Chapter 42 Green Rice Dumplings
As the weather warms up, the village children start digging for wild vegetables everywhere. The grass, which was bare due to the drought, has now turned lush and green, and it's the time when the wild vegetables are at their freshest.
Shepherd's purse, purslane, houttuynia cordata, and whatever else they might be, Sister-in-law Wei and Sister-in-law Wei always manage to pick a plateful every day.
Having not eaten many fresh vegetables all winter, these wild vegetables became the most popular dishes on the table: wild vegetable soup, wild vegetable pancakes, and cold wild vegetable salad. Song Yushu tried various ways to cook and eat these wild vegetables.
When it came time to plow the fields, Song Yushu didn't sit idle either. Zhou Chengyu and Zhou Chengzhu had been pampered by the original owner and had never worked in the fields before, so this time he took them directly to the fields to weed.
Brother Wei plowed the field in front, and the others followed behind, pulling the grass from the soft ground into a pile and stacking it on the ridge.
"There are so many centella asiatica roots growing in this field! Chengzhu, can you get me the basket? Let's pick some to take back," Song Yushu said, not wanting to waste the centella asiatica roots, he planned to collect some and juice them for the Wei family members who were working in the fields.
"You can eat this too?" Upon hearing Song Yushu's words, Zhou Chengzhu hurriedly fetched the basket and began picking up the pitaya roots to put inside.
“There’s plenty to eat. Also, pick some cudweed. I’ll make you some snacks when I have time,” Song Yushu said. He had been cooped up for too long during the winter and hadn’t been able to make any new dishes in a while. Now he was thinking about what to make with everything he saw.
"Mom, look! The weeds in our fields have become treasures now! In previous years, we would get a headache just looking at these weeds when we were weeding, but now we feel like everything is a treasure."
While talking, Sister-in-law Wei's hands never stopped working. Every now and then, she would gather the two kinds of grass together and put them into Zhou Chengzhu's basket.
"I don't know where she found out, but these weeds are usually just piled up and thrown on the edge of the field. She actually picked them up like treasures," said Wei's mother, but she would still pick them up for her if she recognized them.
"This is great! If we could eat all the wild grass in the fields, wouldn't we be making a fortune!"
Sister-in-law Wei also loved Song Yushu's cooking skills. It seemed that anything could be turned into a delicious dish in her hands. After Song Yushu moved into the Wei family, Sister-in-law Wei realized how many delicious foods she had missed before, so she was always the most enthusiastic when going out to find wild vegetables.
After finishing work and returning home, Song Yushu was begged by Zhou Chengzhu to cook something delicious. Song Yushu also readily agreed to let her clean up the collected centella asiatica and cudweed.
Centella asiatica, also known as snow calendula, has high medicinal value and can be prepared in many ways, such as cooking porridge, making soup, making cold dishes, or juicing.
Song Yushu had collected a whole basket of centella asiatica roots, and planned to juice them first and then cook them into porridge tomorrow.
She chopped up the thoroughly washed centella asiatica root, extracted its juice, and diluted the dark green juice with water. Song Yushu even added some sugar in case they weren't used to the taste.
"Try it, it's good for clearing heat and reducing internal fire. If you like it, I'll make some for you to take to the fields tomorrow," Song Yushu said, pouring the juice from the ground lily into a bowl for them to try.
Nowadays, there are few fruit juice drinks, and the Wei family has only ever drunk the sweet soup made by Song Yushu, so they have a high acceptance of Centella asiatica.
Moreover, the preparation of Centella asiatica is simple. Sister-in-law Wei and the others have seen it once, and they can make some to keep at home when the weather gets hot. Anyway, it doesn't cost any money, so it's very convenient.
"How do you make this cudweed?"
“Use this to make qingtuan (green glutinous rice dumplings), and you guys go and cut some bamboo shoots to make vegetarian filling.”
Seeing that there were still some bamboo shoots at home, Song Yushu decided to make a savory qingtuan (a type of glutinous rice dumpling). Although she liked qingtuan with mung bean filling, the Wei family didn't have any mung beans, so it would be troublesome to prepare. However, she could sell it as a dessert when her restaurant opened.
She spent the whole morning in the fields, and her mother, worried that she would get tired, took over making qingtuan with her.
"Blanch the cudweed, and I'll extract the juice later," Song Yushu dictated, which Wei's mother then performed.
When the cudweed juice was added to the dough, Song Yushu kneaded the dough thoroughly until it was smooth and completely turned green before dividing it into several small portions.
After the filling was prepared, the dumplings were wrapped into small green rice balls and steamed.
When Song Yushu saw that the time was almost up, he lifted the lid of the pot, and one by one, smooth and fragrant green rice dumplings appeared before everyone's eyes.
Ignoring the heat, they picked them up and started biting, each eating two or three before stopping.
“This can also be made into a sweet version. We can put it in restaurants and sell it. Eating green rice dumplings in spring is just right! Besides, Chengyu and his classmates will be starting school by then.” Seeing that they liked it, Song Yushu knew that the green rice dumplings would definitely make a good business.
"Would you like us to keep the cudweed for you?" Mother Wei didn't know much about doing business, but she wanted to help.
“No need to keep it. There’s plenty of this kind of grass in the village. We can just pick the fresh ones when the time comes. Besides, it’s not just this kind of grass. Mugwort can also be used. Just keep an eye out for it.” Song Yushu wasn’t worried about not having enough materials, as these wild vegetables were growing vigorously in the spring.
After the Wei family had finished cultivating their land, sure enough, people soon came to borrow their oxen. Several people came every day. At first, the Wei family only borrowed from a few households that lived nearby. Seeing that there were so many people coming, they urged Song Yushu to take a few baskets of wild vegetables and drive to the town.
Nowadays, many families in the town sell wild vegetables early in the morning, setting up their stalls on both sides of the street to hawk their wares.
Some familiar shop owners, seeing that her restaurant was open, even stopped looking at their shops and came over to ask her if she had made any new dishes.
“It’s natural to eat wild vegetables this season, since we can’t buy any other ingredients these days,” Song Yushu said as she carried the wild vegetables into the yard.
Those people were initially quite disappointed, since wild vegetables are something they can eat every year and there's nothing new about them.
Song Yushu was not affected. She planned to make some wild vegetable cakes and green rice dumplings, and sell them with goji nut syrup.
Although there are only these three types of food, there are many kinds of wild vegetables, each with its own unique flavor, which guests can choose from.
After the shop opened, Zhou Chengyu and Zhou Chengzhu also came to help, washing wild vegetables and preparing wild vegetable paste every day. Wei's mother and Wei's two sisters-in-law helped make goji nut and green rice dumplings.
After steaming a pot of green rice dumplings, Song Yushu began to bake wild vegetable pancakes. The aroma of the wild vegetable pancakes quickly spread. Nowadays, few people on the street cook food, so the smell was particularly strong and quickly attracted customers on the street.
"Mr. Wei! Your wild vegetable pancakes smell delicious, how much?"
"Two coins each."
"Okay, give me one."
As soon as one left, several more came one after another. Song Yushu didn't stop, and he branded more than a dozen of them before he stopped.
"The qingtuan are ready!"
"Springtime is the perfect time to eat qingtuan (green glutinous rice dumplings). Would you like one, guest?"
How much does it cost?
"Three coins each!"
Now, Wei's mother and the others are making qingtuan in the yard, while Song Yushu is busy all by himself in front, and finally managed to sell the whole pot of qingtuan and wild vegetable cakes.
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