Travel to ancient times and become rich women with your bestie

As for food, nothing is better than a bowl of cold noodles in this hot weather.

Among the things that Mrs. Zhang sent over yesterday, there was a big bag of flour, some of which could be used to make cold noodles.

First, knead the flour and salt, cover it with a bowl and let it stand. You can start preparing the ingredients while you are here. I bought the dogwood that day but have not found a chance to use it yet. I will try to make dogwood chili oil.

Zheng Yuan dug out the bag of dogwood and found a lot of good stuff from the pile of spices that were delivered yesterday. There were all kinds of things, such as cardamom, star anise, and sesame. It was like moving a kitchen for them.

After picking out the seasonings to be used and handing them to the children for preparation, Zheng Yuan took out a stone mortar and pounded the dogwood, then poured it into a bowl for later use.

The smell is indeed a bit pungent, but it is not exactly the same as chili pepper. Zheng Yuan is a little hesitant. Will this work?

After preparing the ingredients, Zheng Yuan scooped out the water from the pot and asked Duan Minmin to go to the back of the stove and light the fire to prepare the chili oil.

Pour rapeseed oil into the pot and heat it up, then add some garlic, coriander, shallots, and old ginger. Onions would have been more fragrant, but Zheng Yuan couldn't find any after searching through all the things sent. Although he didn't know what dynasty this was, since carrots already existed, onions should have been introduced as well. Maybe it's not suitable for cultivation here, or maybe the taste here doesn't suit them.

As the oil temperature rose, the seasonings in the pot began to turn brown and dry, and the aroma became stronger and stronger. The children couldn't help but breathe deeply.

Remove the browned and dried seasonings, put the remaining star anise and cardamom back into the pot, fry until fragrant, then remove them.

Even if the oil is refined, it can be annealed. The next step is to pour it into the dogwood flour to make chili oil.

Zheng Yuan didn't dare to bet on the quality of the bowls of that era. Although he used the new bowls sent by Mrs. Zhang, he was still afraid that the oil temperature would be too high and the bowls would explode.

So I added oil in three batches. The first time, I added a small amount and stirred it quickly to cool it down evenly to prevent the cornus officinalis from being burned by the high temperature. The second time, I poured enough oil to cover the cornus officinalis powder and still stirred it quickly to cool it down. When the oil in the pot dropped to a similar temperature, I poured all the remaining oil into a bowl and added appropriate amounts of sugar and salt to enhance the flavor.

This is how a bowl of spicy chili oil is prepared. In fact, if there is strong liquor, the aroma should be more thoroughly stimulated. Unfortunately, there is no such thing at home, and it is not in the things sent by Zhang Guanshi.

But Zheng Yuan was already very satisfied with the smell. It was at least 80% similar to the one made with chili peppers, which was rare at this time.

Duan Minmin even exaggeratedly ran from behind the stove to the front and fanned her nose madly. Even if she was choked by the spicy taste and sneezed repeatedly, she still greedily inhaled the smell.

"Spicy! It's spicy! Yuanbao, I love you so much. With this spicy oil, I can eat eight big steamed buns on my own."

The children who were still in the yard all crowded into the kitchen, wanting to see what delicious food Zheng Yuan had made.

Mr. Jiang thought that he had been to many places and had eaten a lot of good food. He had eaten spicy food before, but none of them made him feel as hot as today. So he followed the children and squeezed in without caring about his image.

The fragrance was so overbearing that it not only captivated the children, but also the souls of the villagers as it drifted above the village.

"Who is making this delicious food? It smells so good!"

"Of course, it must be the homes of Widow Zheng and Widow Duan. Haven't you smelled the fragrance coming out of their homes from time to time these days?"

"These two are really lucky. Why did this noble man take a fancy to them?"

The villagers who were still working in the fields were discussing their opportunities one after another, some were envious and some were jealous, but the parties involved were completely unaware.

After the chili oil is ready, the next step is to make the cold noodles.

After washing the pot and boiling water, Zheng Yuan put the proofed dough into the water and gently kneaded the dough with both hands.

Tao'er helped cut the ingredients and was standing aside.

Looking at her actions, Tao'er seemed to want to say something but stopped herself.

Noticing Tao'er's expression, Zheng Yuan naturally knew what she was thinking. This place is located in the south, and noodles are not the main food. Few people know how to make this cold noodle. Tao'er saw her put the dough into the water, and she was probably thinking about how she was wasting food.

This little girl is quite interesting. Whenever she is cooking in the kitchen, she always likes to come close to her and watch her movements, but she never says much. Today was the same. She followed them in the kitchen and didn't go out to the yard with the other children to cool off.

This child is probably quite interested in cooking.

"Tao'er, you don't understand why I put the dough into the water to wash it, and you think I'm wasting food?"

Tao'er waved her hands quickly: "No, no, Aunt Zheng, I'm just confused. You always have your own way of cooking. I don't think you're wasting food. I'm just curious."

Zheng Yuan smiled and said, "Do you want to learn how to cook from your aunt?"

Huh? Tao'er pulled at the corner of her clothes helplessly and looked at Duan Minmin.

"Why are you looking at me? Your aunt is asking you. If you are interested, just follow your aunt. It's okay. Speak boldly. Mother supports all your ideas."

Tao'er's face flushed with excitement: "Mom, Auntie, can I really do this?"

"Why not? Interest is the best teacher. Since you are interested in this, your Aunt Zheng and I will support you unconditionally. Besides, you have a lot of skills in your hands, so you can make a living in the future."

"And even if you don't rely on this to make a living, you can still eat and cook whatever you want. Your Aunt Zheng has also found a successor, so you don't have to cook whatever you want when you are old."

"Mom, aunt, I will learn well and cook more dishes for you in the future." Tao'er's face flushed with excitement.

What she liked most in the past was to help in the kitchen when the family in the village was doing business. Although she couldn't do it herself, she was satisfied watching the aunts cook. When she got home, she would also try to cook on her own, but unfortunately the ingredients were limited and the food she made was not very delicious.

Sometimes when her mother saw her, she would scold her for being a spendthrift. Unexpectedly, her mother and Aunt Zheng both supported her in learning cooking. She felt that Aunt Zheng's cooking skills were much better than those of the aunts hired by the village. Since she partnered with Aunt Zheng's family, she liked to follow Aunt Zheng and watch her make dishes that she had never seen before, which made her feel very satisfied.

Now that I can learn it myself, how can I not be happy?

"Tao'er, come here and watch my technique. Rub it in gently like this."

Tao'er watched Zheng Yuan's technique carefully and imitated it with her own hands.

"Do you know how to do it? Try it out?"

Taoer nodded, washed her hands, carefully picked up the dough and began to knead it gently.

The two were very satisfied to see that her movements were quite impressive. It seemed that Tao'er was not only interested in it, but also quite talented. She could develop in this direction in the future.

"This step is to wash out the gluten. After filtering the washing water, you can steam the cold noodles. Feel if the dough in your hand is getting more and more elastic. You see, these are the gluten. When the time comes, steam it and mix it with the cold noodles and let it absorb the chili oil. That's what we call delicious."

After changing the water two or three times, the water became clear.

Looking at the small piece of gluten in her hand, Taoer felt it was magical. There was gluten in flour, which was something she had never heard of before. This gluten was kneaded by her own hands, which felt really amazing.