Manor Romance

Chapter 80 Persimmon Porridge

The persimmon tree is not very tall, and everyone can pick the persimmon fruit smoothly by standing on tiptoe or breaking off the branches with their hands.Generally speaking, in order to grow delicious persimmons and ensure the output, most of them will adopt the method of grafting, select good persimmon branches, and inoculate them on jujube or walnut trees. The persimmons grown in this way have obvious advantages and are less harmful to insects Less, the output is guaranteed.

But for Yunli who has a wooden magnetic array, these steps can be omitted, and high-quality persimmons can still be grown. Aunt Fang also has a very unique feeling for persimmons. While picking them, she exclaimed: "Look at it." These little guys, all of them yellow and toot, make people like it when they look at them, they are better than those sold in supermarkets, it seems that the little devils are now experts."

Holding the basket, Yunli helped Aunt Fang pick up the persimmons behind Aunt Fang, and said with a smile, "Speaking of experts, Aunt Fang is the one, right? It's been a long time since I ate the persimmon porridge you boiled, and the persimmons, and my stomach churns when I think about it." Keep playing the drums, if you don’t believe me, come and listen.”

"Who told you that you never come back? I still remember that when you were young, you once wanted to eat persimmon porridge on a whim, but it was winter, and there were no fresh persimmons for sale, but you just wanted to play your temper, and you were very stubborn. In the end Lily is still smart, and thought of using persimmons instead, so we boiled a pot of persimmon porridge for you to eat, but the little devil was picky, and tasted something wrong, and wondered if we used broken persimmons to trick you. Being held up by a lily, I ate the whole pot of porridge and hiccupped all night, it's funny to think about it now, remember?" Aunt Fang recalled with a smile, even Lu Ci couldn't help it laughed out.

Although he was still young at that time, Yunli still had some impressions, and blushed and begged for mercy: "Um, don't make fun of me when I was a child, and this guy Lily, every time he eats persimmon porridge, he always eats with me. Rob, only gave it to me that time, and forced me to eat it all, I almost forgot if you didn't mention it, let's see when we have to get this thing back."

Aunt Fang rolled her eyes at Yunli, and said with a smile, "No one has snatched it from you this time. I'll cook a big pot later when I go back. If you don't finish it, I'll treat you like Lily."

Yun Li shook his head when he heard this, as if he didn't dare to do anything wrong, as if he was afraid that Aunt Fang would really deal with him like this, which made Aunt Fang laugh heartily.And Lu Ci seldom sees Yunli so lively. In her impression, Yunli has always been a very calm person, rational and wise, neither humble nor overbearing. Perhaps only in front of the closest people, he will show his most natural side. , undisguised, unrestrained.

Aunt Fang’s hometown is in a place in the north that is rich in persimmons. Every family will cook persimmon porridge and make persimmon cakes during this season, especially during the Mid-Autumn Festival. Yearn for.

At this time in the past, Aunt Fang would buy a lot of persimmons and cook persimmon porridge for everyone to eat. She would also bring the children in the orphanage to make persimmon cakes. When the persimmons were ready, they would distribute them to other welfare institutions. It is a memory that Yunli and Baihe will never forget.

"Ah Ci, do you have any special customs for the Mid-Autumn Festival in the past?" Aunt Fang asked curiously. After these few days of contact, Aunt Fang and Lu Ci are no longer unfamiliar, although Lu Ci usually doesn't talk much. , always presents others with a cold appearance, but Aunt Fang knows that she is a good and understanding girl, but this quality is not reflected in words, but in subtle behaviors.

Lu Ci hesitated for a moment before answering: "In the past, every Mid-Autumn Festival, we would buy a few large grapefruits and use the peels to cook and eat. You probably haven't heard of this custom, have you?"

"Is the grapefruit peel still edible? The smell of that thing is quite pungent. I used to play with the peel before, and the oil would splash out when it was torn apart, and it would be uncomfortable to get it in the eyes and nose." Hearing Lu Ci talk about eating grapefruit peel, Yunli cried out his curiosity and told the story about himself and the grapefruit peel.

Aunt Fang smiled and said sarcastically: "I just know how to play. How many times have you been in the kitchen since you were a child? This grapefruit peel is a good thing. If you know how to handle it, you can turn it into delicious food. The old sister-in-law Chen who did the sanitation in the yard used to , you can make this grapefruit peel very delicious, I have also learned a little bit, I will go back and find some grapefruits for you to try."

After coming to Xiaolu Mountain, Yunli's culinary skills have improved a lot. Although Lu Ci lived in her house and she cooks three meals a day, Yunli will help out in the kitchen from time to time, and she is quite confident in her cooking skills. Being questioned by Aunt Fang, she immediately retorted: "Let's not talk about it, even in this year, I must have entered the kitchen more times than you, and I have also researched a few exclusive specialty dishes. Self-proclaimed, everyone who has tasted it said it was good, if you don’t believe me, just ask Ah Ci.”

