in my memory, sticky bean buns are the staple food in the northeast countryside in winter. At least when I was young!
in 1982, after the rural joint production contract, my family was allocated several ridges and short fields in the back of the house, and millet was also planted to match the whole crop.
in spring, when the seedlings break through the ground one inch high, and only three or four small leaves are separated, my mother calls me and says, Let's go! Go to the nursery.
Intercropping is an agricultural term, which probably means to separate the crowded seedlings at a certain spatial distance according to the characteristics of the plants. In layman's terms, it means to pull out the redundant seedlings. However, for grass crops like broomcorn millet, thinning seedlings is more difficult. At that time, pesticides were not popular and weeds had to be removed by manpower. It's trivial and heavy work.
I was young at that time, not because I didn't like working, but because I hated working in person in my bones. (However, it does not affect my respect and admiration for workers.) Therefore, as soon as my parents let me work, I feel emotional.
When the millet was young, it was very similar to a kind of barnyard grass, which was widely distributed and grew most vigorously. Mom said, you must bend the cat's back and look close to the ridge platform-the root has fine fluff, the color is reddish, and the trunk is slightly flat. Otherwise, it is mostly grass or millet.
How can a child have so much patience, especially a person who grows grass in my heart when I work hard, and how can he have the patience to lie on the ridge and tell the truth of every little Vivi? I pulled the gourd ladle at random, no matter whether it was seedlings or grass, I just laid hands on it!
my mother can only sigh. If my father were here, I wouldn't dare to show too obvious aversion to work, even though a hundred people in my heart don't want to.
mom had to say, you only know how to eat tofu, so why don't you think about where tofu came from!
of course, I know that the bean foreskin is made by milling millet! But if I don't like bean curd, I won't work.
ha ha! What kind of asshole logic is that? However, I don't know why, I really don't like to eat tofu!
however, I like the atmosphere in those days when I wrapped bean buns.
In other words, after December of the solar calendar in Northeast China, it will be really snowy. At this time, there was much less farm work in the countryside. Except that hardworking people will go to the mountains to chop wood, deliver dung and herd cattle, feeding chickens and driving ducks is a matter of passing by. So, I have to eat two meals a day. Even primary and secondary schools canceled their lunch break and ended up after six classes in a row.
in this way, the food of sticky bean bag will appear! In my mother's words: Bean buns are the most resistant to hunger!
So, in the northeast countryside in early winter, there's not a family that doesn't pack bean buns! Besides, you have to pack a lot. I don't know how many other people have more homes than mine. Even my family with a small population and a light appetite needs a big jar of bean buns! What size cylinder? Tell you the truth-it's taller than me, and the three of me can hug it so thick! To tell you quietly, I filled the jar with bean curd in summer and took a bath there.
Of course, the preparation before making bean bags is to grind rice and make stuffing.
I have to tell you that the millet is called "Dahuangmi" after breaking its skin. Before making bean curd, it is necessary to make a "rhubarb rice"! Why? Smart parents will test the viscosity of rice according to this "rhubarb rice", and then add corresponding corn flour and millet flour to "yellow wheat" according to their experience. Now use "sticky rice" to make noodles, which is another story.
most of us like to eat "rhubarb rice". The fragrant smell stewed in a large pot. Some people like to eat with (huo) lard and soy sauce, while I like to eat it dipped in white sugar. My mother said, don't eat too much, it's not easy to digest, especially don't drink cold water after eating, for fear of getting bloated. However, we are often greedy and forget the taboos, perhaps because of children, and most of them are fine.
The filling of bean bag is a kind of red-skinned bean called kidney bean. Later, it was also made of beans, and the taste was worse. Of course, the beans must be selected from the same year. If they were old beans last year, both the "noodles" and the taste would be much worse.
The usual practice is that the temperature is low in winter these days, one is that the bean curd is easy to freeze, and the other is that it needs to be warm at home. The dough will be mixed early, and several kinds of flour will be blended in what proportion, and the water will be added to make it thick. Put it in a big earthen basin, cover it with a quilt, and move it to the kang head of a hot kang to "make dough". It's not like making steamed bread, it's foaming or spinning. According to my observation, it will be slightly sour in three or two days.
During the period of "making noodles", the bean stuffing should be cooked. Boil a large pot of kidney beans to a pulp and then collect the juice. Mash the beans with a wooden tool called "bean pestle" I like this job! Although it takes a lot of effort and effort to mash a pot of beans. However, the fun of it is that you can shake your arms and do it! Also, there will be a fine and soft layer of bean paste hanging on the edge of the bean pestle. You can scrape it off gently and chew it in your mouth, haha! Super delicious!
after the beans are mashed, put them in a big pot, and it's best to knead them into small balls while they are hot.
Every now and then, there are people in my family. In the past few years, it was my aunt, my cousins or my neighbors. Later, it was my sister's playmates or cousins.
Most boys don't do it. Maybe women prefer dumplings filled with beans. They sat around my heatable adobe sleeping platform, clutching the bean stuffing balls in their hands, gossiping about the parents and westerners, and occasionally having a dirty joke, they burst into laughter. Or pretend to quarrel and quarrel. In short, they are very happy!
there will be more helpers at home until the day of steamed bean buns. They have a clear division of labor, except that most people will be responsible for making bean bags, and there must be a special person to "zhuang (four tones) bean bags". It is to discharge the wrapped raw bean bags onto the lid curtain covered with a wet cloth. This job looks simple, but it takes experience to have a good yard! If you get too close, the steamed bean buns will become bigger, so they will be squeezed together and will break the skin. It's not good to get far away, it will waste space and firewood.
