Steamed buns, go farming with your mother

Chapter 49 Grinding Tofu

After breakfast, it was getting late, but Suho and the others didn't mind. In winter, there was nothing to do.

The beans have been soaked, and they are all fished out and placed in the basin.After Wang and Su He cleaned up, they decided to grind the tofu today, eat fresh tofu for two days after making it, and put the rest on the kang for Chinese New Year.

Holding leeks in their arms, they locked the courtyard door, and the two of them walked on the mountain road one after the other.The leek was bulging with cotton, and her fat little hands were not afraid of the cold, and she was still holding the rattle that she bought for him yesterday. After shaking it, she smiled at Su Ho who was walking behind, holding the beans , the drum in his hand didn't shake, I really don't know what he was playing.

Looking at the restless Leek, Su Ho frowned and said, "Mother, are we going to take this kid? No one is watching him!"

"This kid has been getting more and more noisy lately. I really don't have time to take care of him when I get busy later. Leave someone to watch him. I'm afraid I won't be able to grind the tofu today!" Wang frowned and said: "How about, I will go to your Aunt Pan's house first when I enter the village, and send this kid to her. You go to the mill in the village first, wash and clean the mill first, and I will come later!"

Su Ho actually didn't want to bother the Pan family, but the family really didn't have enough staff, so only the Pan family could trust him. Su Ho had no choice but to agree with Wang's statement, and he made up his mind that he would do well in the future if he had the opportunity. Repay the Pan family.

When they arrived at the village, the two split up when they reached the center of the village.Mrs. Wang walked towards Pan's house with leeks in her arms, and the mill was behind the village, so Su Ho had to walk a while.

The mill at the water-treading port was built by villagers who paid for it earlier, and built a hut later, which brought in spring water from the mountains for the use of the villagers. After the villagers used it, they had to clean it up, otherwise This mill is not allowed to be used in the future.

Of course, people with good family conditions will make a small mill at home.Su Ho's family couldn't afford to grind their own, so they had to borrow a mill from the village.

When Suho arrived at the mill, he saw that there were all buckets and pans in the mill, as well as brushes for grinding cornmeal, and everything, but it was old and looked very old, and no one replaced it. Fortunately, the water diversion The bamboo tube is still good, and the water in the tank is full and very clear.A large stone mill is placed in the center of the thatched house, and all the utensils are placed in the corner of the room, together with the water tank, making the room look spacious and not narrow.

Suho washed the mill with the water in the water tank. Fortunately, a water channel was opened in the house, otherwise the house would be full of water. The mountain spring water in winter is not cold at first, but after this The long-distance transportation of the bamboo tubes has become very cold. After washing Su Ho, his little hands were already red from the cold. Although it was very cold, Su Ho didn't mind. Of course, minding is useless. There are some things that Su Ho There is no way to mind, she has to do it.

When Mrs. Wang came, the grinder that Su He washed was not yet dry. She was wiping it with a dry handkerchief, and her little hands exposed were glowing red.Seeing it, Wang's heart ached for a while, it was too cold, and if she was not careful, she would get frostbite, Wang knew how afraid Su Ho was of the cold.At this moment, Mrs. Wang felt a little regretful, she should have come to clean it by herself.

"Mother, it will be ready soon!" Su Ho said when she noticed that Mrs. Wang came in.

Mrs. Wang snatched the handkerchief from Su Ho's hand and said, "Go and warm your hands first, and I'll do the rest!"

"Mother, I don't know how to make this tofu grinder. You should prepare it first. It will be a little bit of work, and it will be fine after a while. You can do other things first!" Su Ho took the handkerchief from Mrs. Wang , said, and then pushed Mrs. Wang to the side of the water basin where the beans were placed, and went back quickly to wipe the rest of the mill.

Over there, Mrs. Wang mixed the beans with clean mountain spring water, and then put it next to the mill, took the wooden ladle by herself, washed it, put it in the basin, and then poured a basin of clean water into it. beside.

Seeing that Su Ho was finished, Mrs. Wang stepped forward and pushed the mill, and then added clear water into the mill, and seeing that the water flowing out was clean and clear, she said, "Okay, now you can grind the mill." That's it! This mill is a bit heavy, we have to change it, otherwise I can't stand it alone!"

"Mom, of course, we are a family!" Su Ho nodded, and then said: "Mom, what am I going to do now? I don't know how to use that mill, you use it first, and I will replace it later!"

Mrs. Wang nodded, and asked Su He to put a spoonful of beans into the grinding eyes first, and then added a little water. Before the water flowed out, Mrs. Wang pushed the wooden pole forward vigorously, and a big one fell under her feet. Lunge, and then pulled back, the mill turned a circle, just like this push and pull, the mill turned round and round, the soybeans had been mixed with water, ground into a paste and flowed down.

Su Ho scooped up the beans and added water one by one, while chatting with Mrs. Wang, but when she saw that Mrs. Wang was too tired to talk, she stopped and just concentrated on adding beans and water. I asked Mrs. Wang if she wanted to replace her, but Mrs. Wang refused.

