Food: Taking the twins to kindergarten to be chefs

The feeling of being on vacation is indescribable!

Especially in winter, sleep seems to be particularly sweet.

Look!
Huang Jun's family of three curled up happily in the warm bed until the clock quietly slipped to after ten o'clock, almost eleven o'clock, when they slowly woke up from their sweet dreams.

Thinking about the first day of winter vacation, half a day passed quietly in his sleep. Huang Jun couldn't help but feel that the day was a bit lazy, but he had to admit in his heart that the sleep was indeed very comfortable...

anyway.

Qingqing and Weiwei did not indulge in such "late awakening" time from the beginning.

They had woken up at around seven o'clock, and tiptoed into Huang Jun's room. Seeing that he was still asleep, they playfully climbed onto his bed, and lay down next to him, one on each side, each immersed in finger games. Soon, accompanied by the sound of his breathing, they fell asleep again.

As a result, the whole family got up late and simply combined breakfast and lunch.

After all, everyone ate too much the night before, so it wouldn't hurt to skip a meal this morning.

That’s right…

It’s a bit unfair to the two children!
Of course, I won’t do it again to avoid upsetting their little stomachs.

After a hearty meal and a short nap...

Huang Jun then went straight into the kitchen and started making some snacks.

The first thing to do is - Shaqima.

This Shaqima, also known as Sachima, was officially called Tangchan during the Qing Dynasty.

Many people may mistakenly believe that this is a dessert originating from the West, but in fact, Shachima is an authentic Chinese dessert, which, like donkey rolls and sticky rice dumplings, originated from Manchu culture.

However, when Shaqima was introduced to the capital, it did not get a name that was close to the people's livelihood like Donkey Rolling, and the name "Tangchan" was too elegant to be accepted by the general public.

Because of this, shachima is mistakenly regarded as a Western snack.

The three words "Shaqima" are actually the transliteration of Manchu, which means "cut" in Manchu. Therefore, Shaqima is essentially a kind of cut cake.

He made shachima not only to let the two little ones in the family enjoy a delicious snack, but more importantly to prepare a thoughtful gift for the visit to the old landlords, Uncle Jiang and Aunt Jiang, which was going to take place in the afternoon.

Recalling the scene of his last visit, he respectfully brought the gifts he had carefully selected. Unexpectedly, the two elders were not happy at all. Instead, they blamed him for spending money on some impractical things and insisted that he take the gifts back and return them.

He knew that the old couple felt sorry for him and didn't want him to spend money!
So, he learned his lesson and decided not to buy those expensive nutritional products this time. Instead, he made some pastries and snacks by himself and gave them to his parents as New Year's gifts.

The two elders should like such a gift, and they will not ask him to return it, right?

He took the sieve and sifted the flour finely. This was done to make the flour finer and taste better, and also to remove the small lumps inside to avoid discomfort when eating.

When making snacks, sifting flour is an important step and cannot be missed.

After sifting the flour, he poured it into the dough bowl.

He beat a certain number of eggs into a bowl, added an additional number of egg yolks equal to the number of eggs, then added an appropriate amount of baking powder and stirred carefully.

The reason for adding an equal amount of egg yolk is that it can give the shachima a more attractive color and make its egg aroma more fragrant and richer.

Moreover, after frying, this ratio can make the shachima taste more crispy and soft, melt in the mouth, bringing an extraordinary taste enjoyment.

He picked up the chopsticks and beat the eggs. After the egg liquid was even, he slowly poured it into the basin. Then he mixed the flour and egg liquid together and kneaded it into a slightly soft dough. Then he placed the dough in the basin, covered it with plastic wrap, and let the dough rise quietly for thirty minutes to achieve the best taste.

During the waiting time, he was not idle, but found a few deeper trays, washed and dried them, and evenly brushed a layer of oil on the inner walls to be used as molds for making shachima later.

When all the preparations were completed in an orderly manner, he finally had a moment of free time, so he picked up his mobile phone and started browsing.

I first watched the video shared by the kindergarten's official account last night. The comment section was already very lively, with all kinds of comments coming in:
[How foolish! This 360-degree fried rice has every grain of rice covered in egg liquid. How can kindergarten kids appreciate such a delicate delicacy? Leave it to me! ]

[The golden fried rice, just the tempting color is enough to make people salivate, I also want to taste that wonderful taste...]

[Oh my god, the golden color of this fried rice is so bright that it almost blinds my titanium alloy eyes. It is simply a model of color, fragrance and taste...]

