? My hometown is located in the south of the Yellow River and the north of Jiangcheng. There are endless wheat fields and poplars that will lose their leaves in autumn. I have been away from my hometown for decades, and the food in my hometown is the most unforgettable.
? There, as the Chinese New Year approaches, every household will make big buns, which is what we usually call steamed buns. But this is a custom in our country. It is different from ordinary food. Ordinary food is solid and there is no stuffing in it. Chinese New Year's big buns need to get up at five o'clock in the morning to make dough, put the mixed dough into a big porcelain basin, and then put it in the quilt to wake up, because in the north, people don't keep warm. Children are not allowed to talk nonsense during the Chinese New Year. I remember once when I was a child, I got up in the morning and said so many things. My grandmother stared at me and said, "Don't talk nonsense during the New Year." Until now, I don't understand why I can't tell the truth, maybe because I'm afraid I'm in trouble. After waking up, grandma will invite the neighbors in the village to help make big buns. Of course, we all help each other.
The stuffing of the big steamed stuffed bun is prepared in advance. Red beans, cowpeas, mung beans and sweet potatoes are cooked in a pot, and the noodles are cooked. Add brown sugar and stir together. I can eat two bowls of stuffing without eating big steamed buns. In addition to "sweet" steamed bread, there are steamed buns with meat stuffing. Generally speaking, the meat stuffing is mixed with pork, fine powder and shredded carrot and cut very finely. Although sweet steamed bread is highly praised during the Chinese New Year, I think the meat stuffing is more fragrant. It's satisfying to eat three at a time. Besides being bigger than the steamed bread you usually eat, there is also a feature that there are many patterns. Generally, wrapped steamed bread is decorated with noodles, such as cutting a lump of small noodles into leaf shapes with a knife, sticking the leaves on the steamed bread and pressing a dried red date in the middle. This is the big steamed bread for China New Year. Generally, the pot is cooked first, and the most beautiful and biggest one is given to the family god. When visiting relatives, we always bring a few steamed buns, which is the custom in our hometown. I wonder if relatives will bring steamed stuffed buns when they leave now?
The steamed buns in my hometown are not only a memory for me, but also a living and eating habit. When I was studying in Hunan, whenever I went home, my grandmother always made me big buns. Although there are steamed buns here, they are always much worse than those in my hometown, either too soft and chewy, or too much saccharin.
? Hu spicy soup is also a kind of delicious food in my hometown. Hot soup has a long history. It is said that during the Jiajing period of the Ming Dynasty, Ge Lao Yan Song got a pair of flavoring drugs from a monk to help the emperor prolong his life, so he could cook soup and drink it. The soup is delicious and named Yutang. After the demise of the Ming Dynasty, the chef Zhao Ji fled to Henan with this medicine and spread it here. As a result, the local people had spicy soup and renamed it "Hu Spicy Soup". Yan Song was a traitor, but Hu Spicy Soup became the royal soup because of him, which has been passed down to this day. Let's just say that he did a good thing in the case of countless crimes.
Because Hu spicy soup is a mushy snack, we often call it salty and confused. The method of salty paste is very simple: first add half of the water to the spoon, then add the batter and stir until there is no pimple. Then prepare sweet potato powder, peanuts, fungus and shredded tofu, put them into the pot, add half a pot of water to boil, then pour the previous batter into the pot, stir while pouring it, and then serve the bowl when the pot is boiled again. You can add spices such as pepper and pepper according to your personal taste. There is a saying: "A bowl of hot soup is not suitable for immortals." If you are salty, you must be sweet or white. It's easy to be confused: boil the pot and pour the batter in and stir. If you want to add something, such as sweet potato slices, pumpkin slices and red dates, it is also excellent. Because it is sweet and convenient, most of us drink white and confused every day. I drank a bowl of white confusion in the morning, ate steamed bread made by home cooking at noon, and then drank a bowl of white confusion. At night, alas ..... It's white again. Maybe we are too lazy. Someone made fun of us and said, "Three meals a day make everyone confused." Because our hometown is located in the plain, people mainly use wheat pasta, and rice does not exist. My family has never been a staple food of rice since childhood. Funnily enough, rice is a kind of food that only appears at parties. It is eaten with glutinous rice mixed with candied dates and brown sugar. At that time, it was still a very rare thing.
