Regarding the bean paste, there are too many varieties on the market now, and what shiitake sauce, spicy sauce, especially the brand that is played in the name of the mother is even more popular. What I want to introduce to you today is the handmade bean paste made by the local people in Sanmenxia, which is called grits in the local dialect, and my mother is good at making this grits, and that unique taste has become the deepest memory of my childhood and can never be forgotten.
When I was a child, my living conditions were harsh, and in the winter, I saw no other vegetables except Cabbage and turnips. Every year, my mother pickled salted radish and dried bean grits. In the winter, fish for half a salted radish, sauté the grits in oil, and add green onions and garlic to make for the tastiest dishes. The process of making grits is very troublesome, grits are made of soybeans, first of all, we must pick the best soy beans, soak them in water for a day, then cook them, shoot them into palm-sized cakes spread on the reed mat, cover them tightly with a quilt, and in a few days the soybeans will grow a layer of green hair, and my mother calls this process "Yu". I remember that my mother would often open the mattress to see how the mold grew, and when she thought it was almost over, she would put away the good bean cake, rub it, and then take the dustpan and clean the bean grits
After the grits are ready, my mother puts salt in a large basin, then steames them in a pot, steams them out, covers them with a layer of fine cloth, tightens them around them, and basks them in the sun. At this time, we need to be more careful and always pay attention to weather changes. Mom said that at this time, I am most afraid of rain, and if there is rainwater, the grits will be broken. Therefore, the dried grits are selected at the hottest time, and the stronger the sun, the better the grits. Mom will often go out to check, stirring from time to time, after drying for a period of time, but also steamed, steamed and then dried, after repeated times, the color of the grits becomes sauce red, at this time it smells like a special fragrance. When it is completely dry, the grits are dried. She will make two kinds, one is a sun-dried grits chunk, which can be left for a long time. When eating, soak in water, add green onions and garlic and stir-fry, or add other vegetables and stir-fry. One is a sauce-like one, which is dried and put into a clay pot and eaten as you like. Every once in a while, my mother would "cook" the grits, and at that time, a special fragrance would float in the house, and the whole yard could smell it. At that time, there was nothing else to eat, hungry, break a piece of steamed buns, add a spoonful of bean grits, not to mention the flavor.
Nowadays, there are too many delicious things, even the bean sauce is also various, what taste, when I went south and north, I also tasted the bean sauce everywhere, all kinds of tastes, but how to eat it did not have the feeling of childhood. In the summer, I often see someone drying bean paste, and I can't help but think back to the scene of my mother drying bean paste. Now think about it, making grits is still quite troublesome, they are not afraid of trouble, they would rather spend effort and effort to do it themselves, must be thinking of the distant taste.