Chapter 248 Dragon Boat Festival
After the spring sowing, there was a short period of idle time when the fields were not busy. During the Dragon Boat Festival, the team leader gave everyone three days off.
In those days, supplies were scarce, and except for a few families with a little more financial resources and who were more particular about their lifestyle, only a few would use oak leaves to wrap a few large yellow rice and red date palms to suit the occasion.
Other families usually eat boiled eggs during the Dragon Boat Festival.
Of course, if conditions permit, white flour dumplings will also be included.
People in the South may not understand that in places where noodles are eaten, dumplings are the first choice of festive food during festivals.
Especially now when people are poor, if one pound of meat is stir-fried, each person in the family can eat less than two small pieces, and they will probably swallow it without tasting the flavor. But if it is chopped into stuffing and some vegetables are added, the whole family can enjoy the meat.
In this group, the three female comrades, Xia Zhizhi, Jiang Xiurong and Yang Yingxu, are all from the South.
They want to eat salty rice dumplings.
Xia Zhizhi had already unpacked the zong leaves from the package: "I asked my friend to send this to me. Let's make more zongzi for the Dragon Boat Festival this year. I want to eat those with fresh meat and egg yolk fillings!"
Jiang Xiurong is a staunch supporter: "We also have ham and bacon, can we buy some too?"
Yang Yingxu had never eaten zongzi in his previous life, but he had eaten it in this life. He nodded in agreement: "We also have prawns and basil. We can soak them in advance and wrap them in it!"
Han Youran, the only sweet person among the lesbians, frowned when she heard this: "Can we also pack a few with red beans, mashed dates, and red bean paste?"
"Sure." Xia Zhizhi likes both sweet and savory food. She also likes white rice dumplings. It would be nice to dip them in sugar or soup.
Then she thought of how some of her compatriots wrapped their zongzi loosely, and the zongzi were watery and not chewy. She didn't like that, so she suggested: "Wrap the zongzi tightly!"
Jiang Xiurong completely agreed with her taste and added: "I'll go get some wheat straw and burn some dry wood ash. We'll use the ash soup to cook the rice dumplings."
Several female comrades started discussing things enthusiastically, while Cui Zijin and Tang Mingli could only watch silently.
Yang Yingxu soaked the glutinous rice a day in advance and prepared the necessary ingredients.
At five o'clock the next day, everyone got up, and even Xia Zhizhi was pulled up from the kang.
After all, it was a big festival and no one could be left behind. We didn't expect Xia Zhizhi to help, we just wanted her to be there to accompany us.
After everyone had washed up and were preparing to make breakfast, Lin Wenxi arrived.
Lin Wenxi was holding a large basin, which contained boiled goose eggs, a bunch of small gourds, and a few rhubarb and red date palms that Auntie Wang had packed in advance.
In the south, people hang mugwort and calamus during the Dragon Boat Festival, while in the northeast, people hang small gourds.
Lin Wenxi first distributed a bunch of small gourds to each of them: "My mother told you to hang them on the head of your bed."
She was very scheming. The gourds she gave to others were undyed, but the one she gave to Yang Yingxu was colorful.
After distributing the gourds, he distributed the goose eggs and rice dumplings to everyone.
Everyone ate the goose eggs.
But the red date and rhubarb rice dumplings made Xia Zhizhi, Jiang Xiurong and Yang Yingxu, three southern girls, stare in amazement.
It was soggy and the red dates were steamed into a mushy mess with no texture.
In fact, if it were someone else, this would all be delicious, after all, it is fine food.
But these three are usually very spoiled and picky.
Each person took a bite, and gurgled it in his mouth for a long time but couldn't swallow it.
Han Youran is a girl from the north, she accepted this well and finished hers quickly. ×
Seeing this, Xia Zhizhi rushed over and put her own into her mouth: "Sister Youran, you should eat more. I didn't make breakfast this morning, and there are still so many zongzi to wrap later. You must be hungry by then."
Han Youran didn't react at all. She ate the rice dumpling from Xia Zhizhi's hand and praised her for being well behaved. She thought Xia Zhizhi did this because she cared about her.
Seeing this, Yang Yingxu lost his reserve and immediately followed suit, stuffing the zongzi into Lin Wenxi's mouth: "You came here in a hurry, you probably haven't eaten enough, come and eat something more, and we'll make zongzi together later."
Tang Mingli looked at Lin Wenxi, then at Han Youran, and immediately reacted, taking the rice dumpling from Jiang Xiurong's hand.
Cui Zijin gently pushed him from behind. He didn't understand what was going on, so he ate while looking at Cui Zijin questioningly.
Cui Zijin shook his head helplessly. He thought Tang Mingli was stupid. Why was he so proactive? Wouldn't it be better to just wait for Jiang Zhiqing to feed him?
But then he thought, there is nothing to be proud of. Others have already started talking, but he has not made any progress.
After breakfast, everyone started making zongzi.
Depending on the fillings, Xiankou comes in two shapes: long pillow-shaped rice dumplings and square-shaped rice dumplings.
Pillow Zongzi
The sweet ones are wrapped into triangular dumplings.
White rice dumplings are wrapped into ox-horn brown.
The people who made the best rice dumplings were Lin Wenxi and Yang Yingxu.
Yang Yingxu is chosen because he has a natural talent for cooking.
Lin Wenxi, on the other hand, has strong hands and controls the strength of his hands very finely. Each zongzi is wrapped perfectly, with just the right amount of filling, and the zongzi is tied tightly without breaking the skin.
Zongzi are strung together according to their flavors, and the salty and sweet ones are separated and cooked in separate pots.
The salty-tasting rice dumplings are large and tightly packed, and need to be cooked over high heat for several hours.
While cooking the rice dumplings, Yang Yingxu asked Lin Wenxi if she wanted to have dinner together at the educated youth center in the evening.
Lin Wenxi agreed immediately, not caring at all about celebrating the holiday with his parents. He ran home and dragged a big goose as his membership fee.
Everyone had enough of the goose stewed in an iron pot. The goose was not too old and the meat was not tough, so it was braised directly.
In addition to the goose, we also prepared sauerkraut stewed with pork ribs, bamboo shoots stewed with wind-dried chicken, basil legs stewed with dried beans, a stir-fried vegetable dish, and some cold bean sprouts.
Yang Yingxu knew how much his wife and Xia Zhizhi ate, so he prepared enough portions for them, not worrying about them not being able to finish them.
These dishes are time-consuming to stew. As soon as the rice dumplings are out of the pot, two stoves and one oven start working at the same time.
Yang Yingxu was quick and agile, and by the time all three pots were bubbling, the rice dumplings had also cooled down.
Jiang Xiurong cut open a fresh meat-filled pillow-shaped rice dumpling and fed a bite to the greedy Xia Zhizhi first.
The tightly tied rice dumplings are cooked in gray soup and are golden in color. The edges and corners are somewhat transparent. If they are cooked for enough time, the fat inside will melt and the oil will mix into the rice dumplings. When you take a bite, they are very oily, soft, glutinous and chewy, and you can taste the delicious fillings in every bite.
Xia Zhizhi puffed up her cheeks, chewed and praised, "Delicious, delicious!"
Jiang Xiurong fed another piece to Tang Mingli who was making a fire nearby.
As a loyal member of the Salty Party, Jiang Xiurong usually doesn't like to eat fatty meat, but she accepts the fatty meat in rice dumplings well.
She specifically picked a piece of meat with thick fat, which was cooked into a crystal clear texture. It must be delicious.
She judged others by her own experience and thought that Tang Mingli would also like what she liked to eat, so she lovingly stuffed her favorite food into Tang Mingli's mouth.