I have a cousin who is a good hand at this job, fast and accurate. Of course, she does everything neatly.
I wasn't idle that day either. I was mostly responsible for lighting the fire. Hey! Don't call me useless! Burning a fire is also a technical job. If it burns too much, it will burn! When the fire is small, the bean curd is not very solid, and it will be squatting! Of course, I also listened to the command before groping for it!
When the pot is cooked, everyone is very excited. They will try their first bite and then comment. Is it sticky? Is it stupid Is the bean stuffing not noodles? Or too much saccharin! Even the size of bean bags is a topic!
In short, everyone will make a comment on their participation in the bean curd. If they disagree, several old ladies will argue with each other.
However, this does not affect their work, because the work to be completed today is still to come.
basically, my family steamed all the bean buns that I want to eat in winter in one day. Steaming pot after pot! The hot air in the room has been diffuse, even in winter, you should open the door, otherwise, the steam is too strong to see the people coming across from the kitchen. More importantly, you can't see the steamed bean bags coming out of the pot.
By the way, the rectangular tool in the picture is called a curtain, which is tied with smooth sorghum stalks. My dad is really good at making that thing! I won't introduce the production process in detail. I have a lot of things at home, and my neighbors borrow them in winter. It is mainly used for placing steamed bean bags. Put it on the wall outside the house, or let the sticky bean bag freeze on the roof of the barn.
of course, younger children are put to use. He is responsible for watching the bean curd freeze outside. Why? At that time, every family had a dog, and the dog would steal the bean curd. Some people's chickens will join in the fun and take a few bites.
I, on the other hand, like to take the bean bag out and freeze it for a while. The skin is cold, but the gluten doesn't stick to my teeth, while the bean stuffing is still warm and delicious. Eating at this time is the best! However, many people don't know, so I always find such an opportunity to eat my fill.
My bean bags are steamed one after another until the evening, which just happens to be a big jar.
When watching the well-eaten and thanked helpers leave, Mom always smiles happily at the big jar of frozen bean curd. It seems that the days when she was hungry as a child were satisfied at this moment. My dad is even more happy. Because, this is the food he never tires of eating.
as for me, telling the truth is a bit annoying. I can eat it once in a while. You let me eat it every day, but I can't stand it!
but, in those days, what did you eat instead of tofu? There is also a cornmeal pancake. I'm sorry to praise my mother for her ability to bake big cakes. Therefore, I lost my appetite even more.
Almost every morning, the bottom of the pot is stewed Chinese sauerkraut chips or cabbage chips, and the "delicious" bean bag is on top. My mother will probably ask me before dinner: How many do you want to eat? I really want to say: no one! I want to eat rice!
but I don't have the courage! I know we have no rice to eat at home! My ideal at that time was that the day when I could eat rice every day was the most beautiful day!
I'm tired of eating the soup with bean bag and sauerkraut for breakfast, and it's useless! I have to force myself to eat, too! However, chewing a bean bag in your mouth is similar to chewing bubble gum now, and you can't swallow it after chewing it many times! Reader, it's not that I can't bear to swallow, it's hard to swallow! Hey! When I wrote this, I was crying! I don't know why I hated tofu so much at that time!
My sister is three years younger than me. She may be like my father, and she likes to eat bean curd. I saw her eating with relish, and I was angry. What I don't understand is my uncle's big cousin. It is said that he especially likes to eat bean curd, that is, on the New Year's Day, he would rather eat bean curd than jiaozi. This made me angry and called him a big fool behind his back several times! I even want to exchange food with him.
maybe it's because I'm not strong enough to eat tofu. When winter goes and spring comes, there are a lot of bean bags left in my house. At this time, my mother was a little anxious, because if she didn't eat it quickly, it would not freeze in warm weather. At that time, there was no refrigerator at home, and this kind of thing slowly softened in the vat.
My mother will force us to eat bean curd every morning! This aggravates my boredom. Remember I'm in junior high school. I can't even eat five bean bags the size of table tennis. What's more sad is that my mother also wants to eat bean buns for dinner, and even the porridge is deprived. Hey! It's a little angry and dare not speak!
until later, I clearly remember that the grass on the hillside was green, and my family had not finished eating frozen bean bags. At this time, you can't call frozen bean buns! Because the spring breeze has softened it, blowing long white hair, a little sour taste!
I really admire my mother for being able to live! That's it, she won't give up throwing away the bean bag! It will also cut off the white hair or the part that is going to be black and gray on the surface of the bean bag and continue to serve it as breakfast for us. I think my dad still eats well. I really can't eat anymore! I would rather go to school hungry than eat.
when my mother saw it, something really went wrong! Either one is hungry or food is wasted. Which one is not what she wants to choose!
My mother is still smart! She pressed the bean bag into a cake and fried it in oil, turning it into a golden "sticky cake" on both sides! Hey, hey! Looking back, I was a real glutton at that time! Add some oil to the bean curd, and I love it! It's not a problem to kill more than a dozen in one breath!
in this way, every spring, when it seems that the bean curd will be indigestible, my mother gives me this way to stimulate my appetite, and it works every time.
years later, my mother will bring it up to humiliate me. I'm always a little ashamed, too Fortunately! You don't have to live like that now!
with the progress of the times, the situation changes. We will not repeat the bittersweet life in the past.
until now, relatives in the countryside bring us some frozen bean bags every winter. My mother likes to eat! Say, it's still the taste of hometown.
what about me! I also eat a few occasionally, which is not difficult to eat, and I don't have some feelings like mom said. I just think it's okay! That's right Tired of eating rice, too! But, I won't say!