Yun Li said it outrightly, and Aunt Fang looked at Lu Ci with half-believing eyes, wanting to prove the truth, but the answer she got was "can eat", which made her bend over and laugh happily.And Yun Li also blushed, not knowing how to refute, thinking that before everyone ate his dishes, it was just out of compliments, not really that delicious, this time he started to criticize his own dishes. Craftsmanship is in doubt.

Amidst the laughter, the three of them filled up the baskets they had brought before turning back. Yunli felt a little regretful that few of the sweet orange trees planted at the same time had fruit bearing quality. Not much, the fruit is small, the pulp is dry and hard, and the taste is sour, which is completely unrelated to sweet oranges.

However, this is also expected. The sweet oranges he chose for this batch of sweet orange trees are American sweet oranges, which have high requirements on climate and soil. It is normal for them not to adapt to the environment here in Xiaolushan. It is good if the tree grows. I believe that with the improvement of the wood magnetic array and the transformation of the soil quality, big and sweet oranges will grow on the tree sooner or later.

After returning to the bamboo building, Aunt Fang started to make persimmon porridge, Lu Ci helped, and Yunli went to the town to buy ingredients. According to Aunt Fang's request, he chose two large grapefruits with round heads and round legs. Take a look at how this grapefruit peel can be transformed into delicious food through skillful hands.

There are not many materials needed to make persimmon porridge. In addition to basmati rice and fresh persimmons, you also need to add ingredients such as wolfberry, red dates, and mung beans. According to different tastes, you can also add meat and seafood such as chicken and scallops. The level of taste, but it does not mean that all these ingredients are added, and once the fire is boiled, you will be done. A good pot of persimmon porridge, in addition to fresh ingredients, the steps of cooking and the control of the heat are also very important.

Aunt Fang knew that Lu Ci wanted to learn, so she taught her by hand, patiently explaining: "Before putting in the ingredients, the porridge should be half-cooked, and when you see the rice grains are just about to bloom, it's just right. The porridge water should be thinner, it looks just right in my pot, now you can put the ingredients in."

Lu Ci carefully wrote down the essentials of the steps, took the prepared ingredients, and handed them to Aunt Fang, who saw that Aunt Fang put the mung beans in first, cooked them on high heat until they were soft, then added wolfberries and crushed red dates, and turned the heat to Small, after stirring evenly, add diced persimmon meat and a little rock sugar, simmer for a few minutes on low heat, and then you can taste it out of the pan.

Aunt Fang boiled a big pot, not only Yunli and Lu Ci, but other employees of the manor also got a big bowl. They were soon eaten up, and Shen Hong was still not satisfied. She flattered Aunt Fang and taught her the secret recipe, and threatened that after she learned it, she could be her own boss and open a persimmon porridge restaurant. The business would definitely be booming. very happy.

After eating the persimmon porridge, Aunt Fang went on to make persimmon cakes. The steps are not difficult. First, peel off the skin and then put it in the oven to bake to quickly evaporate the water. In the past, this process could only be dried naturally in the sun. It is a time-consuming and laborious work, and it will be even more troublesome in rainy days. Now, through advanced means, these tedious procedures can be greatly reduced.

After the persimmons are dehydrated and softened, they need to be kneaded and shaped by hand, usually into oblate shapes, and then baked again. If you are more particular, you need to take them out to dry at regular intervals. Persimmons can be stored for a long time, and a white powder will slowly precipitate on its surface, a special substance called persimmon frost, which has a unique effect on sore throat. It is a good thing, and it is also an important indicator for judging the quality of persimmons.

The three of them worked until it was dark, and then turned the picked persimmons into the prototypes of persimmons, and put them in the refrigerator for storage. After a few days, they had to be baked and dried before eating.

In order to regain some confidence, Yunli will mainly cook the dinner, while Aunt Fang will cook the grapefruit peels.In fact, there is a tradition of eating pomelo peels in many places. The methods are different in different places, but the methods for how to remove the pungent bitter taste of the skin are similar.

The reason why it is bitter is that the grapefruit skin is rich in a kind of vegetable glycerin, which smells fragrant and tastes bitter, but this vegetable oil is a good thing. It can be used as a fragrance, applied on the skin, and can also remove rashes and mosquitoes.Not only the skin, but also the flesh contains a small amount of this vegetable glycerin. Peeling the skin cannot completely remove the bitterness, so the first step is to grill the grapefruit skin on a charcoal fire, and use the heat to force the oil out. This can be effective Remove most of the vegetable glycerin from the flesh.

After grilling, peel off the skin with a knife, leave the white meat, put it in boiling water to cook until soft, then take out the white meat and wring out the water, which can basically remove the bitterness, and then put it in Soak in ice water, you can add seasoning materials such as sugar and rice wine according to taste.

In the ice water, the grapefruit peel will gradually become fluffy and refreshing. At this time, it can be used for cooking. Aunt Fang asked Lu Ci about his favorite taste, and made three different dishes with the grapefruit peel. , which are pomelo skin stuffed with meat, spicy fried fresh mushroom pomelo skin, and cold vegetable pomelo skin. Because the processing steps of the pomelo skin are too cumbersome, Yunli has cooked several dishes, and the two of them are still working hard. It was already late when dinner was officially opened.

(End of this chapter)