Baozi Xishi's Struggle

Chapter 280: Light and delicious fish balls

Shen Yu smiled and said, "It's okay, my mother and I can do it, mom, go ahead and do your work."

Qin Ma felt as if she had been pardoned. She bowed her head, squatted down, saluted, turned around and hurried away.

Shen Yu said to Li: "Mother, give me one of the aprons you brought and help me peel some green onions."

Li nodded, secretly glanced at the two cooks next to her, quickly took out the prepared apron and handed it to Shen Yu, then she tied on an apron, rolled up her sleeves, and started peeling onions.

Shen Yu washed his hands, put the chopping board away, and looked at the piece of pork belly. It was indeed good, with fresh meat and three parts fat and two parts lean.

I picked up a knife from the knife rack and tried it. It was also very good, with a sharp blade and easy to hold.

She pressed the meat onto the chopping board, cut a small slit on the side, and neatly removed the pork belly skin.

I estimated that the amount of meat filling would be enough to make two bowls of fish balls, so I cut off a piece.

The knife rises and falls, quickly cutting the meat into thin slices and then into shreds.

At this time, Li had already peeled the onions, so Shen Yu asked Li to take over and cut the shredded meat into small pieces and mince it into meat paste.

Since opening the shop, Li has also learned knife skills and asked Shen Yu to prepare the quantities and seasonings and learn how to cook. She is no longer the country woman whose dishes were always salty and who could only cook a few soups.

Although I don’t know how to make the fish balls that Shen Yu asked, I won’t go wrong if I do it according to Shen Yu’s requirements.

While Li was chopping the meat, Shen Yu went to the fish tank, selected two grass carps that were not too big, took the basin of water, and in no time, he had gutted and scaled the fish and cleaned them up.

As Shen Yu was cleaning up, he thought that it was a good thing that he had made up his mind to kill the fish himself at that time, otherwise, he would be in a difficult position facing the live fish today.

After rinsing the fish twice with clean water, Shen Yu took it to the other side of the table, put down the chopping board, chopped off the fish head and tail, pressed the fish body with a cloth towel, sliced ​​the fish meat, removed the fish skin, and left four large pieces of white, tender fish meat.

Shen Yu took the basin, rinsed the fish to remove the remaining blood stains, and rewashed the chopping board.

Put the fish meat on it, cut it into small pieces and chop it into fish paste.

For a moment, all that could be heard was Li and Shen Yu chopping the food very finely and densely with their kitchen knives.

The two cooks watched coldly, looked at each other, exchanged glances, left the kitchen, and stood under a tree a little further away.

Chef Liu smiled and said to Chef Xin with a relaxed look on his face: "Chef Xin, I think you are too nervous. This girl is just efficient. She has been in the kitchen for half a day and has only been chopping stuffing. How can she make anything delicious?"

"The fish and mutton soup you made was praised by the old lady every time she ate it. Why would she chase you out for this little girl?"

Chef Xin's expression also softened a lot. He nodded and said, "Mother Feng also said just now that her family owns a restaurant, so I guess she won't be willing to come in and be a cook in the mansion."

"But I don't think her skills are that good, so let her do what she wants."

"The old lady said today that she only wants to eat yam porridge with shredded chicken rolls for lunch. I have prepared the porridge and asked Aunt Qin to cook it. The shredded chicken rolls are also ready. They can be steamed at noon."

"It's still early. Come to my room and have some tea. I got a packet of good tea yesterday and haven't opened it yet."

Chef Liu stretched his head to take a look towards the kitchen. The little girl was still chopping fish. There was really nothing new here, so he nodded and followed Chef Xin.

Shen Yu and Li didn't know that the two men had left, and they were still concentrating on their own work.

Mrs. Li had already chopped the meat filling. Shen Yu took a large soup bowl and put the pork belly filling in it.

I looked at the various bottles and jars of seasonings and wanted to ask someone what they were, but thinking of Qin Ma's fearful look, I simply poured out a little of each and tasted it. It was salty, then sour, and my brows furrowed.

Mrs. Li watched from the side and quickly filled a bowl with clean water for Shen Yu to rinse his mouth. She whispered angrily, "Those two chefs are really petty. It would be fine if they didn't help, but they also blocked the kitchen helpers from coming over."

"I watched carefully, and those little girls were standing far away, not daring to come over."

Shen Yu noted down which jars the various seasonings were in, rinsed his mouth, and whispered, "Mom, I think the chef in this mansion has been doing this for a long time and has some authority."

"We were invited by Old Madam Song to cook. Don't worry about anything else. Just go back after you're done."

"We usually run a restaurant in the east of the city, and they live in the mansion in the west of the city. We don't interfere with each other. It's hard to even meet them on weekdays. It doesn't matter if they don't want to help. We can just do it ourselves."

Li nodded and sighed helplessly.

Shen Yu asked Li to boil a small pot of water and prepare a basin of cold water.

Li agreed and started to prepare as Shen Yu said.

Shen Yu began to prepare the filling according to the seasonings he had just identified.

Add a little cold water and sweet soy sauce to the pork belly filling, and stir it in one direction with bamboo chopsticks.

Then add salt, chopped green onion, a little minced ginger, and a little bit of snowflake sugar powder to enhance the flavor. After stirring evenly, set aside to marinate.

Take another large soup bowl and put the chopped fish paste in it. Add a little salt and sugar and mix well.

Take three eggs, crack them open, and then switch hands to crack the egg whites into the soup bowl containing the fish paste. Put the egg yolks in a small bowl and place it aside.

After beating, add a little cold water and an appropriate amount of starch until it becomes thick and can be formed into a paste.

Take a small spoon, scoop up the marinated pork belly filling, roll it into balls and place them on a large flat plate.

Since I only planned to make two bowls, the meat filling was quickly divided.

Shen Yu took the basin of cold water prepared by Li, dipped some cold water on his hands, took an appropriate amount of fish paste and put it on the palm of his hand, used a small spoon to put the rolled stuffing balls on the fish paste, rolled them, squeezed them into round meatballs from the base of his thumb, and put them into the basin of cold water.

Just like that, fourteen or fifteen snow-white fish balls were ready.

The water at Li's place had already boiled. Seeing that Shen Yu was ready, she hurried over to take it. Following Shen Yu's instructions, she put it into the pot, fanned the fire under the stove, and brought it to a boil.

Li looked at the fish balls in the pot and said worriedly, "Yuzhi, they are made of fish meat. Will they fall apart when cooked?"

Shen Yu went to wash his hands and began to prepare the base for the fish ball soup.

She smiled and said, "Mom, just cook it without worry. We added egg white and starch to the fish balls, so they won't break even if you cook them for a long time. When the water boils, add cold water again and cook until the fish balls swell and float up. That's it."

Li agreed, but she was still worried, her eyes fixed on the snow-white fish balls.

Take two soup bowls, add a little salt, balsamic vinegar and sesame oil, and then wait for the fish balls to be served.

Shen Yu put down the soup bowl, walked to the door, and wanted to call the little girl who was standing far away to come over and ask her to talk to Mother Feng.

Unexpectedly, just as he stretched out his arms and waved twice, before he could say anything, he saw Mother Feng walking towards him from the corner door.