Miao Chu

Chapter 237 Trades
Such a bite, without exaggeration, is so light that it feels almost nonexistent when swallowed, like a wisp of sweet air that floats gently into the stomach.

He looked somewhat bewildered and asked, "Is this really mochi? Why does it look different from what I've eaten before?"

Many of his in-laws are from Jiangsu and Zhejiang provinces. He Qi has eaten a lot of mochi since he was a child, but the ones he has eaten are noticeably chewier and firmer. Even the softest ones are quite different from the ones in front of him.

Song Miao smiled and said, "It's mochi, also called glutinous rice cake. This one is made entirely of glutinous rice, so it's softer and stickier. The usual way to make it is to mix it with regular rice or to make it into a dough of glutinous rice flour and then steam it. It's usually chewier and more elastic. Today I used freshly steamed whole glutinous rice and rubbed it with gauze. You can't rub it too much, or it will become chewy. This way it's lighter and softer to eat, but it will collapse as soon as it sits and harden when it cools down. You have to eat it while it's hot."

He added, "If you prefer something firmer and more elastic, I'll try a different method next time..."

He Qi couldn't resist picking up the largest white dumpling with a round belly—even though it was the largest, it was only the size of a bite.

The soft and moist glutinous rice ball is filled with a thin layer of finely ground rock sugar powder, which, combined with the aroma of rice, has just the right amount of sweetness. It is also filled with crispy egg fritters, roasted black and white sesame seeds and brown sugar crumbs, and roasted almond, walnut and hazelnut crumbs. The latter two have the unique oily aroma of nuts. Although it is only the size of an egg, it has the same satisfying feeling as a goose egg.

Hearing Song Miao's words, He Qi was chewing his food. He didn't know how to speak, but he was also reluctant to swallow it because he hadn't fully tasted the aroma of the roasted nuts. He was also eager to deny it, afraid that Song Miao would really not make it with this texture next time. He waved his hands anxiously.

After finishing his meal, he hurriedly said, "I absolutely love this taste, Miss Song, please don't change it!"

He then asked, "Is there any more? There are only a few, how can that be enough to eat!"

Song Miao smiled and said, "Glutinous rice is filling, so I made a lot, but if you eat too much now, you won't be able to eat dinner—would you like some more?"

He Qi was immediately faced with a dilemma, looking as if he didn't know what to choose.

After a long pause, he reluctantly waved his hand and said, "Next time... next time I get the chance, my wife will make me this soft mochi again!"

Song Miao smiled and agreed, then took another small plate to the backyard.

By the well, Xiaolian and Zhujie were washing bean sprouts and chatting. A nanny stood not far away. She was obviously used to this kind of scene and did not go up to stop them. She just watched the two of them with a smile.

As soon as I took a few steps closer, I heard Sister Zhu's excited voice.

"I've already decided! I've loved flowers and plants since I was little, and when I grow up, I want to build a garden! You know what a garden is, right?"

She spoke while also interacting with the audience.

Xiao Lian listened intently and, to her credit, opened her eyes wide and asked, "What is a 'menyuanzi'?"

"Ordinary people who tend to flowers and plants are called gardeners or florists, but what I want to do is be the most skilled, the one who can graft flowers onto plants! Peonies originally bloom in spring, but in our garden we can graft them onto eggplant roots so they bloom in summer, with beautiful purple flowers!"

"If you put lotus seeds in an indigo earthenware jar for a few years, the flowers that bloom will be emerald green—if the flowers I grow then can make everyone praise them, wouldn't that be amazing!"

Xiao Lian was so engrossed in listening that she forgot to wash the bean sprouts and asked unconsciously, "That's amazing—wouldn't that make a lot of money?"

"I think so, right?" Zhu Jie'er obviously didn't expect to be asked this question, but she tried hard to recall, "I heard someone say last time that a single Yao Huang peony can be worth several thousand coins!"

As she spoke, she turned to look at the old woman beside her and asked, "Granny Feng, is it true, is it true?"

The old woman hurriedly said, "What you say is absolutely right, madam—I've heard that a single Yao Huang bud is worth five thousand coins. Last time, the Second Prince's Mansion built a new garden and invited all the famous gardens in the capital. As long as they can produce good flowers, a single bud is worth eight thousand coins!"

Sister Zhu clapped her hands and laughed, "It's clear that my line of work is the best!"

Then he turned to ask, "Xiao Lian, Xiao Lian, what do you want to be when you grow up?"

"I don't know yet." Xiaolian said anxiously. "I wanted to learn to cook, but I'm slow at it and not very quick..."

Zhu Jie'er then said, "Learning to cook is too difficult! Unless you're as skilled as Sister Song, being a chef is not as good as making dumplings with me, right? Let's play with flowers together!"

“When my father was sick, the doctor treated him again and again, each time costing a lot of money, but in the end he couldn’t be cured. I thought to myself, if only I knew how to cure illnesses—but this was just a thought in my heart, I knew it would be very difficult!”

“What’s so difficult about this? Why don’t you start learning right now! I have lots of medical books at home. I’ll talk to Father and ask him to give them to you, okay?”