When Wang's head was sweating and steam was coming out, Wang asked Su Ho to take her place.Wang Shi retreated, and then shook his sore arm, Su Ho gave way, holding Wang Shi's warm handshake, pushing and pulling like Wang Shi.

At the beginning, Su Ho's steps were still a little staggering, and the strength he used made the size of the grinder vary, making the mill turn unevenly, and the bean paste that flowed out was also uneven in thickness. Wang used Su He's freshly ground bean paste A new scoop is loaded, then put back into the grinder, and grinded again.

In this way, the two of them divided the labor and cooperated, and at the end of the year and the beginning of the year, they finished grinding all five catties of beans.

After cleaning, the two of them carried the bean paste back home with Li. Then, Su Ho went to Pan's house to pick up leeks and brought them home, leaving Mrs. Wang at home.

As soon as Su Ho went out, Mrs. Wang lit up the fire in the stove first, and waited for the leeks to come home.Immediately there was a fire to roast, and then, he carried the firewood and lit the fire in the stove in the yard.These firewood were collected by the Pan family brothers to help the Su Ho family go up the mountain. Every winter, the Pan family brothers always help the Su Ho family to collect enough firewood for the whole winter.

Turn on the fire, clean the pot, and then pour the ground bean paste on it. The bottom of the pot is burning with fire, and Mrs. Wang took a spatula and stirred it vigorously, for fear that the pot would be burnt if she was not careful.

When Su Ho came back with leeks in his arms, the bean paste in Wang's pot had already opened wide, and Wang was removing the fire from the stove, and was about to scoop out the paste when it was cold.Taking advantage of this time, you can also make dinner.

Su Ho put the leeks into the already hot house, surrounded the leeks on Wang's bed with a quilt, and after ensuring his safety, he looked at the sky and knew that Wang hadn't cooked yet, so he put the rice in the pot and cooked it. on.

Mrs. Wang scooped out the bean paste and put it in a big basin, then scooped out another scoop, took it into the house, and said, "He'er, let's eat this tonight! Make some oil residue, or A little green vegetable leaves, nothing more delicious!"

"Okay, listen to your mother!" Su Ho nodded, went to the vegetable garden to pick some green vegetable leaves, washed them, chopped them finely, then put them aside, chopped green onions finely, and patted some chopped garlic .After the rice in the tripod is fully cooked, it is taken down and simmered by the fire, then the pot is put on, the chopped fat meat is put in, and the oil is slowly refined over a low heat until the meat in the pot When everything turned into golden oil residue, pour in the bean paste that was put aside, and in an instant, the room was filled with a fragrance.Mrs. Wang was preparing something to order tofu later, smelled the smell, and said, "It smells so good, I haven't smelled this smell for many years!"

Over there, the leeks seemed to smell very fragrant, so they twitched their little noses, stopped crawling and playing on the bed, sat behind the 'enclosed wall', looked at Soho, and whimpered.

When Wang saw it, she laughed and said, "He'er, look, the leeks are hungry!"

"Well, it's almost ready, just put in the greens and adjust the taste!" After it was done, Su Ho first scooped out the beans and said, "Mom, I see you are hungry too, today I will give leeks Feed something, you eat first!"

Wang did not refuse, put down the gauze in her hand, took out the bowl and chopsticks, and ate first.

After Su Ho finished eating and cleaned up the dishes, he ran to help Mrs. Wang.At this moment, the sky has been wiped dark.Mrs. Wang lit a torch and stuck it in the yard, and together with Su Ho, they used gauze and a sieve to filter the bean paste.After filtering, Mrs. Wang asked Su He to light up the fire in the stove, and she put the filtered soybean milk into the pot to cook, leaving a little bit in the pot, and stirred it by herself to remove the floating foam Although Mrs. Wang didn't know why these bubbles were knocked out, the experience of her ancestors told her that these bubbles must be knocked out, because if these bubbles are not knocked out, people will die if they eat them.

After the soy milk was boiled, Mrs. Wang let it boil for a while, and then asked Su Ho to remove the fire, scooped it out, and put it into the previous basin. Then, Mrs. Wang took out a white stone from the house , Grind a little, cooked in the fire, soaked in clean water, poured into soybean milk, leaving a bit of gravel at the bottom of the bowl.

"Mother, what is this?" Su Ho asked curiously.

"This is plaster!" Wang said.Seeing this gypsum, Su Ho realized how naive her previous thoughts were. She had heard the saying that gypsum made tofu, but she didn't know that this gypsum was the thing that looked no different from the stones picked from the mountains.

After Mrs. Wang poured the gypsum water into the soybean milk, she stirred it with a spatula again. After a while, Su Ho saw bean curd in the soybean milk, which was originally a piece of water.

"Come to He'er to help!" Wang said.Then ask Su Ho to help pour the bean curd into the pot with the burden. The two pull up the four corners, being careful not to let the bean curd in the middle come out, tie the four corners facing each other, and put a shelf underneath to support it. moisture.

"Okay!" Seeing the safe and secure tofu bag, Wang breathed a sigh of relief, rubbed his sore shoulders, and said, "You can eat it tomorrow morning! Go back to sleep now, it's getting late Already!"

Su Ho looked at the not-so-bright moon in the sky and nodded.

(End of this chapter)