The modern fortune-telling history of a small shopkeeper

Everyone drank a large bowl of water, but drinking water obviously couldn't fill their stomachs.

"Eat, eat." Qiao Xiaobao grabbed his brother's hand and put it in his mouth, shouting to eat.

Qiao Minglang was careless, and the little guy grabbed his hand and gnawed him. He quickly pulled his hand out, leaving two shallow teeth marks on his fingers. He said a little bit dumbfoundingly: "This is my brother's hand, not the food. of."

As soon as there was nothing to eat in his mouth, the child deflated his mouth and was about to cry.

"Brother, I think the two of them are hungry." Qiao Xiaohui knew that they were hungry when she saw the appearance of the two little guys. There’s nothing to eat, let’s get everyone something to eat.”

She remembered that her elder brother was not in good health yet, just now the eldest brother told her to take medicine, she wondered if her elder brother had eaten, and she wanted to get him something to eat.

After finishing speaking, Qiao Xiaohui hurried out the door and went to the kitchen.

The kitchen of their house is outside, built simply with wood, where they usually cook.

There was a rice vat in the corner, and when the lid of the rice vat was lifted, the little girl's eyes turned red, and she didn't know what to do.After standing for a long time, the little girl bent down to fish out the last bit of rice and put it in a clay pot, intending to scoop water and wash the rice.

When he turned around, he accidentally kicked a wooden bucket under the table, and the fish in it jumped, kicking up water and splashing on the ground.

Only then did Qiao Xiaohui remember that they went to the river to catch fish yesterday, they were reluctant to eat it, and they kept the fish in the bucket thinking that they would cook it after the elder brother came back, and the fish is still alive and well.

"Second sister, what are you doing, I'll help."

After settling down the small ones in the house, Qiao Minglang walked over to the kitchen, wanting to see if he could be of any help.Seeing the little girl holding a clay pot in her hand and staring down at a wooden barrel, he took a closer look and saw fish inside, and asked with a smile, "Where did the fish come from?"

"Yes, yes..." Hearing the voice, Qiao Xiaohui turned her head and found that her eldest brother had stood behind her at some point, and was so frightened that she almost threw the clay pot on the ground.

Qiao Minglang stretched out his hand to catch the clay pot, so as not to let the pot fall, it would be smashed if it fell on the ground.

"Brother." Qiao Xiaohui didn't expect her elder brother to come over, she was stunned for a moment, remembering that her elder brother usually forbids them to go fishing in the river, she froze for a moment, not daring to tell the truth, but she didn't know how to lie, He hesitated and couldn't speak.

"Okay, leave this to me." Qiao Minglang knew what was going on at a glance, and he couldn't bear to scold the little girl.

Taking the clay pot from the little girl's hand, I saw that there was not much rice in it. Such a small amount of rice must not be enough for so many of them to eat. Presumably there was no rice at home. "Is there no rice at home?" He walked over and took a look at the rice jar in the corner. There was no rice in it.

"Hmm." Qiao Xiaohui lowered her head, couldn't help but raised her hand to wipe away her tears, her voice choked up.

Since their mother left, their father has been living in a muddle all day long, and sometimes he would drink a few sips of wine, fall asleep when drunk, and didn't care about family affairs at all.The brothers and sisters are full and hungry for a few meals. Usually when the elder brother is not at home, she will take her younger brother and younger sister to dig some wild vegetables nearby to cook and eat. The motherless life is miserable, and now my father is gone again. .

When father was there before, there was an adult in their family, but now father and mother are gone.

The rice tank at home is out of rice, and the millet planted this year has not been harvested, and new grain will not come until the millet is harvested.There are so many people in the family, what should I do if there is no food, the little girl is getting more and more sad.

"Silly girl, don't cry, brother, come and think of a way. I'll go to the uncle's house later and ask if I can borrow something first, and pay it back in a few days." Seeing his sister crying, Qiao Minglang looked up. He touched his sister's head with his hand, telling the little girl not to cry.

Life is difficult, just find a way to live it well, crying is useless.

He remembered that his family had grown grain, and it was almost ready to harvest at this time, so he just borrowed some grain to survive the remaining days, and returned it after harvesting the grain.However, with so many people in their family eating, it would be very difficult to live a better life just relying on the little grain grown in the ground. He had to think of a way.

Seeing a few fish in the bucket, Qiao Minglang had an idea in his mind, maybe they can try it.

"We killed these fish, and I'll get you something to eat."

"Well, good." Qiao Xiaohui wiped her eyes with the back of her hand, sucked her nose, her nose was a little red, and she burst into tears after being coaxed by her elder brother.Originally, this fish was to wait for the elder brother to come back and kill it for the elder brother to eat. "Brother, you go to rest, and I will do it."

The younger brothers and sisters in the family are still young, and she and the third sister usually cook together at home, and she can do these things.

"I'll cook with you, I'll get this fish." There's no reason to rest by yourself and let his sister do the work, Qiao Minglang can't do this kind of thing, "Is there any flour at home?" He asked the kitchen The things placed are not very clear, so I just asked.

