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墨書 Inktalez
As soon as he stepped out of the private room, he snapped his fingers in the dark, and immediately a shadow flitted by...
Meanwhile, Xia Muxin spent nearly half an hour preparing the necessary ingredients. During this time, she asked Uncle Bingzi if he could find pumpkins and taro. Fortunately, she had good luck; taro was easy to store and always available in the shop. They were just ordinary items, like sweet potatoes, kept in the cellar, and could last until the next year. Because they were so common, no one wanted to eat them.
A few days ago, a friend of the head of the household came to visit and actually brought two pumpkins. That friend seemed to be Western and said these were a new variety of seasonal vegetables they had cultivated. The head of the household didn’t want to refuse his goodwill, so he had them tossed into the firewood room.
Xia Muxin smiled lightly and asked Uncle Bingzi to bring them over. Uncle Bingzi was initially worried; although this Esteemed Guest was a bit fiery, it seemed inappropriate to treat him with such ordinary ingredients that even common folks were tired of. While he was anxious, he saw that Xia Muxin had already started working, so with a sigh of resignation, he hurried off to fetch the items.
Once he brought back the two ingredients, he invited Xia Muxin outside. He trusted her greatly and didn’t bother with a menu; he simply informed her that this distinguished guest had a heavy constitution and that the dishes should be light.
Just like last time, she left Li Zi Ge to help with the fire while she began cooking Apple Snail.
As the Apple Snail simmered in the pot, she selected a fine rib, cut it into long pieces, and marinated it with cooking wine, soy sauce, salt, and a little sugar. Then she added some pepper for flavor.
After finishing all this, she picked two larger pieces of taro. Peeling taro was quite troublesome; as soon as she touched the raw skin, her hands would become itchy and painful due to an allergy. Moreover, there were no disposable gloves in this era, and the taro had to be prepared raw.
“Miss, let me do it,” Plum said when he saw Xia Muxin staring at the taro for a moment. He took a thin cloth to wrap around it and began peeling with a knife after adding some small sticks to the stove. He stood up rubbing his hands together as he spoke.
Hearing this, Xia Muxin's eyes brightened. Feeling embarrassed, she said apologetically that it would be better if Li Zi Ge washed his hands first before peeling the taro.
Plum acknowledged her with an "ah," turned around to wash his hands, and quickly peeled the taro skin away. Xia Muxin then asked him to help cut it into chunks.
She cracked an egg into a bowl and, seeing that the Apple Snail was almost cooked, used a strainer to scoop it out.
Next, she took some flour and starch, added a bit of monosodium glutamate and Sichuan pepper, and poured in the beaten egg to make a batter. Once the batter was ready, she poured it over the marinated ribs and mixed it well with her hands.
Then she washed the pot, added oil, and heated it to about 60% hot. She added the prepared ribs in batches; the first batch should not be fried for too long—just enough to roll them in the oil until the skin tightened before scooping them out. After frying all the ribs, she returned them to the pot until they were golden brown before taking them out.
Once everything was done, she found a large bowl and evenly placed the fried ribs inside. Then she put some taro on top. Since there was no aluminum foil in this era, she covered it with another bowl and placed it in the steamer to steam.
- End of Chapter -
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