Yesterday morning, when I had nothing to do, I fried a lot of meatballs. I was originally thinking of frying lotus root, but they didn't have any here. Instead, I fried potato dumplings.
With chicken and fish, that makes four dishes. I've already planned to make sauerkraut fish and chicken stew with mushrooms.
Next, make braised pork with radish and a garlic and carrot salad to cut through the richness.
"Mianmian, the chicken is ready," Chen Enpeng said as soon as I finished my work.
"Go and clean the pots and pans in your room. The chicken pieces will be chopped up soon, I'll be there in a bit," she said, taking the chicken from his hand.
"Okay," Chen Enpeng said quickly as he was about to turn around.
"Take the mushrooms from the pot with you, otherwise you'll have to come back later, or someone can deliver them when they have time."
"good"
In no time, the chicken was chopped up and placed in a basin. Then, a basket was found, and the necessary seasonings were put inside. The door was left open for convenience.
"Chen Enpeng, have you cleaned up the pot yet?"
"It's all packed up."
"Then let's light it."
"good"
"How about you do it instead of just saying it?"
"Can"
"Okay, first put the chicken into the pot, add water, just enough to cover the chicken. After the water boils, simmer it over low heat. This is a two-year-old hen, so it only needs to be simmered for an hour and a half."
While the pot is just starting to boil, skim off the scum. Then add the seasonings: a piece of ginger, five or six goji berries, three jujubes, and mushrooms. Finally, add salt. Got it?
"Okay, this isn't difficult."
"It's not difficult at all, just remember it. I'll head back now."
Let's go back.
As soon as I entered the house, I heard Chen Junjie's voice: "Mianmian, the fish is ready."
"That's good. Put the fish there, and take the bowl of radishes to your room. We'll bring the meat over later."
"good"
Time passed quickly, and the pots and pans on Chen Junjie's stove had long been cleaned up. He said, "Let's light the fire."
Then he said, "Braised pork belly isn't difficult. Cut the pork belly into rectangles, about one centimeter wide and two centimeters long. Clean it, then put it in a pot of cold water, add some ginger scraps and a few slices of scallion, add two tablespoons of wine to remove the fishy smell and enhance the aroma, and then cover the pot with the lid."
Add the seasonings: star anise, cinnamon, bay leaves, dried chili peppers, ginger, scallion whites, rock sugar, chopped scallions, soy sauce, and salt. I prepared all the seasonings in advance.
"Just put it in when the time comes. After a few minutes, poke it with chopsticks; if it's cooked through, then add the radish and simmer over low heat until the radish is cooked through. Okay?" He said, while putting the meat into the pot.
"knew"
"That's good. Just watch and see. If you forget anything, just ask."
"OK"
"Then I'll get back to work."
When I got back, I made sauerkraut fish myself. First, I processed the fish: I separated the fish meat and fish bones, and then washed it in clean water to remove the blood and reduce the fishy smell.
Then marinate the fish fillets by adding some salt, chicken bouillon, pepper, and wine, and mix well by hand. After mixing well, add egg white and mix well again.
Next, prepare an appropriate amount of pickled cabbage and chop it. Prepare sliced green onions and shredded ginger, then chop the chili peppers. Put the pickled cabbage into the pot, add sliced green onions and shredded ginger, stir-fry until cooked, and then remove and set aside.
Then put it in a clay pot.
After pouring in water and bringing it to a boil, add the prepared fish fillets to the pot. Once it boils again, the fish is cooked.
Finally, add salt, chicken bouillon, pepper, and white vinegar, and it's ready to eat.
Clean out the large pot, and then deep-fry the meatballs and potatoes that you made yesterday in oil again.
Finally, I prepared a garlic and carrot salad. After I finished, Chen Enpeng and Chen Junjie checked and found that the vegetables in their respective pots were cooked.
The eldest brother had also packed up the dumplings and placed them outside. After setting up the kang table, he said, "Let's bring the dishes to the table and start eating."
"Finally, we can eat! You wouldn't believe how much I drooled sitting in front of the pot," Chen Junjie said sheepishly.
"Who says otherwise?" Chen Enpeng said.
"Eat quickly!"
"Yes, yes, eat quickly."
"That's a really good spread!" Chen Junjie said.
"That's right," Chen Enpeng said.
"You two should be grateful. If it weren't for your eldest brother coming, we wouldn't have spent so much money."
"Yes, yes, we have to thank you and Brother Shen for making this New Year's Eve dinner so delicious," Chen Junjie said.
"Indeed, we should thank Mianmian and Brother Shen properly," Chen Enpeng said.
"Yes, yes, we'd like to offer you both a toast with tea instead of wine."
"cheers"
Everyone ate and chatted. By now, they were all quite familiar with each other. Then the older brother asked, "Mianmian said you two are from Jinshi?"
"We're both from Jinshi, so what, brother?"
"Where in Jinshi are you from?"
"We are from Jinnan District"
"Jinnan District?"
"What's wrong, brother?" Chen Enpeng asked, noticing the suspicion in Brother Shen's expression.
"Do you know anyone named Chen Entai or Chen Junfeng?"
Upon hearing this, the two looked at each other in surprise.
At this point, Shen Dong knew perfectly well that these two people were definitely related to the person he had just mentioned, so he said, "There's no need to hide anything here. Swear to the leader that you will never tell anyone."
Upon hearing this, he quickly replied, "That's true. I swear to the leader I will never tell anyone."
"Big brother, Mianmian doesn't need to do this, and there's nothing she can't say."
"Yes, big brother, Mianmian."
"Then tell me about it."
"Chen Entai is my older brother, 12 years older than me. Chen Junfeng is Jiezi's older brother, 9 years older than him."
"Then why did you go to the countryside?"
"Our Chen family used to be a prominent family in Tianjin, a large household. Although we are all from a collateral branch, it cannot be said that our family did not enjoy the treatment of a large household in the past."
Although we didn't have much property before liberation—just a grocery store and a fabric store—since this spring, people have been coming to our parents one after another, saying that we used to be capitalists and that they need to be investigated.
But they had no evidence, so in the end they had to release our parents, but they were also demoted from their original positions to ordinary workers in the workshop.
Fearing something might happen, both sets of parents arranged for us to come to the countryside. How did Brother Shen come to know my older brother and Brother Feng?
"Yes, I know him. Your older brother, Chen Entai, is in the same military region as me. I'm in the Third Regiment and he's in the First Regiment. We keep in touch. Junjie's older brother, Chen Junfeng, is my college classmate?"
"Brother Shen, you wouldn't happen to be the one my older brother always mentions, the youngest classmate they had when they went to military academy, would you?"
"That's right, I was the youngest of my batch of military academy students."
Wow, we're really on the same side!
"Did you write letters to your family?"
"I sent a message home to let them know I was safe after arriving here, during the heavy snow."
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