small farmer

Chapter 642 Making Zongzi (12)

noon!

The two families gathered at Zhang Feng's house, making zongzi lively and preparing for the Dragon Boat Festival two days later.

"Xiaofeng, you come to live, and I will fry glutinous rice!" The old man was about to do it himself.

"Okay!" Zhang Feng nodded with a smile. He is not very familiar with making zongzi. He only saw his mother do it before, but never made it himself.

There is a big difference between the zongzi in Qingshan and the zongzi outside.

Qingshan’s zongzi is called gray zongzi, which needs to be made with plant ash. The zongzi made in this way seems to have a unique fragrance, and only those who have eaten it will know its deliciousness.

The method of Qingshan gray rice dumpling is also more particular.

The first is to wash Hiiragi leaves

Zhang Feng’s rice zong leaves are from the local Hiiragi (zhongyi) leaves, which were just harvested from Uncle Er Niu’s field a few days ago, and they are relatively fresh.

Yes, Zong leaves are also divided into fresh and dried. For example, in the period when Hiiragi leaves are flourishing recently, fresh Hiiragi leaves are used.In autumn and winter, fresh Hiiragi leaves need to be dried for use.

When the weather is good, the local people in Qingshan will pick more leaves and prepare them at home. The dried Hiiragi leaves will not affect the taste and fragrance of the zongzi, but will save time and effort when making zongzi.

After that is to make grass ash
After washing and drying the Hiiragi leaves, the ashes are prepared to be burned. The ashes used to make zongzi are also local glutinous rice grass. Burning ashes seems to be a simple technical task, but in fact it also contains Taoism, and the mastery of the heat is very important.

The old man told Zhang Feng to be careful when burning the ashes of plants and trees. If the ashes are burned for too long, they will turn into white ash, which cannot be used and cannot be used for dyeing zongzi.It cannot be used if the burning time is too short.

Zhang Feng understood at once, because he had seen others do it before, so he understood the truth when he heard it. Many things are like this. Only by doing it yourself can you understand the trick, otherwise it is like listening to the heavenly scriptures. I seem to understand it, but when I do it myself, I don’t know how to do it.

After the ashes are burnt, all the ashes must be rubbed finely, and at the same time, some glutinous grain stalks that have not been burned thoroughly should be sifted out and discarded.

The ash should be sieved with the finest sieve to ensure that the ash is very fine, so that the zongzi will not taste harsh or slap your mouth!The reason why the zongzi in Qingshan is delicious is that the glutinous grain grass ash that everyone uses has always been burned in an iron pot by the family and rubbed by hand.

Many friends may ask: Can plant ash be eaten?I am sure to tell you responsibly, you can eat it!Not only can it be eaten, but it also helps to digest glutinous food!Pregnant women, the elderly and children can eat it!Believe it or not, this is how the people of Qingshan eat anyway!
Then there is fried rice
Heat up the good lard, add the seasoning that has been adjusted with grass fruit powder and salt, stir-fry until fragrant, add the glutinous grain ash and keep stirring, then pour in the glutinous rice and keep frying, but the glutinous rice cannot be cooked. Make sure that every grain of glutinous rice is wrapped in lard.

The last thing is to make zongzi
The zongzi is made with a big Hiiragi leaf at the bottom, and two small Hiiragi leaves are placed side by side on top of the big leaf. The leaves of the Hiiragi leaves must be stretched and intact, so that the wrapped rice dumplings will not leak air and water during the cooking process and affect the taste.

First scoop a spoonful of fried gray glutinous rice, put two large lumps of ribs or fresh meat on it, then scoop a spoonful of gray glutinous rice to wrap the ribs or fresh meat, and then put chestnuts on it.

When making zongzi, there are egg yolk fillings, ribs and chestnut fillings, and fresh meat and chestnut fillings.The chestnuts are local small chestnuts, which are boiled to half-cooked and then peeled and refrigerated. The taste of the small chestnuts is more intense.

"Xiaofeng, it's alright, there's no need to turn on the fire, hurry up and cut the pork belly for me." The old man instructed Zhang Feng while stirring the glutinous rice.

"Good! Got it, old man!" Zhang Feng stood up immediately, washed his hands, took out fresh meat from the refrigerator, and began to cut it.

The meat of the zongzi is also small, and the size should be appropriate. It is best to have as much as two fingers, and it is better to be longer, so that it can penetrate the inside of the zongzi and make the zongzi taste better.

"Well, it smells so good! Is grandpa ready?" At this moment, Yiyi walked in and asked grandpa with a smile.

"Hehe, it will be ready soon! Have you and grandma finished peeling the chestnuts?" The old man smiled and asked his precious granddaughter.

"We've already peeled it off, just waiting for you!" Yiyi nodded with a smile, walked into the kitchen, and looked around to see how grandpa and Zhang Feng were doing.

Zhang Feng's speed was very fast, the blade was like a shadow, and he quickly cut a piece of pork belly weighing more than two catties into strips.

Just when Zhang Feng finished his work, the old man finally took out the fried glutinous rice, put it in a clean basin, and brought it outside the courtyard.

Everyone moved their things and all came to the shore of the lake at the gate, where the cool breeze was blowing, making zongzi happily together, and enjoying the joy of the festival together.

"Hehe, I haven't made zongzi yet!" Zhang Feng said nervously.

"It's okay, making zongzi is very simple, you watch us make it, and it will be done in a while!" The old man said with a smile.

At this moment, the eldest sister and Li Jun also came over with stools.

"Brother Jun, let's come together!" Finally came someone who was as good as himself, and Zhang Feng invited him with a smile.

"Don't, I'm clumsy, I can't learn it all the time! You can do it, I'll just watch from the side!" Li Jun waved his hands with a wry smile.

"Hey, actually I don't know how, I'm learning from Yiyi!" Zhang Feng smiled embarrassedly.

"Hey, Xiaofeng, you guys are so busy here, are you all making zongzi?" At this moment, the second uncle and aunt came over, saw everyone making zongzi by the side of the road, and said with a smile.

"Yes, Second Uncle and Second Aunt, come and sit down!" Zhang Feng and the elder sister hurriedly gave up their stools and stood up.

"Okay, I'll pack a few too!" The second aunt smiled and came over to help. As for the second uncle, he definitely couldn't, so he sat on the side and chatted with the old man.

Zhang Feng smiled, hurried into the room, and brought out two more stools.

Now the zongzi-making army became more lively, besides Yiyi and grandparents, there were also mother, elder sister and second aunt. In the end, it was Zhang Feng who was sitting next to Yiyi as a substitute, starting to study.

"Hee hee, lunatic, I didn't expect that you can't even make zongzi!!" Yiyi looked at Zhang Feng and said with a smile, as if she was very happy and proud to see that Zhang Feng couldn't.

"I'm not an all-round master, how can I know everything!!" Zhang Feng smiled wryly and shook his head.

"It's easy to make zongzi. I used to make zongzi with my grandparents every year during the Dragon Boat Festival." Yiyi looked at Zhang Feng with her head raised, and skillfully wrapped the zongzi while talking triumphantly.

Regarding this, Zhang Feng expressed that he was very speechless, wouldn't he know how to make a zongzi?I will learn quickly.

Because Zhang Feng has actually seen it many times, and he knows all the steps of making zongzi very well, but he has never done it himself.

That's why Zhang Feng understood everything after watching everyone wrap it twice. Then he brought two Zong leaves and began to wrap them step by step.

(End of this chapter)