[Oh my god, if this is what fried rice is, then what is all the fried rice I've eaten over the years? Pig food?]

【After seeing this fried rice, I finally understood the meaning of golden fried rice. Restaurants out there, it’s time to take a look at yourself. Look at the fried rice at Doremi Kindergarten. That’s real fried rice, with every grain of rice shining with an alluring golden glow.】

[I'm so hungry after watching this, I have to quickly order some fried rice to comfort my hungry stomach. ]

[This irresistible delicacy has made my stomach growl. Doraemi Kindergarten, you have to be responsible for me and quickly compensate me with a bowl of fried rice to satisfy my craving! ]

[Why post these tempting food pictures in the dead of night? Doraimi Kindergarten, don’t you have internet access during the day? ]

[It is unbelievable that the New Year's Eve dinner at Doraimi Kindergarten is so sumptuous, with two famous dishes, boiled cabbage and nine-turn large intestine, on the list. Especially the shape of the nine-turn large intestine, it makes me feel that I can't afford it; and the moment when the boiled cabbage blooms, it is so beautiful that it is breathtaking...]

[I am so hungry after seeing this. I must order some Jiuzhuan Large Intestine or Boiled Chinese Cabbage to satisfy my craving tomorrow night! ]

[Leaders of all units and companies, please take a good look. A kindergarten's New Year's Eve dinner can be so sumptuous. This year's New Year's Eve dinner must be of this standard, otherwise others will think that our company's treatment is not as good as that of a kindergarten.]

[Sure enough, there is no harm without comparison! After watching the New Year's Eve dinner of Dorami Kindergarten, I suddenly lost my original expectations for the New Year's Eve dinner that my company is about to hold. All this can be attributed to the high standards shown by Dorami Kindergarten, which makes people feel "blame". ]

Seeing that netizens took the initiative to come and watch, and left messages after watching to express their feelings of being too greedy to control themselves, especially noting the time of the comments, many people actually watched the video in the early hours of the morning. Huang Jun felt that they were completely asking for it and could not blame others.

He shook his head slightly and sighed, then exited the video, put away his phone, and turned to look at the basin beside him to check on the rising of the dough.

At this moment, the dough has reached the ideal fermentation state, showing the proper fluffiness and softness.

He first spread a layer of corn starch on the chopping board, then took the fermented dough out of the bowl and covered its surface with a layer of dry starch to prevent sticking.

He picked up the rolling pin.

"Bang bang bang~"

With his smooth rolling movements, the dough was rolled into a thin sheet about two millimeters thick in an instant.

After rolling out the dough, he sprinkled a layer of starch on it, rolled it up with a rolling pin, and then held a kitchen knife and cut the dough in one go along the trajectory of the rolling pin.

moment.

A round piece of dough is transformed into a long strip of dough about ten centimeters wide.

After stacking the long slices of noodles neatly, he picked up the kitchen knife again and started cutting them.

This process is exactly the same as the steps for making hand-rolled noodles, except that the noodles are slightly shorter this time, only about ten centimeters long.

Moreover, the width of the noodles is extremely fine, about twice the thickness of the dough, which is about four or five millimeters.

After cutting, he sprinkled some starch on the noodles and gently shook the short noodles to prevent them from sticking to each other. "Hey, it's really getting more and more like hand-rolled noodles..."

He smiled and talked to himself, then turned around and placed a clean wok steadily on the stove.
He poured a proper amount of peanut oil into the pot, turned on the gas stove, and waited patiently for the oil temperature to gradually rise.

Frying is a crucial step in the production of shachima, as it gives shachima that unique fluffy texture.

But compared with other foods, the frying process of shachima may fail if you are not careful.

If the oil temperature is too low, the noodles will not be able to expand quickly and will tend to absorb too much oil. On the contrary, if the oil temperature is too high, the noodles will become too hard before being served.

Therefore, an oil temperature of 60% hot is ideal.

When the oil temperature is right, he grabs a handful of noodles, carefully shakes off the excess starch, and then evenly sprinkles them into the pan.

The purpose of this is to ensure that the oil temperature is evenly distributed and avoid local overheating.

This is because once the noodles come into contact with the hot oil, they will expand rapidly. If the noodles stick to each other, they will not be able to expand fully.

At this time, the noodles in the pot expanded rapidly and became fluffy. Their appearance reminded him of fried shrimp chips and shrimp strips.

He used a slotted spoon to gently stir the pot, turning the noodles in the oil and ensuring that each side was cooked evenly.

