Song Sanniang's Journey to Wealth

"Okay, put everything away. It's time to cook." After saying this, Song Ersao put the jewelry box and other valuable things into the room, and Song Sanniang put the bacon and food into the kitchen.

Song Ersao always felt that it was not safe to keep things in the room, and kept asking Song Laoer to dig a hole to hide the things. Sanniang was amused and helpless when she heard this. Song Laoer actually agreed and dug a hole in the room to hide the things when he was free at night.

Si Niang and Wu Niang are still happy when they hear that they have new clothes to wear.

We have to cook for more than a dozen people tonight. Because we have sausages and bacon, the father and daughter bought a little less meat today.

The dishes tonight are braised rice with Chinese sausage, stir-fried bacon with bamboo shoots, steamed meat patties with salted egg, braised duck with basil, salted egg, wax gourd and lean meat soup, and stir-fried pumpkin sprouts.

The mother and daughter cut and washed all the meat and vegetables and prepared the ingredients. Mrs. Song chopped half of the pork into meat, seasoned it, and then started to make taro and sausage rice.

Heat oil in a pan and fry the taro until the surface is crispy and hard. Next, stir-fry the sausage and dried shrimp. You could have added mushrooms, but the mushrooms were not soaked in advance, so I didn't add them. Then pour the taro back into the pan.

The rice cooked by Sanniang is already 70% cooked. Scoop up the rice and break it up, then add it to the pot with the Chinese sausage, stir evenly, add appropriate amount of water, cover and continue to simmer. To save trouble, steam the meat pie and salted egg together.

Slice the cooked bacon, fry it in hot oil to release the fat, then pour in the onion and garlic and continue to fry until fragrant, then add the dried bamboo shoots and stir-fry, finally add salt and soy sauce to season and it is ready to be served.

Stir-fry the duck meat in a white pan over high heat, pour a circle of white wine on it to remove the smell and enhance the flavor. Fry the duck meat until it is dry and slightly charred, then remove from the heat. Turn the pan back on, fry the ginger slices until the ginger flavor is wafting, then add the garlic and stir-fry the seaweed stems. Next, add the duck meat, the main ingredient, and start seasoning with appropriate amounts of sugar, salt and soy sauce, and a little dark soy sauce for color.

After seasoning, turn up the heat and fry the duck meat until golden brown and crispy. Then add boiling water and simmer. The fire does not need to be too high at this time. Wait until the duck meat is completely softened, then turn up the heat and add perilla leaves. More perilla leaves will make it fragrant. Add a bowl of starch sauce. If you like a soft and rotten texture, continue to simmer for a little longer. If you like it chewy, cook until it is almost done and then you can serve.

The next two dishes are very simple, just cook the ingredients and season them.

When Song Ersao was cooking in full swing, Song Sanniang could already smell the strong aroma of the sausage rice. She lifted the lid, and a hot wave mixed with the aroma of sausage and taro rushed towards her.

Song Sanniang sprinkled some chopped green onions on the rice, drizzled soy sauce on it, and then tossed it evenly. There was rice crust at the bottom of the pot, and when the spatula was scooped up, it made a crisp crackling sound, making people want to pick up a piece and taste it.

When everyone came back, the yard immediately became lively. The four women, who had gone to deliver meat to Mrs. Song, also came back.

The two men ran into the kitchen and pestered Sanniang for rice crusts. In addition to various wild fruits in the countryside, rice crusts are one of the snacks for rural children.

Especially the rice crust with lard and soy sauce rice, which is fragrant and crispy.

Seeing how greedy the two were, Song Sanniang gave each of them a small piece. Then when she served the rice, there was a piece of rice crust in each person's bowl.

Liu Zezheng and the other two shouted as soon as they entered the room, "It smells so good. Are we having sausages tonight? I can smell it."

"I smell basil, and braised duck with basil."

Mrs. Song joked as she set the table, "You guys must have a dog's nose, so sharp."

Everyone sat down to eat, chatting and laughing. When they saw the rice crusts in the bowl, they all picked them up and started eating. There were repeated crunching sounds on the table.

Suddenly, Si Niang started to cry, which scared everyone. Song Ersao quickly took her to her lap and asked her what was wrong. She saw a mouthful of chewed rice crust mixed with a bloody tooth in her hand. Everyone breathed a sigh of relief and couldn't help laughing.

