As soon as April arrives, broad beans will compete to appear in black and pink in the vegetable market. The green and full broad bean folder is heavy and bulging, and I like to watch it. So there is a plate of seasonal dishes on the dinner table of ordinary people's homes, which is green and makes people drool. I have a special feeling for broad beans since I was a child, because it is delicious on the plate and accompanies me through every spring. In my impression, it is the pure taste of spring. Whether it is fresh turquoise or pink-purple bean curd, it represents a kind of beauty, just like that fleeting youth.
In early spring, when the weather is warm and cold, tofu has blossomed in the fields, and clusters of land are swaying against the spring breeze, just like little messengers, welcoming the arrival of spring. In the spring when a hundred flowers blossom, the bean curd blooms early, modest and low-key, as written in Wang's poem: broad beans blossom and reflect the female mulberry, and the square stems and green leaves are fragrant, and the wild powder is unloved, and the east wind does not drive away the fragrance. But look closely at the petals, the faint powder is rubbed into a thin layer of purple, and the white petals are printed with black spots like black eyes, just like a small butterfly, folding its wings and stopping on the branches. I can't help but think of a children's song I learned when I was a child:
Silkworm, silkworm and tofu pudding
Yaya, rows and rows.
Like a butterfly, you fly to the field.
Like butterflies, yo, yo, yo, fly, fly to the fields, yo, yo.
……
When I was a child, besides playing in the fields, the most interesting thing was to find broad bean ears. Every time after school, several friends get together and go to the fields to look for broad bean ears. Broad bean ears are small leaves that look like cat ears, mixed with mung bean leaves and black and white and purple bean flowers. Their colors and textures are exactly the same as those of other leaves, so they are not easy to find among the dense leaves. Spelling is careful, and spelling is better than eyesight. If we find it, it's like finding a treasure, and we will dance happily. Ear-like leaflets will be carefully held in our hands and then sandwiched in textbooks, just like a precious treasure.
As soon as the beancurd is opened, the broad bean clips will gradually fill up day after day, from as thin as the little finger to as long and thick as the thumb, and even become thicker than the thumb, standing up in rows and growing thick and full. At this time, pick fried broad beans or garlic seedlings. When this steaming green side dish is served, the strong aroma is full of strong spring customs. These days, almost every family has a plate of vegetables on the dining table, which seems to get tired of eating every day. Although the side dish of broad beans is delicious, it is very seasonal. The service time is not long, one month at most. When the time comes, broad beans will shed their thin green coats and slowly put on hard shells. Therefore, people have another complaint in tasting: "Alas, today's broad beans are a bit unpalatable" and "Ah! Eating broad beans is like spitting skin ","Broad beans are not delicious when they are old "... Even though everyone is still reluctant to part with this side dish, broad beans still have to bid farewell to the table of ordinary people and make a curtain call in early summer.
Although the newly aged broad beans can no longer be cooked on the table, smart people always have a way to turn them into another delicious food-fennel beans. When I was a child, when I was reading Lu Xun's novel Kong Yiji, I met fennel beans for the first time: Kong Yiji said to the cupboard, "Warm two bowls of wine and ask for a plate of fennel beans." That passage, let us remember the pedantic and foolish scholar Kong Yiji, and let us remember Fennel Bean from now on. At that time, we were in an era of material poverty, so we were full of infinite reverie and yearning for "fennel bean", and even when we read the word fennel bean in the text, we couldn't help swallowing. Later, I was lucky enough to go to Shaoxing, Mr. Lu Xun's hometown, and brought back a big bag of fennel beans. Fennel beans are soft and tender to chew, with rich fragrance, wrinkled skin and bluish yellow color. Bean meat is cooked but not rotten, soft but not rotten. Chew with saliva, fragrant and salty, with a slightly sweet aftertaste. This is a traditional food full of local characteristics. The word "fennel bean" alone is full of lush memories of our youth. Although I can't go back, I can't forget it.
When a series of broad beans are covered with hard black shells, broad beans begin to return to people's food baskets. At this time, the black shell can be easily removed by gently pinching the broad bean clip, and then the broad bean petals are fried with incense and sprinkled with salt, which is transformed into crispy and delicious salted broad bean petals, which are golden in color and crisp in the mouth. It is a snack bar or wine side dish for young and old Xian Yi. In hot summer, when the heat is unbearable, perhaps the most timely thing is a bowl of porridge and a plate of salted broad bean petals, so that ordinary and simple days can still be lively and fragrant.
The world in April is full of flowers and dazzling wheat straw. However, broad bean, with its vigorous green color, has brought infinite vitality and delicacy to the world. April wheatgrass, I love this touch of turquoise.