Soon after the autumn, in Zaoshui County, in the southern foothills of the Qinling Mountains, potatoes have been harvested. The mountain people hung their own bamboo baskets under the eaves of the old houses, which contained walnuts and potatoes, so that they were ventilated and not perishable.
Cai Hu's father just underwent two surgeries last year and is still recovering, but he is still waiting for us to arrive and make a local specialty for us, potato sticks. Cai Hu said that the new potatoes that have just been harvested are most suitable for making rice dumplings, and if it is late autumn and the potatoes are shelved for a long time, the taste of the potatoes will not be so fresh and sticky.
Potato sticks, also known as potato dough, are a home-cooked food that was once popular in the mountains of the northwest. Potatoes, should be the most familiar to the Chinese people of vegetables, alias also called potatoes or potatoes, the world's most widely grown vegetables, in the northwestern people who are good at stirring up the dough, has been tricked out of a rather magical transformation of the state. Zi Ang, who went with him, later said that the mashed potatoes of KFC were killed in a second!
The name "potato" indicates that it comes from an exotic identity. In his book Six Plants That Changed Modern Civilization, Nobuo Sakai, a Japanese, describes the process of this plant native to the New World, which spread from Europe to the whole world, and its great contribution to the survival of mankind in the fight against hunger and survival. Of course, this book is not intended to show the specific food patterns of potatoes in various contexts around the world, so we do not know very well how many food forms the plant has been derived from the human diet. In the longshan and Qinling areas, we have a general understanding of the potato eating methods, such as roasted potatoes, boiled potatoes, steamed potatoes, potato pot rice, potato silk fruits, potato (slices, silk) soups, as well as a variety of stir-fried vegetables, stewed meat and so on. Cai Hu said that their locals eat potatoes three times a day, which is not exaggerated at all.
Jiujianfang Town, Zaoshui County, is the most popular place in southern Shaanxi to eat potatoes, where the land is narrow since ancient times, the paddy fields are few, and the yield of wheat and corn is not high, so potatoes have become a supplement to staple foods. The popular local folk proverb says: "Wanqing nine rooms, potatoes as the staple food, girls come to visit the house, and the sound of rice sticks is beating." From this, it can be seen that they cherish the potato sticks. On weekdays, the mountain people do not eat much rice, but if they encounter relatives and friends visiting, potato sticks are a must-do, especially the daughter to see the mother, the daughter-in-law to watch the family such a happy thing, the potato stick has become the standard of the mountain people's warm expression.
It is said that in the area of the nine rooms, the mountain people planted the "Northern Shaanxi Potato", but because of the mountain soil clay porcelain, it grew petite. The potatoes used to make the rice dumplings are usually the size of chicken eggs, peeled in advance, put into the pot and boiled, after about twenty minutes, the potatoes are cooked thoroughly, emitting a faint fragrance, sweet as food, crystal like jade. Next, the potato will leave the gentleness of the water and enter the nest of rice dumplings, and in the collision of wood and stone, experience a thousand hammers and thousands of hammers and bones, and the shape of nirvana.
The stone on the side of the house seems to have been a little impatient, and Cai Hu's father poured the potato on it, which was quite ritualistic, like the clear air of silk floating up, forming a sharp contrast with the rock. He said that in the past, people worked tirelessly, and every household had a nest. This kind of rice nest is a stone mortar, usually more than half a meter high, made of a whole stone hewn, it can be used to scoop rice, smash pepper noodles, crush spices, and even peel off the shell of grain, etc., for mountain people without electric kinetic machinery, this thing is extremely important. It is conceivable how much time and manpower it takes the craftsmen to make such a clumsy food processor before they can pull out a smooth groove in the stone. In the past twenty years, due to the separation of families, or the relocation of villages, the nest is not easy to move, it is mostly discarded by the main family, at this time, some of the more flat stones or stone grinding discs, it is used as a substitute, named: rice stone.