Song Miao stood and listened for a few moments. Seeing that the two children were having a great time, she didn't interrupt them. She simply handed the plate in her hand to the nanny beside her and turned back to the front hall.

***
When they returned, He Qi was holding a book and reading it intently.

Song Miao glanced inside and, fearing there might be something inconvenient, simply stepped aside.

Dabing had already cooked the rice, and only started cooking the side dishes when it was almost done.

While the others went to the back to look at the perilla and mint, I cut the cucumbers, put salt on the cut surfaces, and marinated them. Now, I washed and drained them, heated the oil, divided it into three parts, and poured Sichuan peppercorns, dogwood powder, and garlic into one part while the oil was sizzling. After the aroma was released, I mixed the pure oil together and added a little sesame oil.

The aroma of the three seasonings—spicy, pungent, and garlicky—was irresistible, filling the room with fragrance. He Qi could no longer concentrate on the book in front of him and quickly put it aside to look at it. He couldn't help but ask, "Why do you pour the oil separately? Can't you just put it all together?"

Song Miao smiled and said, "The more ingredients there are, the faster the hot oil cools down. If you mix them together, firstly, it will be difficult to bring out the aroma, and secondly, the aroma will be different if you pour them separately and then mix them together, versus if you pour them together and then mix them together. With your palate, you will be able to tell the difference after you eat it!"

Since He Qi said that making two or three dishes would be enough, Song Miao didn't insist and made roughly the same number.

With guests of all ages, we naturally have to cater to both their tastes.

He Qi ordered cold dishes, and Zhu Jie wanted to eat ice platters, so Song Miao satisfied them both. She first made cucumber salad for the former—this dish needs to be marinated in sauce for a long time to absorb the flavor. Considering that she couldn't just focus on the coldness, she prepared the remaining cucumbers with other ingredients, planning to make a hot stir-fry later.

This stir-fry was made with locally sourced ingredients—the perilla in the backyard was in season, its leaves large and thick, with an extremely strong aroma. They were simply picked, washed, and stir-fried with crushed dogwood, mustard seeds, and thick slices of cucumber fried on both sides in oil. It was called Perilla Cucumber, fragrant and spicy, especially appetizing, a perfect dish to eat with rice. Besides preparing cucumber in two ways, because Sister Zhu liked flowers, she also sliced ​​thin slices of pork rump and made a meat soup with the night-blooming jasmine she bought at noon.

The other dishes were all very quick to prepare, except for one, which required some effort. It was called chilled sweet and sour pork. According to my mother, this dish was so delicious that just looking at it and smelling it made one's mouth water, hence the name "sweet and sour pork".

She especially loved this dish when she was little.

Children often love sweet and sour flavors. If you were to rank them by how much they like them, Song Miao would probably be near the top. In fact, she wants to eat them all year round, but her family won't allow it. So every summer, she pesters and begs for them, acting cute one day and being unreasonable the next. Once she finally gets to eat them, she looks forward to the next meal. She never gets tired of them.

Actually, Pingyang Mountain isn't hot. Because of its high altitude and dense forests, it's cool even in the sweltering summer. But everyone on the mountain knows about her. Not only did she dig an ice cellar to store ice in winter, but whenever she went down the mountain, she would remember to bring back saltpeter. Fortunately, after she ran out of stored ice, she would help her second aunt make new ice.

Everyone said they would share the food, but in the end, it was mostly the child who ate and used it. Some of it was used to make milk ice, sweet and sour iced drinks, and so on, while others were used to make this chilled sweet and sour pork.

Since arriving here, although she has never seen it in other restaurants, the basics are the same, and the preparation and taste are very similar to sweet and sour pork ribs.

Two-finger-square strips of fresh pork belly, three parts fat and seven parts lean, are sliced ​​into paper-thin pieces. Salt, a little sugar, a dash of sake, and the pepper that He Qi gave me last time, roasted and ground into powder, are added and mixed together.

After marinating, add beaten egg yolks and mix with mung bean and glutinous rice flour. At this point, the batter is wet and semi-fluid. Use two chopsticks to coil the pork belly slices into circles, making them the size of quail eggs. Then roll them in the mung bean and glutinous rice flour until they are completely dry, turning the pork slices into large, similarly sized meat balls.

Deep-fry in oil, then dip in the oil at a low temperature to set the shape, and then deep-fry again at a high temperature until fragrant and thoroughly cooked before making the sweet and sour sauce.

Add white vinegar, salt, powdered rock sugar, freshly pickled plum sauce, and homemade Worcestershire sauce. Finally, add half a bowl of water and simmer over low heat until dissolved and well combined.

In a separate pot, heat oil and sauté garlic, then add shallots and white scallion segments. Once fragrant, pour in the previously prepared sweet and sour sauce and cook until well combined. Add a little mung bean and glutinous rice flour water and simmer over low heat until thickened. At this point, quickly add the sweet and sour pork and add a small handful of apples before serving.

She used two stoves simultaneously. While the sweet and sour sauce was cooking on one stove, the large pieces of meat on the other were already fried and drained of oil, making the dish full of wok hei (wok aroma) when it was served.

