Forty has a hurdle

Chapter 76 New Year's Eve Dinner

The whole family, except for Zhao Yuancheng, who had an injured hand, and Zhao Huan, who was hiding in the house playing with his mobile phone, sat around in the yard choosing and washing vegetables.

During the Chinese New Year in the countryside, the emphasis is on a large quantity and a lot of dishes.

Zhao Yuancheng prepared eight or nine green vegetables weighing one kilogram, and bought four or five cabbages.

Washing these dishes is a physical labor.

Qin Yali and her mother-in-law Li Lifen contracted to wash the vegetables and cabbage, while Zhao Hongming started cutting the meat, preparing to fry the crispy meat at noon.

Zhao Hongming liked to eat crispy pork when he was young, especially the crispy pork just out of the pan, it tastes delicious.

Wash the pork hind legs and cut them into small pieces. Add eggs according to the ratio of three eggs per kilogram of meat, and then add appropriate amount of starch, pepper leaves (pepper oil), salt and water.

Stir until smooth so that each piece of meat is coated with egg wash and starch for later use.

Note that when stirring, be sure to add an appropriate amount of honey, so that the meat will be golden yellow when it is fried.

But you can't add more, four or five kilograms of meat, one or two spoons of honey is enough, if you add too much, the crispy meat will turn yellow and black.

Because it takes time to fry the crispy meat, Zhao Hongming just cut the meat and put it aside without stirring it. He will start stirring the fried meat after breakfast.

The whole family, while talking and doing things like this, prepared breakfast happily.

After breakfast, continue with what you haven't done in the morning.

Zhao Hongming planned the dishes for tonight's New Year's Eve.

Boiled chicken, boiled fish, spicy shrimp, deep-fried crispy meat, pork ribs boiled with lotus root, braised pork with salted vegetables, palace fried pork, cold cucumber, mixed vegetables in chicken soup, plus a plate of cashew nuts and peanuts, this is the New Year's Eve dinner tonight up.

Two dishes per person are hearty enough.

Although there are only these ten dishes, there is a lot of preparation work to be done before.

The whole family was so busy that they didn't complete the preparatory work until after two o'clock in the afternoon.

"Click!"

Zhao Hongming opened his own room in the house, and the furnishings inside were exactly the same as ten years ago, except that the happy characters on the wall were removed.

Lie down on the bed, and there is a hint of sunlight on the bedding, indicating that parents often take out the bedding to dry.

"Old Zhao, you will give the money to your parents later."

Qin Yali also came in, sat by the bed and said.

The money Qin Yali was talking about was, of course, New Year's money.

Every year, the couple will give some money to the elderly on both sides. One is because it costs a lot to buy new year's goods, and the other is a little bit of filial piety from the children.

Before returning to their hometown, the couple had already discussed that the elderly on both sides would each give 3000 yuan.

Counting the supplementary tuition fees paid by Zhao Huan before, Zhao Hongming's wallet was deflated by more than 1 yuan in just this month.

For Zhao Hongming and Qin Yali, this amount of money, although it can't be said to make things worse, is still very stressful.

But, it's Chinese New Year, it's only once a year, and the money has to be paid.

"You should take it!" Zhao Hongming thought for a while and said.

The son gives money to his parents, and the daughter-in-law gives money to his father-in-law. The meanings are still somewhat different.

Qin Yali naturally understood this truth and did not refuse.

After the couple took a nap in bed for more than 40 minutes, they got up to prepare dinner.

First fry the crispy meat, heat oil in the pan, put in the mixed pork, fry until golden and remove.

The crispy meat just out of the pan is crispy on the outside and tender on the inside, full of fragrance.

Zhao Hongming picked up a bowl and handed it to his wife, asking her and her son to satisfy their cravings first.

While frying the crispy pork, Zhao Hongming also put a piece of cooked pork belly that was already cooked and smeared with honey and dark soy sauce into the oil pan to prepare for the salted vegetables.

In about half an hour, all the crispy meat has been fried.

The pork ribs and lotus root were already cooking when the crispy meat was fried, and they are almost cooked now.

My hometown uses a wooden steamer for cooking, and the bottom of the steamer is relatively open, which can be used to steam pork.

Cut the pork belly that has run through the oil into thin slices, and spread it on the bottom of the bowl, then cover the pork belly with salted vegetables, put it under the steamer, and when the rice in the steamer is cooked, take out the bowl with the pork belly Come out, cover the mouth of the bowl with a plate, and quickly turn the bowl upside down on the plate. Now it looks like the meat is on top and the salted vegetables are on the bottom. This is also the origin of the name "Kou Rou".

Because Zhao Hongming's mother Li Lifen can't eat spicy food, the boiled fish he made today is clear soup.

Put the lard in the pot, pay attention to it must be lard.

