Transmigrated into the fat wife of the future prime minister

Chapter 240 Laba Garlic

Speaking of Laba Festival, there are all sorts of Laba Festival foods, such as Laba porridge, Laba garlic, Laba vinegar, Laba beans, Laba noodles, Laba rice, and eight-treasure duck.

It is said that once the Laba Festival is over, the New Year is just around the corner. The Laba Festival has arrived as scheduled, and the festive atmosphere is getting stronger and stronger.

Xu Qingmeng had already made Laba beans with Xu Xinting, and you can take them out to eat tomorrow.

The main ingredient in this so-called Laba beans is soybeans. After cooking, they are placed in a gauze bag while still hot, then wrapped up and placed in a warm place to ferment for three to five days. After that, when a layer of white mycelium sticks to the surface of the soybeans, ginger, minced garlic, salt, sugar and chili powder are added. Finally, high-concentration rice wine is poured in, and it is ready to be pickled.

He didn't mention it; tomorrow is Laba Festival, and Xu Qingmeng had already forgotten about it.

That evening, Xu Qingmeng began preparing Laba porridge.

As the name suggests, Laba porridge requires eight kinds of grains. The Gu family has a wide variety of ingredients, so there is no need to prepare them specially. They can easily gather eight kinds at home. However, people are the same and always feel that things outside are better.

Yun Sheng and Yun Mo happened to hear it when they returned.

"Sister-in-law, when you cook porridge tomorrow, could you replace the red dates with candied dates? Candied dates taste better and are sweeter!"

"Sure! But what about..."

Upon hearing this, Yun Sheng quickly asked, "But what?"

"Of course you have to finish your homework early in the evening, no cheating or slacking off," Xu Qingmeng said with a smile.

Yun Sheng scratched his head sheepishly.

She's really done her fair share of slacking off, pretending to be asleep, and cheating.
However, Xu Qingmeng was not very clear about the local festival customs, but no matter where she was, she would always drink a bowl of Laba porridge.

Xu Qingmeng instructed Aunt Lin to wash and soak the glutinous rice, black rice, red beans, mung beans, red kidney beans, Job's tears, peanuts, and lotus seeds in advance.

The next morning, Xinting got up early and simmered the eight kinds of grains for an hour. Then she added the jujubes that Yunsheng wanted, pitted longan pulp, and lotus seeds with the cores removed. She simmered them for another fifteen minutes and finally added white sugar.

The Laba porridge cooked this way is thick, soft, sticky, and sweet.

However, in addition to Laba porridge, there is also the custom of pickling Laba garlic. However, this Laba garlic is not eaten on Laba Day, but is pickled starting on that day.

I plan to soak the peeled pieces in vinegar until they turn a deep emerald green, then they're ready to eat. They look like a poisonous, bizarre dish, but they taste pretty good.

Mrs. He had people start peeling garlic early on, making preparations.

When Xu Qingmeng woke up, the Laba porridge was already cooked. Then she saw the peeled garlic and suddenly wanted to eat sweet and sour garlic.

"Mom, let's pickle some garlic."

Sugar garlic—the name itself suggests the use of a lot of sugar. However, He Shi had never seen or tasted it before, which piqued her interest. After all, nothing Meng Niang made was ever bad.

"Okay, how do you want me to do it?"

Pickled garlic is usually made with fresh garlic, but that's not available now. Although dried garlic tastes a bit different from fresh garlic, it's still quite good when pickled using the same method.

As long as she tries to make the proportions of the pickling ingredients and the method as close to the desired flavor as possible, it shouldn't be a problem. Pickling garlic isn't difficult; it's simply a matter of the proportions of sugar, vinegar, and salt, and of course, rock sugar.

Xu Qingmeng gave a brief explanation, and Aunt Lin and the others knew pretty much everything.

Everything was ready, and Xu Qingmeng helped them adjust the proportions. Everyone was ready to start, but they didn't plan to make a lot. However, since there were many servants in the house, she wondered if they could make some pickled vegetables.

When Madam He heard that Xu Qing dreamed of making pickled vegetables, she was very puzzled.

In fact, Xu Qingmeng had never seen a shop selling pickled vegetables or anything like that from Quan County to the prefectural city.

Furthermore, the kind of pickles that can be eaten with meals or even kimchi that can be eaten directly, which are common in modern times, did not exist in this era.

When Xu Qingmeng was in Quan County, she asked He Shi about it. However, He Shi said that it was something only people who couldn't afford to eat would eat, so that they could eat it with steamed buns when there were no vegetables to eat in winter.

Not only Madam He, but even the servants standing nearby looked at each other in bewilderment, not understanding why the young mistress wanted to make pickled vegetables.

However, as servants, they had no say in what their masters did; they only needed to do their own jobs well.

Seeing the puzzled look on Madam He's face and the gazes of those around her, Xu Qingmeng explained, "Mother, the pickled vegetables I'm talking about aren't the kind of pickled vegetables you're referring to. They're more like pickled vegetables, kimchi, or something similar."

After Xu Qingmeng finished speaking, everyone still stared at her blankly. Then she smiled and said, "You may not understand what I'm saying now, but you'll understand once I do it."

Everyone knows that Xu Qingmeng is skilled in cooking, so there's nothing to say about it. As for Madam He, it goes without saying that all the money in the family is earned by Mengniang, so there's nothing to say about what she wants to do.

Without hesitation, Xu Qingmeng's first thought was to make pickled vegetables, namely radishes and cabbage.

She had someone buy two baskets of radishes and a lot of cabbage, intending to make dried radishes, pickled radishes, radish kimchi, and pickled vegetables.

Radishes and cabbages are not expensive, and all of them together don't cost much. Even if they were expensive, Mrs. He wouldn't say anything.

Xu Qingmeng first had people peel the radishes, start a fire, and so on. Of course, she didn't ask them to get rid of the radish peels. He Shi looked on with even more confusion: "These radishes aren't expensive, what are you going to do with these radish peels? Just throw them away."

Xu Qingmeng smiled and said to Madam He, "Mother, you don't know, the taste of pickled radish peel is absolutely amazing, and the taste is different from that of pickled radish. You'll know once you try it."

Since Xu Qingmeng said that, Madam He stopped asking questions. Everyone was busy processing garlic and peeling radishes, while Xinting was processing cabbage.

Xu Qingmeng was boiling the water used to soak radish peels. She mixed various seasonings such as chili peppers, garlic, soy sauce, and sugar in the correct proportions, and the water was ready.

The most important thing about pickling radish peel is, of course, the process of soaking.

Madam He watched from the side and saw Xu Qingmeng pour the water she had boiled into a jar filled with radish peels, then seal the jar and have it moved to a corner.

"Is that all?" Mrs. He asked in surprise.

"Okay, that's fine. Soak it for two days and it'll be ready to eat. It'll be tangy and delicious, perfect with porridge in the morning," Xu Qingmeng nodded and said.

However, this applies to all kinds of pickled vegetables. Cooking a pot of porridge in the morning and pairing it with refreshing side dishes is really great.