"Don't be afraid, this is the process of changing teeth. After the teeth are changed, Si Niang will grow up." Song Sanniang took a towel and wiped Si Niang's hands clean.

The tooth was a lower tooth, which was thrown onto the roof by Song Laoer. Then the others started talking one after another, and soon made Si Niang burst into laughter.

When everyone dispersed late at night, they all got some dried fruits, and all the four boxes were divided up. Uncle Liu's family also got some sausages and bacon.

After everyone left, Song Laoer really started digging holes in the room to bury things, and Song Sanniang and Song Ersao helped to shovel away the soil.

Originally Song Sanniang tried to persuade Song Ersao to wear the silver hairpins and earrings, but Song Ersao kept shaking her head, saying that they should not be shown off, so Song Sanniang had to give up.

Song Ersao then asked Sanniang to wear it, but Song Sanniang also shook her head, "I'm just a girl, it makes me look old, I don't want it."

Si Niang and Wu Niang opened their bright eyes and looked at the mother and daughter with anticipation, as if to say, "Look at me, look at me, give it to us, we like it."

Mrs. Song pinched the ears of Si Niang and Wu Niang, "You haven't pierced your ears yet, so you can't wear them yet. It's time to pierce your ears."

Song Sanniang's ears had been pierced a long time ago, but she still shuddered involuntarily when she heard it.

Although she knew that girls in ancient times had their ears pierced at a very young age, and she didn't intend to break the rules, she still couldn't help but worry, so she asked, "Sisters, are you too young to get your ears pierced now?"

Mrs. Song glanced at her and said, "You also got your ears pierced at about the same age. Don't let them learn from you. You refused to get your ears pierced at that time and even ran away and hid."

Song Sanniang really had no memory of this. She didn't expect that her previous life had such a time. In her memory, she had always been very taciturn.

Si Niang said firmly, "Mom, I'm not afraid. I heard from my cousin that piercing the ears is just like being bitten by an ant, it doesn't hurt at all." Second Sister Song touched her head with satisfaction.

"Okay, if you're not afraid, I'll let you wear it in two days." He asked Wu Niang again if she was afraid. Wu Niang nodded vigorously, and her fear was obvious.

Si Niang came over and whispered something in Wu Niang's ear, and then the two of them ran to the side to plot, which made Song Ersao and her daughter curious. But they didn't ask any more questions and just let them do what they wanted.

The next day, Song Ersao and her daughter got up much earlier than usual because Song Sanniang and Song Ersao talked about making radish cakes and taro cakes.

Yesterday, Song Sanniang asked the aunties in the market how to make these two dishes. Everyone's methods are similar, but the more particular methods require better ingredients. Song Sanniang bought the ingredients, glutinous rice flour, wheat flour, and peanuts, yesterday.

The method of making taro cake is very simple. Cut the taro into shreds, add appropriate amount of salt and stir-fry for a while, then take it out, add appropriate amount of glutinous rice flour paste and mix evenly, steam it in a pot. After steaming, brush a little peanut oil on the surface, but I don’t have it at home, so I didn’t brush it. Sprinkle crushed peanuts on it.

Radish cake is a little more complicated because it requires scallops. Soak the scallops the night before.

Cut the radish into shreds, steam the sausage, chop half of it and cut the other half into dices, so that it has a granular texture when eaten and tastes more fragrant. After steaming the scallops, pinch them with your hands and stir-fry the sausage and scallops until fragrant.

Do not waste the water used to soak the scallops. Pour it into the shredded radish and cook it together. The shredded radish does not need to be overcooked, just cook until the water comes out. Then add salt and soy sauce to taste.

Pour in the Chinese sausage and scallops, stir evenly, add the glutinous rice flour one by one, quickly stir with chopsticks to prevent the flour from clumping, finally add the wheat flour and steam it in plates.

The steamed radish cake and taro cake are cut into three finger-sized pieces, half of which are kept original and the other half are fried until both sides are golden brown. The radish cake is crispy on the outside and tender on the inside, with a strong seafood flavor, while the taro cake is crispy and fragrant after being fried, with a texture similar to rice crust.