Feng Yifan found that after returning to the countryside, his daughter no longer needed to accompany him every day because there were many people taking care of her and she had friends like Yue Qihao to play with.
Although this gave him more time to research the dishes, he felt a little disappointed without his daughter around to chatter. But thinking of the interesting things his daughter told him every night, he felt very happy.
No matter what, as long as his daughter is happy, Feng Yifan will feel happy in his heart.
"Ahem, Yifan, you should concentrate and stop thinking about Ruoruo all the time. Ruoruo has Ruoxi to take care of her, and she also has her grandparents to keep her company, and she also has a brother like Yue Qihao. I believe she will have a lot of fun."
When Feng Yifan heard his father-in-law's words, he raised his head a little embarrassedly: "Dad, I know, sorry, I was distracted."
Su Jinrong continued, "Dad can relate to your current situation. When Ruoxi was still young, I was like this too. I would miss her every day, especially when she went to college in another city. During that time, I was running the restaurant by myself, and I would get distracted from time to time."
Feng Yifan smiled and responded, "Dad, you're right. I can't help but think about Ruoruo recently, so I always get distracted when cooking."
Su Jinrong nodded and said, "This is normal. During the time you have been back, you and Ruoruo have a good relationship as father and daughter, so you both miss each other. Maybe when Ruoruo goes to the vegetable garden to pick vegetables in the morning, she will also be thinking about her father. Maybe they will be back soon."
Almost as soon as the father-in-law finished speaking, his daughter's voice was heard outside.
"Dad, Grandpa, Ruoruo is back."
Hearing Feng Ruoruo's call, Feng Yifan and Su Jinrong smiled at each other in the kitchen. The father-in-law and son-in-law had a tacit understanding that they were both waiting for the little girl to come back.
Not long after, Feng Ruoruo ran into the kitchen with two big eggplants and placed them in front of her father.
"Dad, look, look, these are what Ruoruo picked today. Ruoruo picked the two biggest ones and brought them back for Dad to make delicious dishes for Ruoruo."
Feng Yifan was a little surprised when he saw the two big eggplants in his daughter's hands, because the two eggplants were really big.
"Well, what dish does Ruoruo want dad to make for her with this eggplant?"
Feng Ruoruo thought for a moment and said, "Let's make something delicious. Ruoruo wants to eat delicious food."
Feng Yifan took the eggplant from his daughter's arms, put some weight on his hand, and then looked at his father-in-law. He had a lot of dishes made with eggplant in his mind, but he couldn't decide what to make for a moment.
Su Jinrong smiled and gave his opinion: "These two eggplants are so beautiful, and Ruoruo picked them herself, so we should make a very special dish. Dad made a lot of dishes from Dream of the Red Chamber before he came back. Let Dad make the most famous dish from Dream of the Red Chamber for Ruoruo with these two eggplants."
After his father-in-law said this, Feng Yifan probably thought of what dish his father-in-law was talking about.
Eggplant fish.
According to the book, the dried eggplant fish has to be steamed and dried nine times, and steamed in chicken soup. The whole production process is very complicated. It can be said that such a dish reflects the extravagant style of a large family like the Jia family in Dream of the Red Chamber.
Now his father-in-law suggested that Feng Yifan cook such a dish at home, which was a bit embarrassing for him.
Feng Yifan felt that it was too extravagant and a bit of a waste of ingredients to completely copy the recipe in the book.
So he fell into deep thought, thinking about how to make some improvements so that the dish would be easier to prepare while not having too much difference in taste.
While Feng Yifan was thinking, Feng Ruoruo came up to her father, hugged him and asked, "Dad, what dish did grandpa ask you to cook?"
Feng Yifan looked down at his daughter and replied with a smile: "The dish grandpa is talking about is called 'eggplant fish', which is a dish made with eggplant. It is also a very famous dish in the book "Dream of Red Mansions". Ruoruo, do you still remember "Dream of Red Mansions"? Do you remember the Red Mansions dishes?"
Feng Ruoruo thought for a moment and said, "I remember it. It was a great book. Dad, you went to Fujinglou to teach them how to cook dishes that were in the book."
Hearing that his daughter remembered it clearly, Feng Yifan touched her little head and said, "Well, Ruoruo has a really good memory."
Feng Ruoruo asked with a smile: "Dad, do you want to be the girl in the Dream of the Red Chamber that grandpa talked about?"
