Afterwards, Aunt Xue began to boil goat's milk, or perhaps cow's milk.
Add icing sugar and glutinous rice flour to the goat milk, stir with a stirring stick to make the icing sugar completely melted.
Then simmer over low heat, stirring constantly during the cooking process.
It is watery at first and not thick at all. As the temperature rises, the milk will gradually thicken.
When it becomes a very thick paste, remove the milk can from the heat.
Because the temperature in the pot is still relatively high, continue stirring for a while to keep the milk smooth and free of lumps.
While it’s still hot, use a spatula to pour the milk paste into an oiled wooden plate, smooth the surface as much as possible, and set it outside to cool.
Then Aunt Xue prepared a bowl of glutinous rice flour, a bowl of egg liquid, and some fried steamed bun crumbs.
When everything was ready, the milk paste had solidified into jelly, and Aunt Xue cut it into pieces one finger wide.
Use a flat spoon to scoop up a piece of jelly and roll it in glutinous rice flour to lock in the moisture. Then roll it in egg liquid. Then roll it in steamed bread crumbs and fry it in a pan over low heat.
When fried until golden brown, take out and place on a plate lined with dry lotus leaves. The crispy milk cake is ready.
"Young lady, come and try it." Aunt Xue handed a pair of chopsticks to Ying Bao: "Be careful, it's hot."
Yingbao took the chopsticks, picked up a piece of crispy milk cake and took a bite.
The skin is crispy and the inside is tender, and your mouth is instantly filled with the rich sweet milky flavor.
"It's delicious." Yingbao ate one piece and wanted to eat more, feeling a little unsatisfied.
Aunt Xue smiled and said, "This milk cake tastes better when it is freshly fried. It won't taste good if it is left out for a long time, so we fry it and sell it right after it is fried.
If deep frying is not convenient for you, you can just coat the jelly with a layer of sugar bean powder, which will also taste good. "
"Thank you for telling me." Yingbao thanked.
She knew about sugar bean powder because her second aunt Yan Ru knew how to make it.
Just wash the soybeans clean, fry them in a pan, pound them into powder, pass them through a sieve to leave the fine powder, add powdered sugar and mix well.
This sugar bean powder is very sweet and is used as filling for many kinds of pastries or sprinkled on the outside.
After learning how to make crispy milk cake, Yingbao said goodbye and left the kitchen.
She went to the front hall to look for her eldest cousin, but couldn't find him. Even Uncle Qiu and Aunt Qiu were not there. Only the little golden boy was riding his bamboo horse around in the yard.
Yingbao walked over and asked, "Jintong, have you seen my elder brother?"
Jin Tong nodded, wiped his nose, pointed to a moon-shaped door and said, "Sister took brother to feed the fish."
Yingbao glanced at the Moon Gate. That place should be the inner courtyard.
My cousin, what’s wrong with you? Why would he go to the inner courtyard with that girl to feed the fish
Yingbao quickly ran over to check.
As soon as you enter the Moon Gate, you will see a wall of flower shadows blocking your view.
This flower wall was not high, and there were carved windows on it, through which one could see the scene of the inner courtyard, but Yingbao was short and could not see what was going on inside even if she stood on tiptoe.
Suddenly she saw Uncle Qiu and Aunt Qiu lying on the stained glass window, looking inside furtively.
"Uncle Qiu, Aunt Qiu." Yingbao called out.
Qiu Fugui and his wife were startled and quickly turned around to look. They were relieved to see that it was Yingbao.
"Oh, I was just about to invite your brother to dinner." Aunt Qiu came over with a smile, took Yingbao's hand and led her away from the flower wall, winking at her husband as she walked out.
Qiu Fugui understood, coughed, and called to the flower wall: "Rong'er, the wine table is ready, please invite Manager Jiang to come and have dinner."
"Hey!" Qiu Rong's clear voice came from inside the flower wall.
Aunt Qiu brought Yingbao to a flower hall. Some bowls and dishes were already placed on the square table in the hall. The bowls and chopsticks were already in place. An aunt from the kitchen was coming in with a kettle to pour tea.
