, but he didn't expect Miao Ying to put the kneaded dough directly into the basin of water.
"What...what is this for?"
"Don't worry about it." Miao Ying was in a bad mood. It was too hot and he felt irritated. Everything he saw made him feel bad.
He slowly rubbed the dough with his hands, and slowly the clear water turned into a thick white liquid. Miao Ying poured the starch water into another basin and continued to wash the dough until the water became clear and the dough he had just kneaded had turned into a piece of gluten.
After that, the starch water needs to be settled, which is estimated to take two hours. Miao Ying put the dough in a cooler place and asked Huo Xing to make noodles.
The noodles made of pure flour are chewy, and Miao Ying also stir-fried some vegetables in oil, and the mixture tastes good.
"It shouldn't take that long to make noodles, right?" Grandma looked at the noodles on the table and thought of Miao Ying busying around in the kitchen for the whole morning.
"I made something else and will give it to you to try tonight." Miao Ying was finally in a better mood and seemed to have more energy.
After lunch, everyone went back to their rooms to rest. Miao Ying was still thinking about his cold noodles and didn't sleep well at noon. In his dream, pieces of cold noodles covered his face, making it hard for him to breathe.
When he was awakened for the last time, Miao Ying sat up from the bed and found that Huo Xing was not in the room. He went out to look for him and found that Huo Xing was working in the tool room.
Miao Ying leaned over to see that he was making a hoe handle.
"What did you do?"
"I'm from the village, please help me fix it."
Only then did Miao Ying see that there were many hoes piled around him, and some of them were loose.
"That's fine. Come and help me when you're done."
Miao Ying carefully poured out the water on the top of the starch water, then stirred the slurry evenly with a spoon. A fire was also lit in the pot, boiling hot water.
But there was no frying pan at the moment, and he didn't know how to spread the batter. Miao Ying ran to Huo Xing's tool room and finally found a very flat wooden board.
"Help me fix it." Miao Ying told him his requirements, "Low in the middle, high around. Just don't let the water flow out."
Huo Xing used a shorthand tool to polish and quickly made what Miao Ying wanted. Miao Ying took the thing, leaned over and kissed him: "I'm leaving."
Miao Ying took the tools, cleaned them with water, scooped a spoonful of batter and spread it evenly on the wooden board, then put it in hot water. The batter slowly solidified and small bubbles appeared. After a while, a piece of cold skin was ready.
Miao Ying took down one piece of cold skin and put another one on. Slowly, the cold skin piled up more and more. Miao Ying didn't expect that he only used more than a pound of flour and made more than twice the amount of cold skin.
Miao Ying stood by the stove, wondering if he could take advantage of the summer heat when everyone's appetite was poor and start a business selling cold noodles.
The cold noodles were made, but the seasoning had to be delicious too. Modern seasonings were varied and diverse, but he only had some ginger and garlic water. How could he make delicious cold noodles with this, let alone do business with it?
Just when Miao Ying was at a loss, Huo Xing came over from the tool room. Looking at the pile of cold noodles, he was a little curious: "What is this?"
"I call it cold noodles." Miao Ying picked up a piece and pulled it with his hand. It was very chewy and didn't even look like something to eat.
"How do you eat this?" Huo Xing was a little curious. "It looks more like a snack."
"Don't worry, I'll be done in a while."
After a while, the batter in the basin was used up. Looking at the cold noodles made, it should be enough for everyone in the family to have a taste.
He cleaned up the stove, put the gluten left over from washing noodles into the steamer, and was thinking about how to make a delicious seasoning.
He rummaged around in the kitchen but didn't see anything suitable. Finally, he found a package in the corner of the cupboard.
They had just moved into their new home, so even the things hidden deep inside the cupboards shouldn't be bad. He opened it and saw a bag of dried chilies.
He looked at Huo Xing: "Where did this come from?"
Huo Xing shook his head. His mother had always been in charge of the kitchen affairs, and he didn't know when this thing appeared.
Miao Ying suddenly realized that using rapeseed oil to make chili oil would make these people dizzy with its fragrance!
He was motivated and no longer felt the heat. He asked Huo Xing to scoop out the water from the pot and turn down the fire in the stove. He picked a few large peppers, peeled the seeds and put them aside. Peppers can be planted in any season.
After the pot was heated, he reminded Huo Xing not to turn the fire too high, then poured all the dried chilies in and slowly fried them over low heat. The chilies seemed to be quite spicy, and soon the kitchen became choking.
Huo Xing started coughing, and Miao Ying saw that it was almost over, so he drove him out of the kitchen. Li Hongying and her grandmother, who had just woken up from their lunch break, also started coughing from the smoke. Fortunately, there were no neighbors next to his house, otherwise they would have thought that Miao Ying was going to poison them.
When the dried chilies were fried, Miao Ying's eyes were red from choking. He scooped up the dried chilies, found the pestle, and asked Huo Xing to pound the dried chilies into chili powder.
