Spring Breeze Twenty Years

Chapter 673 Daily Dinner

Without anyone telling them, Xiao Wei and Xia Maosheng automatically went to the kitchen to cook.

Now that Aunt Wang has gotten used to eating their cooking for dinner, she no longer "actively" cooks.

After rinsing the rice and putting it into the rice cooker, the two grown men sat on small stools, head to head, picking vegetables.

Xia Maosheng asked, "What have you been busy with these past few days?"

Xiao Wei said, "A thorough inspection of all public entertainment venues. It's just a formality; even if they find something, they won't care. But at least they'll recoup some of the funding."

Xia Maosheng said, "How do you think you're going to regulate it? What are you going to regulate? If entertainment venues aren't entertaining anymore, are they still entertainment venues? They're just plants for you to exploit, understand? If everything's cleaned up, it'll be peaceful, but where will all that funding come from? Where will it come from when you need results later?"

Xiao Wei shook his head and said, "You seem to understand things quite well, but I just don't like it."

Xia Maosheng said, "You're really not cut out to work in an office; you'll be driven crazy. Sigh, I'll make some fried meatballs and a dry-fried fish. It's been a long time since I've cooked anything properly."

Xiaowei looked at the refrigerator and said, "Then I'll make some pan-fried pork slices and some eggplant fritters, Xiaohong likes them."

Xia Maosheng said, "Make another pork chop, there are still some bread crumbs left. I'll also make some braised pork ribs and some braised pork intestines, is that enough?"

Xiao Wei said, "That's about right. Celery, green beans, bean sprouts, three of those, four or five, seven rounded up to nine, ten vegetables in total, that should be enough. Shall we make soup?"

Xia Maosheng said, "You go prepare the ingredients. I'll peel two potatoes and make a potato soup. I'll take care of the eggplant."

Xiao Wei got up to get things from the refrigerator. They were all frozen. He put them in a basin, filled it with cold water, and waited for them to thaw. Then he started to chop scallions, ginger, and garlic, prepare sweet and sour sauce, mix starch with water, chop dried chili peppers, and mince meat.

Mince the meat, then chop it into small pieces. Add some scallions and ginger and mince it into a paste. Put it in a large bowl, add a little cooking wine, soy sauce, salt, MSG, Sichuan peppercorn powder, and a spoonful of cooked oil. Stir it into a meat filling.

Xia Maosheng peeled the eggplants, made two cuts (one light and one dark) to make a slice, arranged the slices on a plate, lit the stove, put a pot on it, added most of the hot oil, adjusted the heat, and then turned to clean the king fish.

Xiao Wei cracked four eggs into a large bowl, carefully separated the yolks and put them into another bowl, then cracked five more eggs into the yolk bowl and stirred them into an egg mixture.

After washing my hands, I took out four chopsticks, washed and dried them, and then, holding the round ends of the chopsticks and spreading out the square ends, I started whisking the egg whites. There are special handheld egg beaters available for sale, but most chefs use chopsticks—it's a matter of habit.

By whipping the egg whites quickly in one direction, they coagulated into white flocculent particles. The more they were whipped, the thicker and more swollen they became. Four egg whites were whipped into a large bowl. When a single chopstick could stand upright in the middle without moving, Xiaowei stopped whipping, added a little baking soda, two small spoonfuls of dry starch, and a handful of flour to the egg whites. Then he quickly stirred them with chopsticks until they became a thick, sticky batter that filled more than half a bowl.

Stuff the minced meat into the eggplant slices, arrange all the eggplant slices on a plate, test the oil temperature, then take the eggplant slices stuffed with minced meat, roll them in egg white batter and put them into the oil.

With a sizzle, the egg white batter coating the eggplant slices quickly expanded after being put into the pan, turning the flat eggplant slices into round ones.

Xia Maosheng used a knife to make diagonal cuts the width of chive leaves on both sides of the kingfish and placed it on a plate. He washed the cutting board and started cutting the large intestine. He peeked out and said, "Soda is here."

Xiao Wei said, "It's okay. I haven't done it for a long time and I didn't add the right amount. Anyway, it's just for my own consumption." Too much baking soda will make the fried food too dark and it won't look good.