Not long after, Qiu Fugui also walked in with his hands behind his back, followed by his son Jintong, then Jiang Cheng, and behind Jiang Cheng was Miss Qiu Rong.
A group of people came in and sat down in batches.
Yingbao glanced at her eldest cousin and was relieved to see that he behaved calmly and looked natural.
It seems that Miss Qiu Rong really just took him to feed the koi, and there was nothing ambiguous between the two of them.
During the meal, Qiu Fugui praised his daughter openly and secretly, but Jiang Cheng pretended not to understand and agreed with him without saying anything else. He just focused on eating.
Aunt Qiu began to praise Yingbao for how smart and clever she was, and asked her daughter to play with Yingbao more often in the future.
Yingbao naturally agreed.
She had just learned how to make pastry from someone else, so she couldn't turn her back on him.
After dinner, Qiu Fugui personally sent the brother and sister home, and also brought two boxes of crispy milk cakes that he had just made at home as gifts for Yingbao.
That afternoon, Jiang Cheng went to the private school to pick up Yuanbao. Early the next morning, he locked the door of the shop and the backyard, and returned home with his younger brothers and sisters and two large baskets of gifts.
Yingbao originally wanted to buy some goat's milk or cow's milk in the county town so that she could go back and make crispy milk cakes for her family to try, but she couldn't find any.
There was no other way but to split the two boxes of milk cakes sent by Uncle Qiu, giving one box to Yuanbao and bringing one box for his younger brother.
The cart pulled by the skinny horse doesn't go fast, but it's not slow either, about the same as a donkey cart.
The well-behaved pony didn't need to be tied up, and followed the skinny horse all the way, never lagging behind.
Now the two horses have basically recovered, but they still need to be nursed back to health slowly until they gain weight.
"Yingbao, where did you put all the silver?" Jiang Quan was very curious because his little cousin did not send the silver to the bank.
It’s more than a thousand taels, and over a hundred kilograms. Where did she hide it
Yingbao patted a locked wooden box beside her and said, "It's here." In fact, it wasn't there. She had kept them all in her cave.
Jiang Quan looked at the wooden box suspiciously.
He carried the box onto the carriage. Although it was a bit heavy, it didn't seem to weigh more than 100 pounds.
Forget it. Why bother myself? No one can compare to my little cousin in hiding things anyway.
···
As the saying goes, on the 28th day of the twelfth lunar month, let the dough rise; on the 29th day of the twelfth lunar month, steam the buns.
The three sisters-in-law of the Jiang family worked together to make red bean steamed buns, three-fresh buns and rich flower rolls.
The first steamed buns were tasted by Old Man Jiang and his wife Jiang Liu, and then it was the turn of their children and grandchildren.
Yingbao and her brothers each took two steamed buns with three fresh delicacies and ran out to the martial arts training ground to practice fighting.
Some children from the village also came to practice, but most of them just watched and shouted to cheer.
After finishing a practice, Yingbao sat on a stone bench at the side of the field to rest, and saw the bride Chuchu in a green jacket handing her a bowl of sweet soy milk.
"I just cooked this, try it." Chuchu's face was filled with a sweet smile. She sat down next to Yingbao and said coquettishly, "You didn't come back even after I got married. You must have forgotten me."
Yingbao blinked.
She had indeed forgotten about it before, but luckily she remembered it when buying New Year gifts, so she specially bought a pair of silver and turquoise pearl flowers for Chuchu.
She took out a silver bead flower from her pocket and stuffed it into Chuchu's hand: "I picked it out in the county town as a wedding gift for you."
Chuchu opened the silk bag, picked up two silver beads, inserted them on both sides of her hair, and asked, "Does it look good?"
"It looks good." Yingbao nodded and drank some sweet soy milk, the rich aroma filled her nose.
Chuchu is so beautiful now, her face is like a delicate flower, charming and attractive. Even though there is a birthmark on her forehead, it does not detract from her appearance at all.
Chuchu hugged Yingbao and whispered, "Thank you Yingbao."
If Yingbao had not taken me in and given me money and fungus, I might have been married off to someone randomly found in that village by my father. I might never have seen the scenery outside the mountains and how could I have met a good man like Zhang Lang.