Chapter 366 Selling Tangyuan at the Doorway
Two bags of glutinous rice flour were brought to the backyard of Xinglong Restaurant.
The kitchen staff looked somewhat bewildered upon seeing this.
Wan Qiqi walked into the backyard and directed people to carry the glutinous rice flour into the kitchen.
Lei Zi curiously leaned closer and asked, "Sister Qi, what are you doing?"
Wan Qiqi was also puzzled by the question, "Don't you eat anything during the Lantern Festival?"
"What would you like to eat?" Lei Zi asked curiously.
"You've never eaten tangyuan before?" Wan Qiqi was completely dumbfounded!
How does she remember eating glutinous rice balls in ancient times?
“Floating dumplings?” Panda asked uncertainly, explaining, “Many people eat floating dumplings in the county and in the town, but very few people make them themselves.”
He had worked at a restaurant before making "floating dumplings" and knew the ingredients for it.
Wan Qiqi then realized that it was just a matter of different wording.
Just as she expected, very few people make it themselves; they all buy it from outside.
She tilted her head and smiled, "Panzi will knead the dough, I'll prepare the filling, and the rest of you can boil water, wash vegetables, or just do your jobs."
At Wan Qiqi's command, everyone got to work.
She left the task of preparing the filling to herself, intending to buy some ingredients from the mall to add and try to choose the best filling.
"Panzi, add hot water in batches and adjust the seasoning slowly," she instructed as she prepared the filling.
In reality, Wan Qiqi doesn't know that many things; she mostly learned them from books.
As for how to make glutinous rice balls, she learned it from her sisters.
Panda had made glutinous rice balls before, so these were all easy for him to make.
Making glutinous rice balls is not complicated, and the bowl for them was filled in no time.
Before anyone could react, Wan Qiqi called them to the stove and said seriously, "I will only demonstrate each method once. If you can learn it, you can go back and make it yourself in the future."
"Ah Bing, go out and call Chen Yongliang in!"
The person whose name was called paused for a moment, then quickly ran outside.
Wan Qiqi said earnestly, "'Floating Dumplings' should be renamed Tangyuan, which means reunion."
"Today is the Lantern Festival, so there should be more customers at the restaurant than usual. Panzi and Leizi, you two just take care of the dishes ordered inside the restaurant. I will have someone set up a stall at the entrance to sell the glutinous rice balls."
Just then, Chen Yongliang and A Bing returned.
Wan Qiqi continued, "Yongliang and Abing, you two are in charge of buying glutinous rice balls today. I'll demonstrate how to make them later. The first batch will be prepared by someone else, but as things get busier, you'll have to cook them yourselves."
Chen Yongliang seemed a little confused, and after a long while, he replied, "Okay."
"Our glutinous rice balls come in two varieties: sweet and savory. The sweet ones have the black sesame filling that everyone used to eat, while the savory ones have a meat filling..." Wan Qiqi said earnestly.
The others were taken aback.
Everyone always eats black sesame filling, but who has ever eaten meat filling?
Meat is so expensive!
Meat is expensive, but most of the people who come to the restaurant are wealthy. They only care about freshness and taste, and the price is negotiable.
Savory glutinous rice balls are easy to make, nothing special. Wan Qiqi taught them once and everyone learned how.
Then there are various ways to eat sweet glutinous rice balls.
Sweet rice balls with fermented rice and osmanthus, sweet rice balls in brown sugar water, fried sweet rice balls...
There's nothing Wan Qiqi can't do, only things they haven't thought of.
The important thing is that every strange combination, when placed in Wan Qiqi's hands, produces something that is not strange at all, but rather unique in its own way.
Everyone exclaimed that Wan Qiqi was awesome, she could do everything, she was simply a fairy who fell from the sky!
Zhu Chengye happened to overhear these words while walking in the backyard. Unable to contain his curiosity, he came in and asked, "What are you talking about, a fairy?"
Lei Zi chuckled and replied, "We were saying that Manager Wan is beautiful, kind-hearted, and skillful; she's practically a fairy descended from heaven!"
With a "pfft," Wan Qiqi laughed and said, "How do you know a fairy can do these things, instead of just being otherworldly?"
Her question left people momentarily speechless.
"Alright, everyone get busy. Let's cook the first batch first, and make some more in our spare time so we don't get overwhelmed later."
After Wan Qiqi finished making the arrangements, she followed Zhu Chengye to the front hall.
The more Zhu Chengye looked at Wan Qiqi, the more he felt he had found a treasure. He sighed, "If it weren't for you, I probably wouldn't have been able to open this restaurant."
"No way! Manager Zhu's is pretty good too!" Wan Qiqi joked with a smile, then added, "I haven't decided on the price of the glutinous rice balls yet. I don't know what price range to sell them at. Manager Zhu, please set it!"
“Since you’ve done it yourself, what can I say when I set a price?” Zhu Chengye went to the counter and discussed a series of prices with Liu Ji.
Half an hour later, a stall selling glutinous rice balls was set up in front of Xinglong Restaurant.
Wan Qiqi caught Chen Yongnian playing with his child and made him sit at a small table by the door to eat tangyuan (sweet rice balls).
Children always praise delicious food, and whether it tastes good or not is written all over their faces.
Before long, it attracted a group of people who gathered around the stall to watch.
"What are tangyuan? To me they just look like floating dumplings!"
Chen Yongliang replied with a smile, "You're right, this is indeed called 'floating glutinous rice balls'! However, according to our tradition, today is the Lantern Festival, a day for family reunion, so it's also called 'tangyuan' (glutinous rice balls)!"
"The meaning is good, but what's so special about it?"
"You've come to the right place!" Chen Yongliang smiled as he uncovered the cooked glutinous rice balls and said, "Those who can drink alcohol can try our sweet rice wine and osmanthus glutinous rice balls. They have the aroma of alcohol and are infused with osmanthus flowers, just like drinking a sip of osmanthus wine!"
"If you can't drink alcohol, we also have sweet rice balls in syrup. We guarantee every bite will be sweet to your heart!"
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