Put all the eggplant slices into the pot, stir them with a slotted spoon, and take them out when they turn dark yellow and set them aside to drain the oil. Take the cleaned kingfish and fry it until it turns brown. When the fish meat becomes dry and crispy, take it out and put it on a plate. Xia Maosheng handed over the large intestine head that had been cut into sections, blanched in boiling water, dipped in soy sauce, and sealed with wet starch.

The large intestines were deep-fried until golden brown and then removed from the oil. Meanwhile, Xia Maosheng had already coated the cooked ribs with a thin cornstarch slurry. The two skilled cooks working together were incredibly smooth; it was a feeling of effortless mastery. Therefore, a good kitchen helper is extremely important in a restaurant.

Fry the ribs, deep-fry the green beans, and arrange them on a plate. While waiting for the oil in the pan to warm up, Xiaowei brought over the egg mixture, along with a small bowl of flour and a bowl of breadcrumbs. Xia Maosheng had already cut the pork rump into large slices, chopped them with the back of a knife, marinated them in soy sauce, and then seasoned them with a small amount of salt, Sichuan peppercorn powder, and MSG.

The oil temperature was high enough. Xiaowei spread out the prepared pork slices, coated both sides evenly with flour, dipped them in the egg mixture, patted them firmly in bread crumbs, and then put them into the oil pan.

One by one, the process of coating each slice with flour, dipping in egg, and then patting with breadcrumbs was repeated. Once golden brown, the slices were removed from the oil and set aside. After all the slices had been fried once and the oil temperature had risen again, they were all deep-fried together, filling the kitchen with a wonderful aroma. When they were deep golden brown but still had some breadcrumbs on them, they were removed and placed on a clean, dry cutting board. They were then cut into strips about one finger wide and arranged on a plate. The pork chops were ready. They could be eaten with a little salt and pepper, or ketchup.

Then the two of them started cooking.

Nine-Turned Intestines requires skillful use of a ladle. Add a little oil to the wok, sauté scallions, ginger, and garlic, then add soy sauce, stock, one-third of a ladle of sugar, salt, pepper, and MSG. Once the liquid boils, neatly push the fried intestine heads, arranged vertically on a plate, into the wok. When the sauce thickens, stir constantly, shaking the ladle to prevent sticking.

Reduce the broth until thickened and changes color, add pepper and vinegar, sprinkle with chopped cilantro, and plate. Actually, you can do this even if you're not good at flipping the pan; just prevent it from sticking to the pan, and once it's done, use chopsticks to arrange it on a plate.

To make fried meatballs, first heat a lot of oil in a pan, then add the raw meatballs and fry them. Flatten the meatballs with a ladle and fry until golden brown on both sides. Then add broth, a little soy sauce, a little sugar, salt, pepper, and MSG. Bring to a boil over high heat, then simmer over low heat until the sauce thickens.

"What's wrong with you two today? Why are you doing all this construction?" Xiao Hong and Geng Hui were attracted by the aroma and sounds and leaned against the kitchen door frame to ask.

Xia Maosheng said with a smile, "It's to relieve loneliness and kill time. Besides, it's been a long time since I've done anything, and I happen to have all the things I need."

Xiao Wei heated oil in a wok, added the sliced ​​meat and stir-fried it. He added a little broth, a dash of soy sauce and salt, and some chopped green onions and minced garlic. Once the meat was cooked, he poured it into a small bowl.

Then, add two spoonfuls of oil to the pan. Once the oil is hot, pour in the egg mixture and gently swirl it to spread it out in the oil. When the egg mixture has spread into a large pancake but the center is still slightly runny, add the stir-fried meat slices. Then, flip the pancake and keep swishing it to make it rounder.

Once the egg mixture on the side containing the meat slices has solidified and changed color, flip it back over, pour in the prepared sweet and sour sauce, and slowly swirl the large spoon to reduce the sauce. Once the sauce becomes thick and vibrant, flip it over again, pushing the side coated with the red sauce upwards onto a plate. Sprinkle with chopped cilantro, and the pan-fried meat slices are ready.

(End of this chapter)