When I was a kid, my mother would make gluten soup for us every summer. The gluten soup made by my mother is incomparable to the current spicy soup, pork slices soup, chicken soup, beef and mutton soup. The fragrant and delicious taste will make your mouth water just thinking about it.

In my memory, every time after breakfast, my mother would start preparing the ingredients. My mother first took out a small handful of black fungus that had been picked and dried from her elm tree, put it in a basin and soaked it in water. Then take out a handful of dried vermicelli, dried kelp and peanuts, and soak them in water. Then, take out the ceramic basin from the cupboard, scoop out a large scoop of wheat flour from the noodle jar, and then add a bowl of water, preferably warm water. Next, mix the wheat flour with a ratio of three to one of flour and water. After the noodles are mixed, cover the ceramic basin with the pot racks that mother hand-made with sorghum stalks, and let it rest for a while.

At this time of waking up, my mother will go to the private plot to pick a handful of long beans, a few peppers, a few tomatoes, one or two purple eggplants, and two or three eggplants. It would be better if there are onions. Get a few more eggs from your own old hens. Wash ginger and vegetables and set aside.

After all the ingredients were prepared, mother started to wash the gluten. Mom took out the mixed wheat dough, put it in a basin with a little water, and changed the water while washing.

It probably took a little longer to cleanse the gluten (I don’t remember this clearly). It might be an hour, it might be half an hour, it might be twenty or thirty minutes, or it might be ten minutes? I'm not too sure. It depends on the person. Anyway, it feels like my mother took a long time to wash it. Although washing gluten is a simple task, it actually requires skills. If the washing is not done well, the ball of dough will be washed away, leaving only a basin of soup left by washing gluten. If you have high hands, you will wash out a big clump of gluten with less dough. This is also called "good technology, less material use, high output".

My mother will wash the gluten, break a few free-range eggs into a bowl, beat them evenly and wait for later use. Next, put a spoonful of peanut oil in the wok (any edible oil is fine. At that time, our parents grew their own peanuts for deep-frying), put the peppercorns and star anise into the oil and fry until fragrant, and then add the ginger in turn. , black fungus, enoki mushroom, eggplant, long beans, onion, eggplant, tomato, etc. (You can choose vegetables according to your own taste. If you like to eat meat, you can also add lean meat. It is best not to add lean meat, but my mother said , be sure not to add fatty meat), stir-fry the vegetables and wait for them like eggs.

At this time, my mother cooked the gluten and put it into the noodle soup produced by washing the gluten. My mother will cook these noodle soups in a large iron pot used to steam steamed buns. The large iron pot cannot be burned on a coal stove. It can only be placed on an earthen stove and burned with firewood. If the noodle soup is low, my mother will add water. She knows that we all like to drink it, so she will make a big pot full. Add the soaked peanuts, then cut the soaked kelp into shreds and put it into the pot. Boil the noodle soup and the peanuts in the soup are also cooked. Next, add the soaked vermicelli, wait a few seconds, the soup will boil again, add the fried fungus, beans, eggplant, eggplant and melon vegetables, then add nepeta and red amaranth, wait for the soup to boil and slowly pour in the eggs liquid, stir evenly, and turn off the heat. You can also omit the eggs, the vegan gluten soup is the best.

However, when waiting for the soup to boil, do not wait quietly. You should pick up a spoon and keep it close to the bottom of the pot to prevent it from getting stuck. Before adding various vegetables, if you see that the soup is thin, add a little more starch paste. When the soup is cooked, a large pot of fragrant gluten soup will be out of the oven. We would drink a few big bowls of it every time when we were young. The remaining gluten soup will be served again after half a while, and one or two bowls will be served. Every time, I don’t feel annoyed if I eat it on and off until the evening.

It’s been a long time since I had a bowl of gluten soup made by my mother. Ever since I got married, I have never had the pleasure of drinking gluten soup made by my mother. It is not only the taste that belongs to my mother, but also the satisfaction of the delicious food.

Gluten soup, rich and mellow motherly love.

Although I have already had lunch, if I were served a bowl of gluten soup made by my mother at this time, I could still eat it!