? Portulaca oleracea, shepherd's purse, Sophora japonica and Coprinus comatus
Speaking of Portulaca oleracea, I can always think of playing alone on the roadside in my hometown when I was a child, and then observing all kinds of grass, among which Portulaca oleracea is my favorite. At that time, we called it wasp. Because unlike other wild vegetables, purslane leaves are very thick. After being cut from the trunk, white milky liquid will emerge. I thought the blood of purslane was white. At that time, my grandmother said, "Come with me to find a hornet's nest and go home to clean it up." Caituo is a kind of pasta in our hometown, which is different from steamed bread. Chop Portulaca oleracea or leek, add the stirred egg mixture, and then add seasonings such as salt monosodium glutamate. When steaming, the hump jiaozi of egg liquid will not spread, which is more delicious. Then rolling noodles is a technical job. If it is too thick, it tastes hard. If it is too thin, it will spread out when steaming. Spread the purslane stuffing flat on the dough, then wrap the head and tail tightly and put it in a steamer to cook. Portulaca oleracea has a slight sour taste. My family all like to eat this, especially my father, who is away all the year round. I don't know how greedy he will be when he sees my grandmother's newly baked purslane vegetable lump!
Shepherd's purse is a very common wild vegetable. When I was a child, I often picked shepherd's purse flowers on my way to school or school. The trunk of shepherd's purse flower is very long and thin, and there are still many "caution" in it. I have also eaten "Be careful", which is sweet. I picked a shepherd's purse flower at every step, and when I got to school, I already held one in my hand. When I smell it alone, I feel very fragrant. That afternoon, I was immersed in the fragrance of shepherd's purse flowers in my seat, and I didn't know what the teacher said. There is a saying: "on March 3, shepherd's purse flowers compete for peony." It can be seen that shepherd's purse is highly valued. After all, shepherd's purse can be eaten, and peony can only be feasted. There are many ways of shepherd's purse, including wonton, jiaozi and spring rolls. We don't wrap wonton in shepherd's purse there, but steam it. Wash shepherd's purse, coat it with flour and steam it in a steamer. This can keep the original fragrance of wild vegetables, and we can say that this is eating spring. Take out the steamed vegetables and pour in the garlic paste prepared in advance to stir. In less than half an hour, a pot has bottomed out. Nowadays, wild shepherd's purse is hard to see, and a plate in the restaurant has exceeded the price of meat dishes.
? Sophora japonica is a flower of Sophora japonica, and it is "foreign", which means it is not "made in China". It originated in North America and was introduced to China in Qing Dynasty. There is a locust tree in my backyard. Its crown is very high, its leaves are bright green, and in the flowering season, green and white set each other off and its flowers are elegant and fragrant. Leaves can be blown, tweed, in addition to fragrance, of course, can be eaten. My grandfather took a ladder, cut off clusters of white flowers with a sickle, and then steamed them to eat, which can clear away heat and detoxify. Sophora japonica is still a yellow dye, the fruit can stop bleeding and lower blood pressure, the bark, branches and leaves can cure toxic sores, the seeds can also be pressed for oil, the wood can be used as furniture, and the whole body is a treasure. Acacia trees in my hometown may have been cut down long ago, but those memories and smells are still treasured in my mind like treasures.
Speaking of Coprinus comatus, I don't know its scientific name, but it looks like a chicken leg, so I call it Coprinus comatus. This kind of mushroom is very common in the Woods and fields of my hometown. When I was a child, I was picky about food and didn't like vegetables. My grandmother found me chicken legs and mushrooms. Actually, before that, I ate once when I was about four years old. At that time, I had not moved into my new home. I found one in the pit of my hometown (don't worry, it's very dry at home, sometimes it doesn't rain for months). That's very big. Later, my grandmother made me a cold salad, and I enjoyed it very much. I think it's delicious. Later, I moved into a new home and went to primary school. Grandma gets up early every morning and goes to the pit to pick up chicken legs and mushrooms from the field for me. Every time I come home from school, I can eat grandma's fried chicken legs and mushrooms. I have never met a Coprinus comatus in Hunan for so many years. On the contrary, in a fruit and vegetable garden in Huaihua, I saw a mushroom with black legs. I was so excited that I quickly filmed it and wanted to keep it for my grandmother. Then I asked her if she remembered this good dish.
I miss the food in my hometown.
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