Text/Belle Yuri

It was cloudy at 9-19 degrees on Monday, April 7, 2020

? On the afternoon of the second day of the Qingming Festival holiday, My best friend called and asked me to come over and get malt pancakes again. When I passed by, he was cooking water vegetables (river mussel meat). This water vegetables was brought by her from Fenhu. She likes to make (wash) water vegetables by herself. She said that the water vegetables sold by the people selling water vegetables at the stall were not clean and laborious. I have no choice but to work harder. Making the vegetables is the key. If I don’t wash them clean, the cooked vegetables will have a fishy smell.

? I took the malt pancakes and planned to go home to cook dinner first. She said she would call me after she cooked the vegetables and asked me to come and get them.

? Water vegetables (river mussels) are mainly distributed in Suzhou and other places. The water vegetables in Yuandang, Fenhu, Suzhou, are of better quality than those in other places. There are many ways to cook Mizuna, which can be grilled, boiled, stewed or boiled. The method of cooking Mizuna in Fenhu area is mainly to cook Mizuna with soy sauce and some pickled vegetables at home. It tastes particularly good.

? Mizuna has high nutritional value and has good health effects on the human body. It can nourish yin and calm the liver, improve eyesight and prevent eye diseases.

? I remember that when my mother was here, she would always cook seasonal delicacies and ask us to get them. When spring comes, my mother never forgets to cook a bowl of pickled vegetables for us, my three siblings. My mother’s pickled pork pickled vegetables are boiled until they become gelatinous. Meat and water vegetables.

? I said that I am still lucky enough to eat. The braised pork with soy sauce and vegetables cooked by my best friend is also very delicious, and it is on par with the braised pork with sauce and vegetables cooked by my mother.

? An hour later, my best friend called me and told me to get the sauced meat and boil the vegetables. Her house is just south of my house, and it only takes five minutes to walk to her house. When I walked into her house, the smell of food filled the room. She filled the fresh-keeping glass box I brought with me with a box full of sauced meat and boiled vegetables. She also invited me to eat at her house. I was not polite and sat down to eat. , can’t wait to try the taste of the braised water vegetables with soy sauce meat first. The water vegetables (river mussels) are very soft and fragrant. I like the pickles in it very much, but there is a little less pickles, so I don’t eat much and it doesn’t satisfy my craving. As we chatted, I listened to her talk about the whole process of making mizuna (river mussels).

How to make mizuna:

1. After buying river mussels, she cut open the mizuna (river mussels) herself, removed the intestines, gills and other dirt, and pounded the mussel flesh with a wooden stick. Edge, this step is very important;

2. Use salt to pinch for a while to remove the mucus, then rinse with water, repeat for both sides;

3. Put the mussels into the pot , add water, ginger and cooking wine to boil, boil for 5 minutes, take out and wash with water;

4. Wash the sauced meat, soak it in hot water, and then cut it into pieces;

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5. Put the mussels, soy sauce meat and pickles into a casserole, add enough water to bring to a boil, remove the foam, then reduce to low heat and simmer for 1 hour and simmer for 15 minutes. There is an old saying that a thousand roasts is worse than a stew. In this way, the sauced meat and water vegetables will be glutinous and soft, the sauced meat will not be tough, and the aquatic products (river mussels) will not be old.

? After I eat enough, I take it home. The sauced pork and boiled vegetables my best friend gave me will be eaten at noon the next day. The dishes I usually cook are basically eaten on the same day, and no overnight dishes are left. Vegetables left overnight tend to produce nitrite. We always eat this braised dish for several days. This has become a tradition. This time I also respect this traditional habit.

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