Border Cook

Chapter 101 Tofu Meatball Soup

Even if it is exaggerated, it should be limited?

And at this moment, there is indeed no more suitable cook to be found, and this delicate young lady in front of me doesn't look like a rash person...

"Then thank you very much..."

"My last name is Xia." Xia Mingyue said with a smile, "This is Sister Lu. Sister Lu often helps out and can help out as well."

I came to the City God Temple today to pray for amulets and happened to encounter such a thing. In Xia Mingyue's opinion, it must be God's will.

Doing something for the City God can also be considered as accumulating good karma.

Who knows, it might also bring more blessings to Lu Qiyan and Zhao Youcai.

Mrs. Lu also thought so and nodded hurriedly, "Yes, I can do some washing, rinsing, cutting vegetables and cleaning up."

"Thank you, Madam Xia and Madam Lu." The temple keeper didn't care about anything else at this time, and hurriedly led Xia Mingyue and Madam Lu to the bedroom at the back.

The sleeping hall is where the City God and his wife sleep and rest. On the west side of the sleeping hall, there is a corner door. Entering from here is the place where the temple priests of the City God Temple and people who do odd jobs usually rest.

The kitchen is also in this courtyard. At this moment, the people in the kitchen are busy picking and washing the purchased tofu and various side dishes.

"We're going to make tofu meatball soup for lunch," the temple keeper said. "Madam Xia, you need to fry all the tofu meatballs and cook a delicious tofu meatball soup. Someone is already steaming buns made from two-mixed flour, so you don't have to worry about it."

Upon hearing this, Xia Mingyue checked the raw materials in the kitchen. Seeing that everything was basically ready, she nodded and agreed, "Don't worry, temple master. Leave this to me."

Seeing that he was very confident, the temple keeper felt inexplicably relieved. He only told the people working in the kitchen to obey Xia Mingyue's instructions, and then hurriedly arranged for someone to send Chef Lai, who was so pale that he could not utter a word, to see a doctor.

After the temple priests left, Xia Mingyue began to direct everyone to get busy.

Those who come to help in the kitchen of the City God Temple on the fifteenth day are all common people who live in or near the county town and come to help spontaneously. Among them are elderly women, young wives, and even elderly men.

Everyone was worried about today's meals because Chef Lai could not continue cooking. Now, those who looked like chefs all had a backbone and just did their own work according to Xia Mingyue's instructions.

Tofu meatball soup, the main ingredient is tofu.

The tofu used is Physalis tofu, which is white with a slight yellow tint, chewy but still tender and has a strong bean aroma.

Xia Mingyue looked at the amount and divided all the tofu into three portions. The first portion was crushed completely, the second portion was cut into large pieces three inches square and half a finger thick, and the third portion was cut into diamond-shaped slices two fingers wide.

The oil in the pot was hot, and Xia Mingyue put the large slices of tofu into the pot first.

The white and tender tofu is wrapped in fat, making a sizzling sound. Along with the fragrant aroma, the originally white and tender tofu in the pot gradually turns golden.

Use a large colander to turn the tofu over, ensuring that both sides can fully absorb the calories and a certain amount of oil. When both sides of the tofu slices are golden and crispy, Xia Mingyue takes them out and puts them aside to control the oil.

Then fry the second pot of tofu slices...

By the time all the tofu slices had been fried until crispy and piled up like a small hill, the ingredients for the tofu balls were almost ready.

Put the crushed tofu, diced carrots, white radishes, chopped green onions, white flour, five-spice powder, salt, pepper, etc. into a large wooden basin, crack some eggs, and mix all the ingredients evenly. During the mixing, keep crushing the tofu that still has some large pieces until all the tofu mixed with egg liquid becomes a very sticky paste. Then Xia Mingyue washes her hands, grabs the tofu paste, squeezes out a round ball from the base of her thumb, and quickly scoops the ball away with a small spoon and puts it into the oil pan.

Xia Mingyue was not very skilled at the beginning, but after making more than a dozen tofu balls, she became more and more skilled, and her hand speed became faster and faster, which was so dazzling to watch.

There was a middle-aged woman nearby who wanted to learn how to make tofu balls. After watching for a while, she couldn't help but rubbed her eyebrows and finally gave up the idea of ​​learning how to make tofu balls.

Well, not everyone can be a chef, so it’s better to just do some assistant work.

As long as it is done for the City God, he can see it, right?

When some people saw Xia Mingyue like this, they couldn't help but be shocked.

"Looking at this pretty and gentle young lady, I thought she was a novice, but I never thought she was so capable." An old man sighed, "From the looks of it, her cooking skills are probably much better than Chef Lai's."

"That's hard to say." A young man named Lou Shanzi retorted, "Maybe he can only fry these tofu balls. Tofu ball soup is mainly about seasoning, and this taste is not something that ordinary people can make."

"I say, you can't be upset just because you and Chef Lai are good friends and someone seems to be better than Chef Lai today."

"How could that be?" Lou Shanzi stiffened his neck. "I'm telling the truth. Most of the cooks here are men. There are few women who can cook good food."

As soon as these words were spoken, everyone was speechless to refute.

This is true.

The status of women in the Great Zhou Kingdom was not low, and it was quite common for women to work and earn money. There were also two female officials in the court, but there were also female chefs among these cooks, but they were very rare. Even if there were any, their skills were very limited.

"But I think this Miss Xia is different." A woman said, "Why don't we make a bet and see what the final result will be?"

"You are actually gambling in front of the City God. Aren't you afraid that the City God will punish you?" an old man reminded hurriedly.

"It's not gambling at all. It's just a guess. If you guess right, you can give a few more coins to the City God today. That's fine." said the woman before.

The others immediately agreed with what he said, especially Lou Shanzi, who said, "If you win, you can give money to the City God. I guess that Chef Lai's cooking skills are better. If I lose, I will give the City God a hundred coins. How about that?"

"This feeling is so good..."

The City God Temple would repair various parts of the temple on weekdays, set up stalls to distribute porridge in years of disaster, and every year reward loyal and righteous people and help the poor and the elderly...

The more kind-hearted people there are, the better.

Everyone was making a secret bet, but Xia Mingyue didn't know and didn't pay any attention to it. She just concentrated on frying all the tofu balls.

Put the tofu balls into the oil pan one by one, fry them until they float on the pan, and take them out when they are golden and crispy.

Soon, the fried tofu balls, like the tofu slices before, piled up into small hills in the wooden basin, which looked very spectacular.

Someone reached out and took one to taste it.

(End of this chapter)