In the East Gate Market to see a stall, in the distance, a pink oval word open, the middle of the pink is a piece of gray black, gray and black is also dotted with traces of bright red and emerald green, change the angle, there is a little bit of sparkle.
This is the uncle's own raw pickling, shrimp and crabs, etc., packed in pink plastic pots. The green and red peppers on it are particularly annoying, and during the scattering of coriander and garlic, it seems to turn the summer night upside down, and the stars in the sky are slightly flickering, which is the call from raw pickling. In the summer, it's time to eat raw pickled cockroaches again.
The scientific name of the ant is the small knife worm, the size of the first joint of the small thumb, thin and flat, pale yellow, generally living in fine sand. Fresh cockroaches marinated in chili soy sauce and vinegar for half a day. Add the garlic to remove the fishiness and the parsley to enhance the flavor. Seafood is kept from being cooked in high temperatures and returned to humanity by preserving its true saltiness. The cockroach did not expect that its own two shells, one large and one small, had become the switch that humans could easily open their delicious. The two shells of the cockroach are asymmetrical, and when eaten, they gently pinch one end and then gently push it, and the tender meat inside is flavored with seafood, soaked in soy sauce and chili peppers and other marinades.
Enough fresh cockroaches are coldly marinated, the meat is tender and tough, topped with the strange aroma of minced garlic and coriander, and wrapped in salty freshness brought from the sea, which attracts people to "sin". Fingers pushed, a mouthful, the tongue is like an electric shock, all the way to the root of the tongue, full of raw jin, pull two mouthfuls of white porridge, starchy sweetness and the saltiness of the cockroach complement each other, spicy and sour and awakened again, if you come to a small wine, silky and smooth mouth, can't help but play a thrill, cool!
"Aren't you afraid of stomachache?" My mother stopped at me for a long time and quipped.
In the second grade of primary school, I ate cockroach with porridge, maybe the sterilization was not in place, or the small intestines of people were fragile. The next day, when I took the math test, I covered my stomach and asked the teacher for leave. Grandpa got the call and came to school to take me to the hospital. I endured all the way, rolling in pain in the hospital bed, and I still remember the pungent smell of disinfectant water on the hospital bed.
In a trance, Grandpa and the doctor were heard chatting, "What did you eat?" "Ate the pickled ants." "Hey, it's best not to eat it in the future, prescribe a paste to him, and remember to stick it to the navel." When I got home, I took the medicine and lay down, and when I woke up, I found that the ointment was on my belly button, and Grandpa smiled and looked at me, "Isn't it painful?" Okay, do you dare to eat cockroaches? I seemed to have lost the ability to think, and when I hesitated, my grandfather sighed and said, "This baby is really easy to use." ”
Later, I really didn't dare to touch the cockroach, maybe I was scared, or maybe I was self-aware, and I passed the age when the ointment was applied.
I remember the second week of the math make-up exam, I sat alone in the office, the math teacher stared at me to make the paper, after writing the scene to change the paper, smiled and said something, I thought it was asking me why my stomach hurt, so I hurriedly replied "Eat the cockroach." ”
Laugh.
It turned out that the teacher asked: "What to eat so smart, full marks in math." ”
Later, the number of full marks in mathematics became less and less, probably because it was not to eat cockroaches.
Grandpa's raw pickling of cockroaches is also a must, after buying it back, he poured out his own sauce, re-added homemade soy sauce vinegar, covered with a layer of chili peppers, and put it in the refrigerator to chill. Take a few at each meal and put them in a small porcelain dish to get over your mouth. Now at the age of ninety, he still likes to eat porridge with one or two pickled cockroaches, squinting his eyes and reminiscing, "Delicious." ”
"You better eat less, I had a stomach-wrenching meal when I was a kid..."
"That's because you don't handle it well, I'll reprocess it, you try it, my coriander is very flavorful."
The sour vinegar and the special smell of coriander, I can't stand it, when eating raw pickled ants, Grandpa's coriander I don't have anything left. A bowl of white porridge with a few cockroaches, which has an excuse for a bad appetite.
When summer came, the cicadas outside the window were about to wake up again, the sun was hitting the balcony, and Grandpa raised a balcony of flowers. The old man who can't adapt to the air conditioner likes to blow the fan, the fan squeaks, and the grandfather finishes the cockroach "tut" aftertaste.
Text / Cai Haojie
Photo / Network, Cai Haojie