After dying early, I traveled to ancient times and became a boy

There are many ways to eat lotus root. The simplest way is to stir-fry it, which is also the most common way for people here to eat it.

But Ye Xunqing thought that eating fried lotus root slices was too simple, he wanted to make flowers out of the lotus root.

First up is the cold lotus root salad. Peel the lotus root, slice it thinly, blanch it in hot water, remove it, and soak it in cold water. Then, dunk it in the prepared sauce and it's the perfect autumn side dish.

The second is the hot and sour lotus root strips. It is best to stir-fry the lotus root strips with crispy lotus root, which is not only crispy but also retains the sweetness of the lotus root. But if you can't eat spicy food, you can switch to sweet and sour, anyway, the method is similar.

A bit more advanced are lotus root boxes and lotus root balls, which are the two that Ye Xunqing likes to eat. They are both fried and contain meat, so the cost is a bit high and they are suitable for eating at home.

A high-end dish suitable for mass production is glutinous rice lotus root with osmanthus honey. A large pot of this can be cooked and eaten for half a year. If canned, it can be eaten until next year. Unfortunately, due to the lack of technology and hard work here, the glutinous rice lotus root cannot be preserved for very long.

But it doesn’t matter, lotus root should be eaten fresh.

Ye Xunqing uses the tip of the lotus root to make raw lotus root slices, and uses the roundest part to cook glutinous rice lotus root. As for the other ugly parts, he chops them up and makes other lotus root dishes.

The taste of lotus root balls is amazing. Because of the presence of lotus root, they are a bit crispy when chewed and have a layered texture. The lotus root can also neutralize the greasy taste of meat and oil, making them more refreshing to eat.

The freshly fried lotus root balls are golden in color and crispy on the outside, but soft on the inside. They are not only crispy but also juicy when you take a bite.

Absolutely beautiful, absolutely beautiful. Fresh lotus root, fresh meat, and fried food, how can it not be delicious?

Anyone who says it doesn’t taste good will have his head removed.

"It's pure natural with no additives, and it tastes authentic." Ye Xunqing praised the ingredients and his cooking skills, "I really am a genius."

"It's delicious, brother is a genius!" Ye Xunbai didn't understand what a genius was, but he knew it was a compliment used to praise his brother.

"Hmm." Xie Lingyin also gave it a very high evaluation. "It's crispy on the outside and tender on the inside, fresh and tender with a hint of crunch and sweetness. It's really delicious. Let me try this... What is this?"

"Lotus root box." Ye Xunqing explained: "When the upper and lower parts are put together, does it look like a closed box?"

"Indeed." Xie Lingyin picked up a piece of lotus root box. "Although it is made of the same material as the meatball, the lotus root box is softer and the lotus root inside is not as crispy."

That's because the heating is different. The chopped lotus root in the lotus root balls is hidden inside, and the oil temperature outside is not easy to penetrate into the inside, so it is a little crispy when eaten. But the lotus root box is two thin pieces, and a large area is exposed to hot oil, so it is naturally softer.

"Even though I've eaten lotus roots so many times, I've never seen so many different ways to prepare them." Xie Lingyin chuckled and said, "Xunqing really knows how to eat."

Ye Xunqing took the opportunity to say, "My unique secret recipe, glutinous rice lotus root with osmanthus honey sauce, hasn't been served yet. When it's cooked, uncle will be the first to taste it. I'm sure you'll like it."

Xie Lingyin was very excited, "Then I must try it."

The glutinous rice lotus root needs to be boiled for a while. While the lotus root is being boiled, Ye Xunqing and his friends went to the fields and picked up a large pile of lotus roots, so many that they couldn't even move them back.

Seeing that they had dug so many lotus roots, Xie Lingyin was worried that they could not move them all at once, so she asked Jiang Ruisheng to borrow a donkey cart.

With the donkey cart, Ye Xunqing became more daring. He filled the cart with lotus roots, and the donkey was almost exhausted.

Lotus root is more difficult to store than fish, and it will not go bad even if it is kept for ten days or half a month.

Glutinous rice lotus root tastes best when eaten cold, but Ye Xunqing was worried that the elderly and children had poor spleen and stomach, and would get stomachaches if they ate cold food in this weather, so when the lotus root was still warm, Ye Xunqing cut the glutinous rice lotus root into thick slices and served them to them.

In order to make the glutinous rice lotus root taste richer, Ye Xunqing used the dried osmanthus flowers harvested in autumn to boil osmanthus honey juice and poured it on the sliced ​​glutinous rice lotus root.

The fragrance of osmanthus and honey is irresistible, and the soft, sweet and glutinous rice lotus root is even more appetizing.

Because the glutinous rice lotus root will be poured with honey at the end, Ye Xunqing did not add sugar to it. The lotus root itself is sweet, and the glutinous rice will also exude sweetness after being cooked for a long time. After adding the honey, the sweetness is just right, not greasy but not too sweet.

A good glutinous rice lotus root should be soft but not rotten, which means it is very soft to eat, but not rotten into lotus root paste. It should be able to be picked up with chopsticks, but the chopsticks should also be able to easily penetrate the glutinous rice lotus root.

"I've eaten boiled lotus roots before, but I've never eaten lotus roots stuffed with glutinous rice." Xie Lingyin was surprised. "Xiao Xunqing, what made you cook the lotus roots like this?"

Ye Xunqing thought: I learned it from someone.

"I just thought of it by accident." Ye Xunqing certainly couldn't tell the truth, "I think it's more convenient to eat this way. I can eat lotus root, glutinous rice, and osmanthus honey, killing three birds with one stone."

Xie Lingyin nodded slightly. "Okay, very good. If you want to come dig lotus roots, go ahead. It's better to make them into food and sell them for money than to let them rot in the ground."

Lotus roots will produce new lotus roots every year. As for the old lotus roots, they will not be as fresh and tender after a year, and the old lotus roots will turn into lotus root mud to protect the flowers.

A piece of land is so small, and new lotus roots grow every year, so where can we find so much space?

"Thank you, uncle." Ye Xunqing was very well-behaved when he needed help. "I'll come in two days."

After hearing this, Jiang Ruisheng snorted. He didn't like these little ones very much. Since Xie Lingyin liked Ye Xunqing very much, Jiang Ruisheng only accepted them and didn't like them.

Ye Xunqing naturally heard it, so he went over to coax Jiang Ruisheng, "Uncle Jiang, I will come back next time to make delicious food for Uncle Xie."

"Yeah." Jiang Ruisheng reluctantly agreed for Xie Lingyin's sake.

It was getting dark, and Ye Xunqing and his friends were pulling a cart full of lotus roots home. In addition, they were carrying a lot of lotus roots in their baskets, and Feng Jingheng's basket was almost bursting.

"With these lotus roots, we can make some money again." Ye Xunqing said happily: "Let's go pick up the baby donkey at the next big market."

Feng Jingheng thought the same thing, "I wonder what the donkey looks like now."

However, neither of these two people had ever raised a child or any other mammal, so they didn't know how many months a baby donkey would need to drink milk.

Before going to the market, Ye Xunqing asked Feng Jingheng to chop some bamboo and peel it, because the glutinous rice lotus root just out of the pot was too hot to be wrapped in banana leaves.

There was no other heat-insulating packaging here, so Ye Xunqing used the ancient packaging method, stringing the lotus roots together with thick bamboo sticks so that he would not have to worry about getting burned.

But this way, he couldn't pour osmanthus honey on it, so he planned to make some with honey as a sample first. If someone liked it, he would ask them to bring a bowl to buy it next time.