Pour the salted fish pieces into the pan and fry until the fish pieces are slightly golden, add water and cook for a few minutes on high heat.

The reason for using lard is that after adding water, the fish soup will turn milky white without any other additives.

Before starting the pot, put in an appropriate amount of scallions, and a small pot of good-looking and delicious fish in clear soup is complete.

Soy cucumbers in oil, remove the seeds of the cucumbers and cut them into small pieces. Be careful not to cut them, so that the cucumbers are delicious.

Ginger, garlic, and millet are chopped spicy.

Put the cucumbers on a plate, heat the oil in a pan, add ginger, garlic and millet and stir-fry spicy, add a little salt and monosodium glutamate, stir-fry until it becomes spicy, pour the fried seasoning on the cucumbers on the plate, and a dish of fried cucumbers is finished.

Spicy Shrimp.

Remove the head of the freshwater prawns, open the side of the back, and remove the shrimp line.

Prepare dried chili and Chinese prickly ash; slice ginger and garlic, and shred green onion.

Heat the oil in the pan, remember to use more oil, twice as much oil as the same amount of meat and vegetables when frying on weekdays, heat the oil until it is spicy, and pour in the shrimp.

Under the effect of high temperature, the originally gray-black freshwater shrimps instantly turned festive red after being baptized by hot oil.

Add dried chilies and peppercorns, stir-fry, and let the hot oil "press" out the spiciness and numbness.

After frying out the spicy and numb taste, add ginger and garlic slices.

After frying the aroma of ginger and garlic, add an appropriate amount of soy sauce, an appropriate amount of white sugar, and a little cooking wine. When the pot is about to start, add shredded green onion, stir fry, and put it on a plate.

Mixed vegetables are cooked in chicken soup. After the pork ribs are boiled and the lotus root is cooked, it has already started to cook, and the pot is full.

The last one, the combination of cashew nuts and peanuts, is easy to do without repeating it.

"Left, left, Huanhuan a little to the left."

While Zhao Hongming was busy in the kitchen, Zhao Yuancheng was directing Zhao Huan to post the door god and spring couplets at the gate.

This year's door gods are Guan Yu and Zhang Fei. The first couplet of the Spring Festival couplets: heaven and earth are harmonious and the family is rich;
When pasting Spring Festival couplets, the right hand is up and the left hand is down; when reading Spring Festival couplets, go from top to bottom, right to left.

Under the instructions, Zhao Huan was so busy that he was sweating profusely, and finally posted the door god and Spring Festival couplets.

"Here, prepare to set off firecrackers." Zhao Yuancheng handed a lighter to his grandson with a smile.

On the ground in front of the house, a large box of 500-ring firecrackers has been placed.

"Crack crackle crackle!"

Zhao Huan took the lighter and ignited the firecrackers tremblingly. The deafening sound instantly resounded throughout the small village.

As soon as the firecrackers go off, it means that the New Year's Eve dinner at the old Zhao's family has started, and it also means that the old Zhao's family has started to celebrate the new year.

Li Lifen carried a big bowl with a little rice. From the ready-made New Year's Eve dishes, he put some of each in the bowl, and finally poured some good wine brought by Zhao Hongming into it.

The custom in my hometown is that before eating the New Year's Eve dinner, you must not forget your ancestors, and let your ancestors eat the first bite first.

For this, Zhao Hongming is not disgusted, since he was a child, he has always been like this.

A few minutes later, Li Lifen, who had finished offering sacrifices to her ancestors outside the house, finally entered the house.

A family, full of fireworks, sat around the round table.

"Dad, you keep saying a few words!"

Zhao Hongming filled his father with a glass of wine and said.

Zhao Yuancheng didn't refuse either. As the head of the family, he was the one to speak for the first glass of wine on New Year's Eve.

He raised his wine glass and lightly touched his son's wine glass, "In the new year, I hope Hong Ming and your family will be able to work smoothly and study hard at school."

After clinking glasses with Zhao Hongming, he clinked glasses with his daughter-in-law Qin Yali and grandson Zhao Huan.

"Thank you Dad/Grandpa!"

Zhao Hongming's family toasted to thank them.

Li Lifen smiled and watched several people drinking wine/drinks, and she was not annoyed at all because her wife didn't clink glasses with her.

"In the new year, I wish my grandparents good health and a long life!"

After waiting for Zhao Yuancheng's wine glass to be put down, Zhao Huan stood up and said loudly to his grandparents.

"Hahahahaha!"

The whole family laughed out loud at Zhao Huan's naive look.

As the saying goes, firecrackers say goodbye to the old year, and fireworks welcome the new year.

There was a lot of toasting and laughter.

The New Year's Eve dinner carries the family's strong family affection and New Year's flavor, and it also carries the family's expectations and hopes for the coming year.

(End of this chapter)