Border Cook

Chapter 56 Steamed Vegetables
But what she needed now was not the thick and juicy celery, but the tender green celery leaves.

After picking all the celery leaves and washing them clean, putting them aside to drain the moisture, Xia Mingyue began to peel carrots and potatoes.

Jiang Zhuguo was helping on the side, and when the celery leaves were mixed with the shredded carrots and potatoes and Xia Mingyue went to scoop the flour, he suddenly realized what was going on.

Sister Xia, are you going to make steamed dishes?
But, steamed vegetables don’t taste very good…

Jiang Zhuguo's family didn't have much land, and they had to support his father's studies, so they had to save food. Therefore, in order to eat less food on weekdays, they had to eat vegetable leaves to fill their stomachs.

This steamed dish is commonly eaten.

Steamed elm seeds, steamed locust flowers, steamed wild vegetables, steamed broom seedlings, steamed cabbage, steamed radish leaves, steamed celery leaves...

I have eaten all of the Jiangzhu fruits and consider these steamed dishes to be a nightmare, but then again, compared to eating wild vegetable pancakes, these steamed dishes still taste pretty good.

Some families who were even poorer than hers were very happy to be able to eat steamed dishes mixed with white flour once, and they thought they were very delicious.

Maybe Sister Xia heard from others that it was delicious, so she steamed it specially to eat?
While Jiang Zhuguo was making a fire, he was struggling over whether to remind Xia Mingyue not to have such high hopes for the taste of the steamed dishes. At this time, Xia Mingyue had already mixed the three dishes with flour and put them in the steamer after the water was boiled.

After a cup of tea, Xia Mingyue opened the steamer, turned the steamed vegetables over with chopsticks, sprinkled some flour on them and stirred them evenly.

After another cup of tea, Xia Mingyue took the steamed dishes out of the steamer and served a large bowl to each of them.

Holding the steamed dish in the bowl, Jiang Zhuguo hesitated for a moment before putting it into his mouth.

As soon as he took a bite, Jiang Zhuguo was shocked.

The steamed dish in my mouth did not feel as sticky and watery as the usual steamed dishes. Instead, it was very dry. The flour completely wrapped every celery leaf and every vegetable shred. When I took a bite, I could smell the strong aroma of flour and vegetables.

It was completely different from the steamed dishes she had eaten before.

The steamed vegetables were paired with the garlic sauce Xia Mingyue had just made. The unique garlic aroma of fresh garlic, the aroma of vegetables and the aroma of noodles were all mixed together...

The more you eat, the better it tastes!
It’s actually more satisfying than eating meat?

Jiang Zhuguo never thought that one day she would be able to eat steamed dishes in such big and small mouthfuls that she couldn't stop.

What Jiang Zhuguo didn't expect was that she ate more steamed dishes the second time than the first time.

Because when she woke up the next morning, Xia Mingyue fried the steamed vegetables that she had not finished eating the night before.

When frying, I put two small red peppers and cracked an egg into the dish. This made the steamed dish spicy and added the rich and mellow flavor of the egg.

The most important thing is that after the steamed vegetables are fried in oil, the flour coating the surface has a crispy texture, which makes the steamed vegetables taste fragrant and full of aftertaste.

Jiang Zhuguo ate two bowls of white flour porridge cooked in the morning, and he burped twice in succession while washing the dishes.

This made Jiang Zhuguo feel a little embarrassed, and he joked to himself, "I'm afraid I'm going to bankrupt Sister Xia from now on."

"There are some other things we lack at home, but we have enough food. Just eat as much as you can." Xia Mingyue was quite open-minded about this matter. "The food you eat will help you grow and gain strength. You will be able to do more work in the future. I am looking forward to it."

"This is a good habit. You must continue to maintain it in the future. Don't lie in this regard. You must make sure you are well fed." Xia Mingyue added.

Ever since Jiang Zhuguo came here to work, Xia Mingyue had clearly noticed that she was very reserved, and she even controlled her food intake when eating.

A certain amount of restraint is necessary in the workplace, but being so restrained that one does not eat enough is absolutely unacceptable.

Only when the stomach is full can people feel happy, their emotions will be positive, and they can do their best. Especially Jiang Zhuguo is the kind of honest and decent child, who needs this kind of positive encouragement.

Jiang Zhuguo bit her lip.

Because the family was not well off, a lot of the money and grain we earned had to be left for my father to support his studies. My mother was in poor health and had to worry about many things.

It has become her habit to deliberately not eat enough when eating.

She thought she had done a great job on the surface and would not be discovered, but she did not expect that she could not escape Sister Xia's eyes.

In fact, since I started working here, I have been eating white flour, eggs and meat every day, which is a far cry from the days when I ate vegetable leaves and rice with watery soup before. Even if I am not full, I don’t feel uncomfortable.

But Sister Xia still told her to eat enough and not to lie.

Sister Xia is so nice...

Jiang Zhuguo tried hard to prevent the mist in his eyes from condensing into water droplets, and nodded vigorously to Xia Mingyue, "Okay, I'll remember that!"

Remember to do good things for Sister Xia in the future, so that you can repay her for eating so much food at Sister Xia's house!
The drizzle became heavier after breakfast and gradually stopped after lunch.

After the sun came out in the afternoon, Xia Mingyue led Jiang Zhuguo and Lu to start a new busy day.

The next day, the stall was set up as usual.

After a day's break, people who were used to eating Xia Ji's food came here early, ordering a large bowl of wontons, a meat pie with cold noodles, or bringing their own clay pots and buying all the food to take home and eat slowly.

There were quite a lot of diners, and Xia Mingyue and her companions were very busy.

Near noon, the number of customers at Xia Ji reached its peak.

"Two bowls of wontons!" someone shouted.

"Okay." Mrs. Lu greeted, picked up the rag on her shoulder and wiped the long table in front of the two newcomers again, "Big bowl or small bowl?"

"Two grown men, of course they want a big bowl."

The other party sounded a little impatient, so Lu took another look at him.

One of them looked familiar, as if...

"It seems to be the person who tried to cheat Brother Zhao out of money when buying pancakes last time, but was discovered by Brother Lu." Xia Mingyue also noticed it, and whispered to Lu while serving the wontons.

"He comes here to eat again this time. I guess he's here to cause trouble..."

Mrs. Lu frowned, wondering whether to chase the person away.

There is no telling what this kind of person with evil intentions will do.

While the two were mumbling here, Sun Gousheng, who had already sat down, was full of impatience, "Why haven't you given me the wontons yet? Could it be that you are relying on your good business to be so picky about your customers? Seeing that we are not dressed well, you think that I can't afford two bowls of wontons and don't want to do business with us, right?"

"How can we judge people by their appearance?" Tian Dazhuang, who was with Sun Gousheng, also echoed.

As soon as these words were spoken, other diners at Xia Ji looked at each other sideways.

(End of this chapter)