The ice platter is prepared in advance. The cooked dishes are poured into it, and then covered with another layer of ice. The dish is now complete.

While the sauce was being prepared, Song Miao asked Cheng Erniang to invite Zhu Jie'er. The latter tried to bring Xiao Lian along but failed. So when the dishes were served, the two of them, one big and one small, sat in a row, waiting attentively.

Even He Qi picked up his chopsticks.

He first offered food to Song Miao, then to Cheng Erniang and Xiao Lian. Seeing that all three said they had just eaten glutinous rice and weren't hungry, he then put two more pieces of food on Zhu Jie'er's plate before they could eat with peace of mind.

The cucumber salad was cut into thin strips, so that when you lifted it with chopsticks, it would trail like a long, openwork curtain, a lovely, vibrant green.

Zhu Jie'er had just finished eating when she saw the layers of cucumbers covered in straw raincoats. She even forgot to chew, swallowed the whole mouthful of rice, and finally opened her mouth to yell and play with the cucumbers for quite a while.

The crisp and refreshing cucumber with a hint of spiciness is not just crisp; because it has been pickled with salt and is shaped like a straw raincoat, it has become slightly chewy and firm. Not only that, but the flavor is also more intense and concentrated.

Layer upon layer of crisscrossing cuts, soaked thoroughly in the dressing, each bite is an unstoppable force, seemingly blocked yet able to break through each layer like tearing silk or splitting bamboo. A cucumber battle is fought smoothly and effortlessly, each bite yielding a refreshing coolness. The cucumber juice, with its sour, salty, spicy, and sweet flavors, is crisp and refreshing, making one feel completely comfortable on a hot summer day.

Although they are both cucumbers, perilla cucumbers have a different flavor.

The cucumber was cut into thick slices and fried until it was burnt, with the edges and skin even turning golden brown, and it was almost completely lost its crispness.

The texture was a soft, cooked kind of soft; each bite released a burst of juice, coated in a salty and spicy sauce, with the unique aroma of garlic and perilla. It was an unexpected flavor; before my tongue had even tasted it, I was still in shock, but my hands were already frantically shoveling rice into my mouth.

He Qi was seeing this way of eating for the first time, and he loved it so much that he kept eating it with his chopsticks, one after another, with cucumber wrapped around rice. Before he knew it, he had mastered a magical technique called the Rice Disappearance Technique. Before he knew it, most of the rice in his bowl had disappeared.

He was still immersed in the wonderful aroma and rich flavor when his arm was pushed several times. When he came to his senses, he turned around and saw that Zhu Jie'er looked anxious. She reached into the chopsticks ice bowl, but because her arms were too short, she couldn't pick up the piece of meat after a few tries. She had no choice but to urge him, "Seventh Brother, I want to eat more. Can you pick up another piece of meat for me?"

He Qi quickly picked up two pieces for her and then tasted one for himself.

He was a little stunned after taking just one bite.

There are countless fried foods, but this one is unlike any other. It's not the usual crispy or hard crispy, but rather a "glassy crispness" like thin ice breaking apart.

The outer skin is very cold, and the coolness dilutes the sweetness, making the sourness more rounded and mellow, with a very pleasant fruity flavor and acidity. But when you bite into it, the inside is hot, even hot to the teeth. But the next moment, when you bite into the sweet and sour outer shell, it suddenly cools your teeth again.

He Qi subconsciously blew a breath, not knowing whether he was blowing hot or cold air.

The meat is layered and fried until it's very fragrant. When you bite into the outer layers, it becomes soft and crispy, making a "crunch" sound as you eat it.

Further inside, each bite was tender and juicy, dripping with hot meat juices. The juices were locked between the layers of meat, leaving no escape. When they finally found an outlet, they escaped into He Qi's mouth, resulting in an exceptionally juicy burst. Coated with the outer sauce, any remaining greasiness was thoroughly chased away by the rich, sweet and sour sauce.

The crispy shell was icy cold, while the meat inside was piping hot, with a sweet and sour flavor that was a taste that He Qi had never experienced before.

It wouldn't be an exaggeration to say that this meal was devoured in a whirlwind, and the meal was finished off with a soup of night-blooming jasmine and lean pork.

The soup was refreshing and sweet, with the lean meat adding a touch of sweetness, making it perfect for cleansing the palate.

So when Zhu Jie'er returned home that evening, she snuggled in Old Madam He's arms and talked non-stop, talking about the girls she met that day, and about the chilled sweet and sour pork, cucumber salad, perilla cucumber, and glutinous rice balls she ate at Sister Song's house. She didn't want to leave out any of them, and she kept swallowing her saliva as she talked.

This dish, which Song Miaoxin longed for back then, still held its power decades later, making Zhu Jie'er plead incessantly, "Grandma, Grandma! I want to eat it again tomorrow, and I want to play with Little Lian again! Can Seventh Brother take me again tomorrow?"

Iced sweet and sour pork is a dish that appeals to both the elderly and children.

(End of this chapter)