Border Cook

Chapter 62: Fried Bun with Vegetables
"Please forgive me, my husband. It's my fault that I didn't discipline our daughter well." Tian's face was filled with shame.

"Yeah." Jiang Yihe nodded, "Zhuguo has indeed grown a little bit crooked. If a son is not well educated, it is the fault of the father. If a daughter is not well educated, it is indeed the responsibility of the mother. You should teach Zhuguo more in the future, so that she won't be so rude when she goes out and make others laugh at her."

"Yes." Seeing that Jiang Yihe was not angry and just said a few words lightly, Tian felt relieved, but also more ashamed.

Jiang Yihe pursed his lips, "Actually, I have something else I want to ask you for help with..."

"Forget it, forget it, just pretend I never said anything." Jiang Yihe waved his hands and turned back to the house.

"Husband, just speak frankly. Why are you being so polite to me?" Tian followed hurriedly. "No matter how difficult the matter is, since it is your husband's business, it is also my business. Husband and wife should share weal and woe."

Jiang Yihe's eyes turned red and he held Tian's hand. "With a wife like this, what else can a husband ask for? It's actually like this..."

"I heard from my classmates that this autumn, in addition to the results of the imperial examination, the county magistrate has two quotas for selecting filial and honest people, which can add luster to the imperial examination. Now many people want to pay a visit to the county magistrate in the hope of gaining his favor."

"I also want to go with you, but it is inevitable to bring some money with me when I go to pay a visit. I am short of money and I really don't have anything to give. So I thought about the silver bracelets that my wife has as a dowry, so I wanted to borrow them and pawn them for silver. If I can pass the imperial examination this fall, I will redeem the bracelets for my wife."

"I thought it was such a big deal, but it turned out to be such a small matter." Tian was relieved, "Since my husband is planning for fame, I will naturally support him wholeheartedly."

After saying that, Tian went into the house, dug out a wooden box that was buried deep in the corner of the earthen kang, found her silver bracelets, and gave them to Jiang Yihe.

Jiang Yihe weighed it in his hand.

Although the silver bracelet is large, it is hollow and not heavy. Moreover, due to its age, the surface has turned a little black and the quality does not look good.

The amount of silver that could be pawned was much less than he expected.

However, it was enough for him to spend for some time.

"Thank you, ma'am." Jiang Yi and Okita bowed deeply.

"My dear husband, you are too polite." Tian's eyes also turned red.

This is what is meant by treating each other with respect.

She had indeed found an excellent husband.

I hope my husband can get what he wants this year...

When Jiang Zhuguo returned to Xia Mingyue's home, the sun had already set. The sunset glow filled half of the sky, illuminating the entire courtyard in red.

Xia Mingyue was making steamed buns in the yard.

The dough is unleavened and baked directly in the pan without adding oil or salt. It is as thin as paper and can be rolled with vegetables.

Previously, Liu Caisheng built a small stove specially for him, put a flat and thin iron griddle on it, and burned a straw fire underneath.

The griddle is made of very thin material and heats up quickly. The round steamed buns, which are as thin as a cicada's wing and have just been placed on the griddle, quickly swell up into small bubbles because of absorbing heat.

Turn it over, and the small bubbles slowly gather into big bubbles, turning the whole steamed bun into a bulging balloon. When both sides of the steamed bun are slightly burnt, but still remain soft and have not completely turned burnt and crispy, Xia Mingyue puts the cooked steamed bun into the steamed bun basket on the side.

Seeing this, Jiang Zhuguo hurried over to help light the fire and flip the steamed buns.

Xia Mingyue freed her hands and concentrated on kneading the dough, quickly rolling it into a thin pancake. Her hands were so fast that the small rolling pin with two pointed ends flew up and down, dazzling the onlookers. "I suddenly wanted to make this pancake this afternoon. I was so busy making it by myself. Fortunately, you came back." Xia Mingyue saw the cucumbers and beans in the small bamboo basket while talking, and smiled, "I was worried about what vegetables to eat with this pancake, and you happened to bring them all back."

