Rebirth of a Village Girl

Chapter 42

THE OLD LADY HAS NO APPETITE RECENTLY

After Goudan left, Ni Yang turned back to the kitchen, processed the free-range chicken she had bought from the market that day, blanched it, and simmered it on low heat in a casserole. After the water came to a boil, Ni Yang added the ginseng she had dug up from the mountain yesterday, followed by a few large jujubes. Soon, the small kitchen was filled with the fragrance of chicken soup.

Looking at the soup simmering in the casserole, Ni Yang poured the fish and shrimp from the bucket into a large basin and kept them in fresh water, planning to kill them later in the evening to make Sour Fish Soup.

Anticipating that she would catch fish from the traps, Ni Yang only bought eighteen fish from the vegetable market this morning.

As Ni Yang was busy in the kitchen, Ni Cuihua came in carrying a child, "Yangyang, these vegetables were sent by Aunt Zhou. She said you cured her cold and wanted to thank you with these."

In the corner was a pile of fresh vegetables with a bundle of homemade sticky noodles nestled in the middle. Ni Yang said with a smile, "Aunt Zhou is too courteous. Mom, let's have Sticky Noodle tonight."

"Sticky Noodle?" Ni Cuihua asked puzzled, "What is Sticky Noodle?"

Ni Yang gave a mysterious smile, "You'll know by tonight."

Ni Yang was a person of strong execution. She announced that they would have Sticky Noodle for dinner, and immediately cut off the tail of the snails, cleaned them thoroughly, heated the wok until it was red hot, drizzled it with rapeseed oil, added two spoonfuls of bean paste and fried until the red oil was out. She then put in the chopped green onion, ginger, garlic, star anise, and Sichuan peppercorns and stir-fried them.

After these ingredients were stir-fried to bring out their fragrance, she added the snails and stir-fried them over high heat for five minutes, then added water. After the water boiled, she put in the cut hog bones, simmered it on a low heat for three hours. By then, the broth was ready.

The flavorful and aromatic broth is the essence of the whole Sticky Noodle.

With the broth ready and early in the evening, around five o'clock, the chicken soup that had been simmering was also ready. Ni Yang took the lid off, scooped out a large bowl of chicken soup and chicken meat and handed it to Ni Cuihua.

This ginseng chicken soup was intended to nourish Ni Cuihua's body.

Ni Cuihua was currently weak and needed more nourishment.

Clear chicken soup with a thick layer of yellow fat floating on top. All the chickens at this time were free-range, revered as 'free-range chicken' in later generations. Not only was it nutritious, but it also tasted amazing. Adding a bit of salt made the soup delicious, and the chicken melt in the mouth.

In the beginning, Ni Cuihua refused to drink the chicken soup. Ni Yang tricked her by telling her that she had already had some herself. Only then did Ni Cuihua hesitantly drink it.

Evening came in a blink of an eye, and it was time for Ni Chenggui to return home. Ni Yang boiled a pot of water, blanched the sticky noodles, greens, and black fungus in it, scooped them out into a bowl, then poured the prepared snail broth on top and sprinkled it with spring onions and cilantro. If you liked chili, you could add a spoon of chili sauce and fragrant vinegar, a bowl of fragrantly steaming Sticky Noodle is then ready.

As soon as Ni Yang brought the blanched noodles to the table, Ni Chenggui returned. She smelled the fragrance just as she arrived at the door, "Yangyang, what's for dinner? It smells so good?"

"Aunt Ni is back home, we're having Sticky Noodle for dinner." Ni Yang replied with a radiant smile.

Ni Cuihua laughed and said, "Our Yangyang loves to make these exotic dishes."