"It seems to be a little bit."

Qiao Xiaohui remembered that there was some flour at home. She took a basket over, lifted the lid, pulled out a small bag of flour from inside, showed it to her elder brother, and asked, "Brother, is this it?"

"Yes, it's fine." Qiao Minglang squeezed it with his hands, nodded, and asked, "Are there any eggs at home?"

"Brother, wait a minute, I'll go and have a look." Qiao Xiaohui ran out, and soon came in again, holding two eggs at home.

Qiao Minglang took it and found that the two eggs were still warm, and knew that they were the eggs that the little girl had just pulled out of the chicken coop.

"It's the egg laid by our big flower and Erhua." Qiao Xiaohui grinned. The little girl is at the age of changing her teeth. Both her front teeth have been replaced.

Dahua and Erhua are two old hens raised by their family. They were reluctant to kill and eat them, so they kept them.They don't need to take care of the two chickens on weekdays. At most, they pick two handfuls of wild vegetables and chop them up to feed the chickens. The two old hens go out to plan food before dawn, and sometimes they come back home at noon to lay two eggs. Will be back from outside.

They were lucky today, they encountered two chickens laying eggs, and the eggs laid by the old hen were round and big.

"Okay, see big brother, I'll show you guys." He probably already has everything he needs, Qiao Minglang commanded: "Go and help boil the pot of hot water."

"Brother, we're here to help." At this moment, Qiao Xiaofen and Qiao Mingcheng were at the door with their two younger siblings, wanting to come in and help.They didn't want to bring the two little ones over, but the two little ones had grown their own feet, so they couldn't tie them up with ropes.

"Why are you here? We don't need so many people here."

This kitchen is so small, it is already crowded for two people to come in, and if you bring such a group in, there is not even a place to stand.

But looking at the aggrieved faces of the younger ones, it is obviously impossible not to give them some work, so Qiao Minglang had no choice but to divide the work, "Fourth brother, you stay and help, third sister, take Xiaobao and younger sister. Go inside and play."

"Oh, good." Qiao Xiaofen was a little disappointed by this, but still coaxed the two little guys to leave.

"Let's go play in the big house."

"Eat, eat."

"Got it, I'll have something to eat later."

The two little ones were dragged by their elder sister, and turned around every three steps, but they were still reluctant to leave.

Qiao Mingcheng felt very happy to be able to stay and help, rubbed his hands together nervously, and asked, "Brother, what am I going to do?"

"Go help your sister boil the water first, I'll just come here." Qiao Minglang scooped up the fish in the water, slapped the fish unconscious with the back of the knife, cut open the belly of the fish neatly, and took out all the internal organs Here, remove the head and tail of the fish.Then use a knife to cut from the middle of the fish close to the bone, turn it over, remove the skin, and you will get a crystal clear and tender fish.

The fish is alive and the flesh is tender.The cut fish meat should be cleaned, and the blood water inside should be washed quickly, so that the fish balls will be clean and beautiful.

The cut fish heads, bones and skins can be used to make soup, and he will use these fish meat to make fish balls.

Seeing that the eldest brother was handling the fish, but it looked different from how they usually handle it, Qiao Mingcheng asked curiously, "Brother, what do you want to eat?"

"Make fish balls."

"Is it tasty?"

"good to eat."

Seeing that green onions were planted in their yard, Qiao Minglang asked his younger brother to pick a few back, chop up the green onions, and chop the ginger for later use. This is used to remove the fishy smell.

The fish meat should be patted and chopped into meat sauce.Then put the minced fish into a large bowl, pour in the chopped ginger and green onion, add flour and egg white.

Eggs only need egg whites, not egg yolks.

When Qiao Minglang ran out of stock before, he saw an old cook making fish balls and adding egg white to them. The surface of the fish balls was smooth, the taste was delicate and elastic, and they were very delicious.Therefore, adding egg white is an essential thing.

Also pour a little water into it, pour a little oil and salt, and start stirring.

The consistency of this stirring is also very particular. If you add too much water, the taste of the fish balls will be too soft.But if there is less water, the taste of the fish balls will be too hard. In short, it needs certain skills to stir well.

"Brother, the water is boiling."

"Oh, good, here we come."

Just as the water over there boiled, the minced fish he made here was also stirred.

"Keep the fire down, it doesn't need to be so big." Qiao Minglang reminded the elder sister who set the fire, picked up a water spoon and added half a spoonful of water to it, and the water in the pot stopped boiling.He took out an appropriate amount of minced fish with his left hand, squeezed out the fish balls with the mouth of a tiger, caught them with a spoon, and put them into the water. The fish balls immediately floated up, and then he had to put them in one by one.

The heat of cooking fish balls is also very particular. The heat should not be too high. If the heat is too high, the taste of the cooked fish balls will be too hard.But it can't be too small, if it is too small, the fish balls will disperse when they enter the water, so the water temperature should be controlled at just the right level.

As for how good this is just right, it depends on personal comprehension and feelings.

So this is why when cooking the same food, some people make it delicious, while others always make it taste a little worse. There are great skills and knowledge in it.