Playing sticks is not only a force work, it requires the body's perception and the adjustment of strength. First pressed, then pounded. Especially on the flat and wide rice stone, the potato should first be pressed with a mallet to break it. After the hot potato was completely broken, Cai Hu's father raised the mallet and began to pound, at this time, the strength was light, because the starch of the potato had not yet been stimulated to stick. Slowly, the dried potatoes like mountain chestnuts began to change under the constant hammering of the mallet. Rhythmic manpower gives starch strength and counterattack at the same time, which is the understanding of human nature and the corresponding wisdom of body and mind. The hammering and pressing of external forces make the starch fibers interact with each other in the process of rebounding, and the potatoes gradually become smooth and sticky. We saw that the mallet, which was relatively easy at first, had become difficult to pick up later, so the young Cai Hu and his father replaced it. The viscosity of the potato paste is visually not inferior to the sucrose, and when the mallet is lifted with difficulty, the ribbon-like white strip draws an arc in the air, and then is pressed against the stone surface by the wooden chase hammer, making a sonorous impact sound.
The head of the mallet is about a foot long and about fifteen centimeters in diameter, and this object is usually made of date, pear or walnut wood, which is compact in texture and does not break due to gravity. However, the wooden chase of the Cai Hu family, due to long-term use, the two ends have been rounded. We can't help but sigh from the sidelines: the material of the world is really wonderful! Does the encounter of stone, wood and potato imply the mutual restraint and achievement of things and softness?! The establishment of the relationship between the several is due to the discovery of the natural code of the human mind, as well as the subtle adjustment and continuous intervention of human kinetic energy, and constantly pounding, the potato mud becomes more sticky and tough. From nucleus to flocculent, and from mud to paste, the potato stick seems to be breathing and begins to exhale bubbles continuously. Cai Hu's father said: "Yes!
Cai Hu's father is silent, but the details of his actions are by no means sloppy. About half an hour before and after, the potato stick is formed, and it needs to leave the sticky stone and enter the kitchen, where it will meet vegetables and spices to complete the complete ritual as a food.
Potato fin and corn flour churn dough are similar, are sticky starch paste, but the latter is more malleable, it can be processed into a richer and more diverse form, such as leaky fish, cut pieces, plucked fish and coagulation, etc., and potato fin rice dumplings due to excessive stickiness, so it can only be condensed, and this kind of food beaten outdoors, cold and cold, so it needs to be eaten with hot soup.
Because there is soup water, it is warmer to the stomach, so in the autumn and winter seasons where potatoes are stored, it is more popular with mountain townspeople. At that time, the radish tassels could be blanched in water and added as a side dish, and the addition of carrot shreds, potato shreds and bean sprouts would make this bowl of soft and sticky potatoes a symphony of touch and taste.
What Cai Hu's father made for us was a syrup soup, which was simple and easy, and the taste was long. Heat the syrup, pour a few spoonfuls of water, and bring some stems of kimchi, such as water celery, stone pod or spicy flowers. The beaten potato sticks are picked up with a shovel, like fish lying in hot soup. When eating, use chopsticks to pick up the small pieces, moisten them in the soup, wait for the temperature to rise slightly, and then enter. The crispy vegetables meet the sticky churn in the mouth, and the tactile layers are a little more. In addition, supplemented by the diced shallots grown at home, the red pepper slices are the center of the finishing touch, which is really a double interpretation and point of color and taste.
On that day, each of us ate enough to support ourselves. Cai Hu's father can only eat boiled potatoes because of physical reasons, but he keeps greeting and encouraging him from the side, and eat more! Eat more! Our rice dumplings here are the best to eat!
Every year in the eighth month of the lunar calendar, the Zaoshui people begin to harvest potatoes, and this vegetable that has been growing in the field for half a year is finally about to break the ground. At this time, the farmer's most rewarding and impatient way to eat is to use potato cub slices to roast soup and potato sticks, although there are not many species in the mountain garden, but because of the pure environment and maintain the natural taste of vegetables. In particular, the arrival of relatives and friends has given the humanistic flavor of the happy reunion of potatoes and rice dumplings. Potatoes, the most unassuming vegetables, can be willfully changed by people in the feelings of people's lives, and through the affectionate expression of physical strength, in the lonely autumn and winter, bring farmers a warm daily home taste.
#头条美食 #