While Huo Xing was working, he took a break in the yard. Seeing Huo Xing sneezing while pounding peppers, Li Hongying also came out. Looking at the peppers, she remembered what this was.
"So this is how you eat this thing?" Li Hongying sneezed. "It's so choking, how can you eat it?"
"Where did this come from, mother?"
Li Hongying shook her head: "I forgot. I'm old and my memory is not so good anymore."
"It's okay, this is a good thing. I saved some seeds, you can plant them, mom."
Li Hongying nodded: "Grow it in the vegetable garden? Can it be planted now?"
Miao Ying replied: "Yes, it can be planted all year round."
After the chili powder was pounded, Miao Ying stood up and went to the kitchen, bringing a can of oil. The fire was burning very brightly, and the oil gave off a strong aroma after being heated, which was even more fragrant than when they were cooking.
Miao Ying ladled the hot oil into a bowl, waited for the oil temperature to drop slightly, and then added the pounded chili powder. Fine foam floated up and the fragrance spread.
Li Hongying also walked in, saw the bright red bowl, and leaned over to smell it: "It smells so good."
Miao Ying chuckled and stirred it with chopsticks. The dark cooked chili oil made Miao Ying feel a little dazed, as if he was not standing in his newly built house, but renting a basement with poor ventilation and lighting, preparing to make a good meal to reward himself.
But the trance lasted only a moment. He blinked, looked at the two pairs of concerned eyes in the room, and then smiled: "Isn't it time for Xiaobao and the others to get out of school? Let's go pick them up." He then said to Li Hongying, "Mom, go ask Lingzhi to come over for dinner tonight. Let him have some delicious food too."
Afterwards, Miao Ying and Huo Xing went to pick up Huo Xiaobao and Xiaomutou from school. The children grew faster every year. Huo Xiaobao had improved his nutrition this year and grew very fast. Xiaomutou might have been making up for his previous loss these days. He grew slower, but his face had become fatter.
After integrating into the lives of his peers, he became more cheerful, but the differences between a boy and a girl also became apparent. He now doesn't like to go out and run around with his friends, and spends more time doing carpentry in the tool room.
After all, Xiao Mutou was taught by Carpenter Yao since he was a child, and he was much better than Huo Xing who changed his career late. So many times when Huo Xing was unsure, he would ask Xiao Mutou for his opinion, and the two of them got along well.
After picking up the two children, they had to finish the homework left by the teacher in the yard. After finishing, Huo Xiaobao went out to have fun, Xiao Mu stayed at home to do his favorite carpentry, the grandmother went to the back to feed the chickens, Huo Xing went out to deliver the hoe, and Li Hongying went to the fields. They rested for the afternoon, and when the weather was not so hot, they would go to the fields again.
The gluten for the afternoon was also steamed, and Miao Ying cut the gluten and cold skin. However, the seasonings were not as rich as those of modern times, so he could only get as much as possible.
Salt, soy sauce, vinegar, chopped green onions, garlic juice, minced ginger, the Litsea cubeba that I used before, and the most important cooked chili oil, are barely enough.
There were too many cold noodles to mix at once, so Miao Ying divided them into several bowls. Then he began to slowly think about the ingredients and finally mixed the first bowl of cold noodles.
Miao Ying tasted it and his eyes lit up. Although the lack of MSG and chicken essence would make it less flavorful, the merits outweighed the flaws. This was already a delicious bowl of cold noodles, sour and spicy, very appetizing in summer.
Miao Ying followed suit and soon several bowls of cold noodles were prepared. Thinking that the two little ones might not be able to eat spicy food, he did not add chili peppers to them. The cold noodles lacked flavor without chili peppers, but they were still much better than what he had eaten before.
After mixing the cold noodles, Miao Ying made some sauerkraut soup, which he loved to drink in summer.
When it got dark, Fu Lingzhi also came. The dining table was still placed in the yard, but the dishes on the table looked new to them.
After Huo Xiaobao and Xiao Mu washed their hands, they waited for their grandmother to come to the table. Then the whole family sat down. Fu Lingzhi looked at the things in front of him, then looked at Miao Ying: "What is this new thing?"
Fu Lingzhi's eyes sparkled. He knew that Miao Ying always had all kinds of clever ideas, which made him very envious.
"I call it cold noodles, come and try it." Miao Ying hurried to share it with them.
Afterwards, everyone picked up their bowls at the same time. The cold noodles were very chewy, and the sour vinegar and the taste of something stimulating the mouth made people who were suffering from the summer heat have a rare strong appetite.
Fu Lingzhi seemed to be unable to eat spicy food, so he took out a handkerchief and wiped his nose. Miao Ying was about to say that if he couldn't eat it, he should stop eating, but he quickly picked up the bowl again.
Afterwards, the cold noodles in everyone's bowl were eaten up, and the soup in front of them was also drunk up.
A chef’s favorite thing to see is the food he cooks being eaten up, and Miao Ying is no exception.
Then he announced to everyone: "Since it's hot now and there's no farm work to do, I plan to set up a stall for the next two months and sell this!"
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