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墨書 Inktalez
Once everything was ready, she found a large bowl and evenly placed the fried ribs inside. Then, she put the 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 begin steaming.
Because there were no pressure cookers available, and steaming couldn't be done over high heat, it required a longer time. This was also why she prioritized making this dish.
Next, she began preparing the stuffed Apple Snails. Initially, she planned to stir-fry them, but later changed her mind. Making stuffed Apple Snails was also a time-consuming task. First, she had to cut off the tails of the cooked Apple Snails with scissors or pliers and remove the snail meat while clearing out any intestines. Xia Muxin handed this task over to the helpers; since there were many of them, she only needed to teach them once.
She took a small piece of high-quality lean meat and minced it. The dried chili peppers were cut lengthwise, the garlic was crushed, the white part of the scallions was chopped into small pieces, and the green part was cut into two-inch long sections. The Perilla Leaves were roughly chopped.
Seeing that they had removed all the snail meat, she instructed them to wash the shells with warm water and set them aside on the counter. She then began cutting the snail meat, adding salt to wash away any stickiness, and mixed in the scallion pieces. Next, she cracked a whole egg into the mixture, followed by salt, soy sauce, ginger juice, and minced meat, stirring clockwise to blend the flavors. Finally, she added some starch for seasoning and filled the cleaned shells with the prepared stuffing.
The stuffed Apple Snails were placed into a clay pot. Without beer on hand, she added a spoonful of Hua Diao Wine and enough water to cover the snails. She also added soy sauce, garlic, dried chili peppers, and a piece of rock sugar before covering it and simmering over low heat. After fifteen minutes, she added more Hua Diao Wine and water to continue simmering for another fifteen minutes.
After thirty minutes, she added the pre-prepared Perilla Leaves along with some oil to quickly reduce the sauce before serving it topped with scallions.
During this time, she had also prepared cold seaweed salad and peeled and diced pumpkin. The crispy taro ribs were ready as well; when served, they were also garnished with scallions before placing the diced pumpkin into steam.
The only leafy vegetable available was Amaranth. Unfortunately, there were no Century Eggs in this era; otherwise, she could have made Century Egg with Amaranth—a dish she particularly loved. Now she could only stir-fry Amaranth with a few cloves of garlic for flavor.
This time she didn’t make soup but instead had them prepare a large Male Fish. She used only the head of the Male Fish for a simple mildly spicy boiled Male Fish head dish. She added some pickled vegetables to enhance the flavor; the sour aroma filled the entire kitchen, making everyone’s stomachs rumble in anticipation.
Uncle Bingzi kept stretching his neck to peek inside while swallowing hard. However, Muxin's girl said that she preferred silence while cooking; if disturbed, the taste would suffer along with her mood. So even though he was very hungry, he quietly waited outside without allowing the other helpers to make noise.
To ensure a balanced mix of meat and vegetables, she also prepared Sour and Spicy Shredded Potatoes. The key to this dish is the knife skills; the potatoes must be cut into fine shreds. After cutting, they are soaked in water. Once the fish is served, she stir-fries the shredded potatoes and sprinkles some chopped green onions on top before serving, making it both visually appealing and fragrant.
After finishing these five dishes, she instructed Uncle Bingzi to start serving the food.
- End of Chapter -
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