My girlfriend invited me to eat Banu Mao Belly Hot Pot, and in the full table of Zi Yan Red, a plate of fat and green stupid spinach evoked memories of childhood.
”01
When I was a child, such stupid spinach was planted in the wheat field.
In autumn, the wheat in the field grows in unison. A few days after the Mid-Autumn Festival, the villagers in their hometown began to grow spinach.
On the soft mounds, black rice-like spinach seeds are sprinkled deeply and shallowly. A few gusts of autumn rain and a few wisps of autumn sun, the little spinaches are happy and crowded and squeezed out of their heads.
The wheat is growing slowly, and so is the spinach on the mound.
It's just that compared with spinach in the spring, because the temperature is relatively low, spinach does not grow fast and does not grow high. They lay low on the ground, thick and turquoise, fluttering and scattered, with a stream of simplicity and rambling of the townspeople.
After the frost falls, such spinach can be harvested.
Shovel it with the roots, tie it in bundles of straw, and put it in the vegetable cellar. In order to prevent deterioration, a shallow layer of soil is pressed on top.
In the long winter, this spinach, along with cabbage and turnips, became the protagonist of the winter table until the following spring.
02
A dish so common in North China is actually an authentic import.
It originated in Persia more than 2,000 years ago, and later traveled to China through North Africa and Spain. In 647 AD, when it first came to our Tang Dynasty, it belonged to the state banquet dish, which only the imperial relatives and nobles could enjoy.
At that time, the "Six Classics of Tang" recorded: "Pineapple leaves are cold and tao, and all the dynasties will feast and drink, and more than nine products will be provided for their meals." In other words, spinach is cooked and mashed into the noodles to make green spinach noodles, and only officials with more than nine pins are eligible to eat it.
Obediently, the status of spinach was really high enough at that time.
Spinach is one of the few hardy overwintering vegetables, the winter cold wind, snowy vegetable garden, peppers, tomatoes, lentils, cucumbers, these summer dishes are without a trace, only spinach clusters of emerald green against the snow loess, very good-looking.
The spinach in the snow or in the vegetable cellar shakes off the soil, cleans it, and restores the handsome appearance of the water spirit. Pink bright roots, turquoise thick stems and leaves, so spinach has a "red-billed green parrot" elegant name.
03
Speaking of the red-billed green parrot brother, we cannot fail to mention one person, that is, the Qianlong Emperor who is mercurial.
It is said that one autumn and winter, the Qianlong Emperor went to the lower reaches of Xuzhou Township to play with the mountains and waters to take bubble girls. Because the money was stolen, hunger and thirst were unbearable, he went to a farmhouse. The farmer fried a few loaves of bread for him and cooked a pot of soup.
The emperor drank this delicious bowl of soup, and aftertaste, asked what kind of soup it was. The farmer smiled and said, "Green pulp white jade rice, red-billed green parrot brother." ”
The emperor Lao Er muttered all the way back to the palace, ordered the minister to analyze these two folk songs, and finally suddenly realized: in the turquoise soup, there are pieces of white as jade tofu, and there are spinach with emerald green leaves and red roots, is not it spinach tofu soup!
This allusion now reads with too many false elements. The emperor who has no grain and is mentally retarded, ridicules the bold, and shakes the little clever peasants, which is in line with the psychology of people to kill the rich and hate the rich, but it is not logical.
But in any case, the spinach of the red-billed green parrot brother is not bad from the court to the people, which is beyond doubt.
04
On winter mornings, when it was still dark, my mother got up to cook.
Corn porridge is boiled on top, steamed buns are boiled on top. The spinach is taken out of the cellar and washed, the cabbage is cut into pieces, and blanched in boiling water for seven or eight minutes. The peanuts are cooked, and the three are fished out together and placed in an enamel pot. Sprinkle fine salt, sugar, rice vinegar, sliced ginger and dried red pepper into thin strips, and throw a few powdered peppercorns.
The peanut oil here is hot, and the green smoke rises, and the wok brush is pulled and poured into the enamel basin. When the hot oil passes, the aroma of peppercorns and chili ginger shreds is instantly stirred.
The scent is like a hook, and every time it will wake me up from sleeping in the nest.
Without the call of adults, take the initiative to get up and wash your face, obediently sit at the dining table, and wait for the meal to start.
A cold dish full of enamel pots, red, white and green. Peanut flavor, cabbage crisp, spinach sponge. There is a heavy acidity in the cool taste, a slight spicyness, and a slight sweetness that only winter vegetables that have been bathed in frost and snow have. Just the hot polenta porridge, that kind of comfort, is a memory that the taste buds will never forget for a lifetime.
05
Now, the girlfriend is sitting opposite, and the two of us are shabudding this stupid spinach together.
Piping hot mushroom soup, boiling red oil. The turquoise and thick spinach is gently boiled for a while, and when it is eaten in the mouth, it is the sweet and refreshing taste planted by the mother's vegetable garden on the table when I was a child.
Creation is truly magical. Compared with spring spinach, spinach in winter does not have much sunshine and rain. Cold and low temperatures, they grow very slowly, but they condense more nutrients and become thick and solid.
The unfrozen spinach is a little astringent in the mouth, but after the frost bath, it fades the astringency and becomes incomparably sweet.
This kind of spinach reminds people of the world around them. A person who is too smart and too smooth is easy to be frivolous, arrogant, and unsolid. But often planted his head, endured hardships and ditches, and experienced the polishing of human sophistication, he became calm, accessible, and precipitated a different taste.
In this way, many times, stupidity, is not all bad.
Tips
The old ancestor said that the food was in the season. Eating stupid spinach in winter has many benefits:
The carotene contained in spinach can be converted into vitamin A in the human body, which can maintain normal vision and the health of epithelial cells, and promote the growth and development of children;
2. Spinach is rich in iron, especially vitamin K is the highest among leafy vegetables. Iron is one of the raw materials for human hematopoiesis and is the best food for women during menstruation;
3. Spinach contains a lot of plant crude fiber, promotes intestinal peristalsis, promotes pancreatic secretion, helps digestion, and can slim down and detoxify.
Now the Banu hot pot has added stupid spinach. Because of the characteristics of open-air planting, long growth period, and small late ripening, this spinach, which was originally only grown by farmers and eaten by themselves, can only be supplied to the Zhengzhou market.
It is not easy to come by, and it is more precious. As long as you don't eat cucumbers, milk, eels and other things, all winter, you can enjoy the freshness of winter that makes your face rosy and light as a swallow!
| vegetarian
Editor| Xu Ying
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