"I just thought that Sister Xia might want to eat some, so I picked some from my own vegetable garden." Jiang Zhuguo raised his eyebrows proudly when he saw that he could help Xia Mingyue.

He flipped the steamed bun on the griddle over.

Xia Mingyue chuckled, quickened the speed of rolling the steamed buns in her hands, and thought about the dishes she would cook next.

After all the steamed buns were rolled out, Jiang Zhuguo stayed there to heat the griddle while Xia Mingyue started to pick vegetables and cut meat.

Blanch the long beans and cut into small dices. Chop the pork belly into granular meat pieces and put them into the pot where the scallions, ginger and garlic have been sautéed. Simply add some salt, soy sauce and rice wine, and a fragrant minced meat and beans dish is ready.

In order to enhance the flavor of minced meat and green beans and make the steamed buns with vegetables taste more flavorful, Xia Mingyue added some extra red peppers when cooking.

After the minced meat and green beans were out of the pot, Xia Mingyue made a dish of stir-fried shredded potatoes and a simple dish of cold cucumber salad.

Enough vinegar was added to the shredded potatoes, and some fresh hyssop leaves were added to the cold cucumber salad.

Finally, I cooked half a pot of white flour porridge and cracked two frangipani on it.

After finishing the work, the food was served on the table and we started eating.

Put the steamed bun on your hand, tear a hole about one-third of the diameter along one-third of the whole steamed bun, fold the bottom of the larger part up, and then fold the smaller part horizontally to form a groove, and evenly put in enough shredded potatoes, minced meat and beans.

Fold the bottom to seal it, then roll up the vegetable completely from the vertical fold line. A complete Luo Mo vegetable roll is ready without any leakage of vegetables. You can enjoy it with relish.

Taking a bite of this neatly wrapped steamed bun is very chewy, and the fragrance of flour, the spiciness of minced meat and beans, and the sourness of shredded potatoes with vinegar all spread in your mouth.

The long strips of potato shreds and diced beans are both crispy, completely different from the chewy baked buns but complement each other. Add to that the rich aroma of the meat, and from time to time you can pick up a crunchy cucumber with chopsticks, and then have a mouthful of smooth and soft white flour porridge...

There is no greater joy in life than this.

Xia Mingyue loves this baked steamed bun very much, and her appetite is very good at this moment. Moreover, baked steamed bun does not need oil or salt, so you will never get tired of it no matter how much you eat it. So after this dinner, Xia Mingyue ate four full pieces by herself.

That night, Xia Mingyue felt her stomach was a little bloated and even bending over was a little difficult.

In order to digest the food, Xia Mingyue walked in the yard in the dark.

One lap, two laps, three laps...

Wu Jin, who was drinking porridge, saw Xia Mingyue's actions and stopped eating.

Why do I feel like I've seen this scene before?
After tilting his head and thinking for a long time, Wu Jin still couldn't figure it out in the end, so he just lowered his head and continued to drink porridge.

Egg porridge is so delicious!
-
After the Dragon Boat Festival, the weather becomes hotter day by day.

Cold noodles, a highly seasonal food, surpassed wontons and became the most popular food at Xia Ji’s food stall. In order to enrich the product variety, Xia Mingyue tried and improved the taste several times before adding cold noodles to the food stall.

　Luozi, pronounced as ao in the fourth tone, is a very local frying pan, a bit like the pan for making pancakes, but the one here has a slight protrusion in the middle, and can be used as a pan by placing three bricks under it.

　　Laomo, pronounced as luo in the dialect, can't find a suitable word, so I'll use this closest word for now. It's a bit like Shandong's pancake, but softer and tougher. It's not made with paste, but with dough, rolled into a paper-thin cake, and baked on a griddle. When it's still soft, it's called Laomo. If you bake it for a little longer and it becomes completely crispy, we call it Jiaomo here. For a better taste, we'll sprinkle some sesame seeds on it, which makes it delicious. I'll write about it in the next chapter if I have the chance~
　　
　
(End of this chapter)