Feng Yifan hesitated for a moment, then nodded and agreed: "Okay, then Dad will make that dish. That dish is called 'Fried Eggplant'. Dad will improve it a little and make it for Ruoruo, Mom, Grandpa, and Grandpa and Grandma, okay?"
Feng Ruoruo immediately clapped her hands happily and said, "Great, great, Dad, hurry up and make it. When it's done, we can also share it with Uncle Yue's grandma, aunt, and brother Haohao."
Feng Yifan nodded and agreed: "Okay, it's ready, let's share it with everyone."
Seeing that his son-in-law agreed to make it, Su Jinrong asked, "How are you going to make that eggplant dish?"
Feng Yifan smiled and said, "I decided to improve it a little bit."
Hearing his son-in-law mention improvements, Su Jinrong became even more curious: "Oh? How do you plan to improve it?"
Feng Yifan thought for a moment and expressed his idea: "I think we can marinate the peeled eggplants in chicken soup first, then dry the eggplants, and then use the dried eggplants to cook with the eight-treasure sauce method."
Su Jinrong was a little surprised by his son-in-law's improved approach.
Eight Treasure Sauce is a very famous dish in Jiangsu Province, and its preparation is indeed similar to the eggplant fish in Dream of the Red Chamber.
What surprised Su Jinrong was that no one had ever thought of such a method. When most people tried to reproduce the method in the book, they would try their best to restore it. Some would even carefully use chicken soup to steam and dry it nine times, which may restore the method, but the taste may not be very delicious.
Su Jinrong thought about it carefully and said, "Well, your approach is very bold. I think you can use chicken soup to simmer the eggplant for a while. That way it will be more flavorful. Of course, it may take longer to dry it in the sun."
Feng Yifan thought and said: "If there is a dryer, we can dry it directly, and the effect may be better."
Su Jinrong continued, "You can also continue to brush the eggplants with chicken soup while they are drying to allow the flavor to penetrate better."
After listening to the methods given by his father-in-law, Feng Yifan smiled and nodded: "Okay, I'll do as you say, Dad."
Feng Ruoruo had been listening for a long time and couldn't help asking, "Dad, you and grandpa have been talking for so long, when are you going to start making it? When can Ruoruo eat it?"
Feng Yifan looked at his daughter, gently pinched her little face and said, "If we make it, it may take a few days. Ruoruo will have to wait a while before she can eat it."
Feng Ruoruo pouted her lips, looking a little unhappy: "Ah, do we have to wait for several days?"
Seeing his granddaughter's look, Su Jinrong reached out and pulled her to his side: "Ruoruo, do you want to eat the new dish that Dad made with this eggplant?"
Feng Ruoruo answered without even thinking: "Yes, I do."
Su Jinrong continued, "So, Daddy needs some time to make a new dish. Since Ruoruo wants to eat it, Daddy wants to make it very delicious, so you need to wait for a while. Are you willing to wait patiently?"
The little girl listened to her grandfather, thought about it and said, "Well, okay, Ruoruo will wait for Dad to do it."
The three generations of grandparents and grandchildren were talking in the kitchen when Su Ruoxi came in carrying a basket.
"If Ruoruo wants to eat eggplant, she can ask Dad to make other dishes for us while she studies the eggplant fish in Dream of the Red Chamber. Isn't that fine?"
As she spoke, Su Ruoxi raised the basket in her hand and said, "Mom, I still have several eggplants here."
Feng Ruoruo saw the basket in her mother's hand and said with a smile, "Okay, Dad, use the eggplants that mom brought back to make other dishes for Ruoruo to eat."
Feng Yifan smiled and nodded: "Okay, then Dad will make another dish with eggplant first."
As he said this, he put aside the two big eggplants his daughter brought back. Feng Yifan took out the vegetables his wife brought back from her basket and began to prepare lunch for everyone.
There are many ways to cook eggplant, but basically the key to cooking eggplant is oil.
Eggplant consumes a lot of oil, so if you want to make it delicious, you need to add a lot of oil.
Seeing that his wife brought back a lot of eggplants, Feng Yifan also had several different ways to cook eggplants in mind.
First, wash the eggplants, cut them into slices, mix minced shrimp and meat, stuff them between two connected eggplant slices, and coat them with egg paste to make eggplant boxes. Then, fry them in a pan.
The freshly fried eggplant boxes are crispy and very fragrant.
Especially the egg batter that Feng Yifan applied, which gave the crust a rich aroma.
Feng Ruoruo smelled it and quickly moved closer to her father and asked, "Dad, what are you frying? Ruoruo thinks it tastes like fried chicken legs. Is it as delicious as fried chicken legs?"