When the surface of the noodles turned an attractive light yellow color, he quickly scooped them out with a colander, his movements clean and neat without any hesitation.

"Dad, what delicious food are you making?"

Qingqing smelled the fragrance and ran to the kitchen with meat buns in her arms.

Roubaozi felt a little uncomfortable being hugged by her, but there was nothing he could do, because Qingqing loved him so much that he liked to be intimate with him...

Weiwei ran up behind him: "Dad, I smell something delicious, are you making something delicious again?"

Chef Huang turned around, smiled at the two little guys, and replied, "Yes, Dad is making shaqima now!"

"Wow... I love shachima the most!" Weiwei shouted excitedly.

Qingqing asked curiously: "Dad, why do you suddenly want to make shaqima?"

Huang Jun smiled and said, "Of course I'm giving them to you as snacks, and also as gifts!"

Qingqing became even more curious: "Who is it for?"

Huang Jun pretended to be mysterious: "You will know in a moment!"

Qingqing tilted her head and thought for a while, then asked, "Dad, do you want to give it to Grandpa Jiang and Grandma Jiang?"

"Wow... Qingqing is really smart."

Huang Jun showed a surprised expression on his face: "How did you know?"

Qingqing said proudly: "I remember my father said that we would go visit Grandpa Jiang and Grandma Jiang after the holiday, so I just made a random guess!"

"My Qingqing is so awesome!"

Huang Jun smiled and gave her a thumbs up. After praising her, he added: "Okay, go to the living room and play first. When the shaqima is ready, Dad will bring it to you..."

"Mmmmm~"

The two little guys nodded, and then ran towards the living room one after the other.

Huang Jun withdrew his gaze and continued to fry all the noodles one pot after another, placing them in a large colander to drain the oil.

He moved the oil pan aside and started to boil sugar.

To put it simply, shachima is deep-fried fluffy noodles cleverly glued together with sugar syrup, and its literary name "Tangchan" in the Qing Dynasty originated from this.

The process of making sugar juice is also very particular. You cannot just use white sugar, because that will make the sweetness too high, thus covering up the egg flavor in shachima.

Moreover, if only white sugar is used, the viscosity of the boiled syrup will not be enough, so maltose needs to be added to increase the viscosity.

Maltose has a higher viscosity, but its sweetness is only one-third of that of white sugar, so it can complement white sugar very well when used together.

The more maltose is added, the viscosity of the syrup will be higher. When you break the shachima by hand, you can even pull out sugar threads.

Although such shachima is very delicious, it may not be suitable for people with bad teeth. Therefore, usually the ratio of maltose to white sugar is kept at one to one.

The syrup prepared in this way has moderate viscosity and a sweetness that suits the taste of most people.

When it is combined with well-fried noodles, it makes the kind of shachima that is unforgettable.

He put the wok on, preheated it, and then poured out the excess oil.

Then, he added water, sugar and maltose into the pot in turn, with the ratio of the three being 2:1:1.

The amount of water needs to be precisely controlled. Too much water will dilute the maltose, and too little will not be enough sugar juice to coat the noodles.

After putting the sugar into the pot, he did not rush to stir it, but let it melt naturally.

Because stirring will cause the sugar juice to crystallize.

As the heat is transferred, the sugar in the pot gradually melts and large bubbles appear.

He turned off the fire, poured half of the fried noodles into the pot, and then grabbed a few handfuls of washed and dried raisins and sprinkled them in.

Then he started to stir the pan so that the raisins and noodles were evenly coated with sugar juice.

At first, it is relatively easy to flip the pan because the syrup is at a higher temperature.

But as the temperature in the pot gradually dropped, flipping the pot became a bit difficult. Despite this, he still did it with ease.

As the noodles are continuously stirred, the raisins in the pot gradually blend into one with the noodles. Almost every noodle has one or two raisins attached to it, and the distribution is even and beautiful.

When the syrup evenly coated the noodles and raisins, he moved the pot to a greased tray nearby.

He scooped the noodles onto the tray with a spoon, and when it was roughly covered, he picked up a piece of baking paper and gently covered it and flattened it.

When pressing, do not use too much force, so as not to press the soft noodles too tightly, which will destroy the unique soft taste of shachima.

When all the shachima are molded, the next steps are simple but crucial: just wait for it to cool down naturally, then take it out of the mold and cut it into small cubes that are easy to eat.

In this way, a traditional delicacy loved by both the elderly and children, Shaqima, is ready. (End of this chapter)