After hearing his daughter's words, Feng Yifan naturally knew that his daughter wanted to taste it.
Before Feng Yifan let his daughter taste the food, his wife smiled and said, "Feng Ruoruo, you talked so much to dad, do you want to eat first?"
When Feng Ruoruo heard what her mother said, she quickly said, "No, Ruoruo just wanted to ask Dad."
Although she said this, the little girl's eyes never left the fried eggplant boxes her father had made.
Seeing his daughter's look, Feng Yifan reached out and picked up a piece of eggplant that had been fried for a while, put it in a colander and the oil had basically drained out, and handed it to his daughter in a not-so-hot eggplant box.
"Come, Ruoruo, help Dad taste it and see if Dad's filling and batter seasoning are appropriate this time."
Feng Ruoruo looked at the eggplant box that her father handed to her and wanted to stretch out her hand to take it, but she hesitated. After thinking for a while, she turned her head to look at her mother behind her.
Su Ruoxi couldn't help laughing when she saw that her daughter wanted to eat but was worried about what she would say.
"Okay, eat it, eat it. Didn't Daddy ask you to taste it? So just eat it."
Feng Yifan also took his daughter's hand and placed the eggplant box in her hand: "Eat it. Dad asked Ruoruo to eat it, so Ruoruo can eat it."
Feng Ruoruo immediately smiled happily, took the eggplant box with her little hands and put it to her mouth to eat.
When I took a bite, I found that the crust made by my father with eggs and flour was really crispy. It felt like biting into a fried chicken leg, and the crust was so crispy that it could be separated directly.
Next comes the soft eggplant inside, with delicious shrimp and pork filling sandwiched between two very thin slices of eggplant.
Especially the filling prepared by my father, which contains a little bit of soup, tastes really good.
Feng Ruoruo almost didn't listen and quickly ate the eggplant box in her hand.
After eating, the little girl couldn't help but lick the little bit of soup left on her hands.
Seeing her daughter was about to lick it, Su Ruoxi quickly grabbed her daughter's hand and said, "You can't lick it like this. It's so unhygienic. Let's go wash our hands."
Feng Yifan smiled and said, "Hahaha, you can actually lick it. Ruoruo's hands are clean, and this is Daddy's finger-licking original eggplant box. You have to suck your fingers to know that Daddy's cooking tastes good enough."
Hearing what her husband said, Su Ruoxi gently hit him: "You are not teaching me well here. Licking your fingers is so unladylike. We are little ladies, we can't suck our fingers."
After being lightly punched by his wife, Feng Yifan quickly said, "Yes, yes, mom is right. Our Ruoru is a pretty little lady, so you can't suck your fingers. Then let mom take you to wash your hands. We will eat the rest when it's time to eat."
Before Feng Ruoruo and her mother went to wash their hands, she did not forget to say to her father: "Dad, this eggplant is delicious. Ruoruo thinks it is even better than fried chicken legs."
Feng Yifan smiled and bowed to his daughter and said, "Okay, thank you my little princess for the compliment."
Su Ruoxi pulled her daughter out and said with a smile, "You, would you say that the food your father made is not delicious? It tastes better than chicken legs, but that's because the ingredients your father used are more expensive than chicken legs."
When his wife said this, Feng Yifan also laughed.
My wife was right. The ingredients used in this eggplant box might actually be more expensive than a chicken leg.
The fresh shrimp and minced pork in the filling are of particular interest, and the batter wrapped around the eggplant box is also specially seasoned.
In addition to eggs, the batter also includes some salt, a little baking soda, and a dash of sugar and pepper.
So when Feng Ruoruo ate it, she felt that the eggplant shell tasted a bit like the crispy skin of fried chicken nuggets.
Eggplant boxes are just one way to cook these eggplants. Feng Yifan has more novel ways to cook them next.
First, peel the eggplants, and then steam them in a pot. After they are cooked, take them out, cut them, dig out the inside, and flatten them. Fry them in a pot with oil, and mix the sauce with soy sauce, salt, pepper, sugar, and a small amount of vinegar. When the surface is almost charred, pour the sauce into the pot.
Finally, thicken the sauce and serve the eggplant on a plate. It looks a bit like braised eel.
Su Jinrong sat nearby and watched, and found that his son-in-law really made the best use of his resources.
Feng Yifan can make several dishes out of the seemingly ordinary eggplant, and each dish is different. It can be cooked, steamed, fried, braised, and stewed in various ways.