Chapter 151 Unique Dumplings

Chapter 151 Unique Dumplings

After Chang Bo bought the ingredients and sent them to the kitchen, Qianhuan asked the cook in the mansion to help her peel the walnut kernels.

After all the walnut kernels were peeled, Qianhuan first cut the walnut kernels into small particles with a knife, then crushed them with a rolling pin, and then put all the walnut kernel crumbs into a large wooden basin.

Then she peeled the white radish and cut it into shreds. She then put the shredded radish into boiling water and blanched it, only leaving it in for a short while before taking it out, squeezing out the water, and then chopping it up on the chopping board. She then mixed it all into the wooden basin containing the walnut kernels.

Then she started to chop the lean meat, and also chopped the ginger and green onions and put them into the stuffing, and then sprinkled salt, sesame oil and other seasonings.

In order to make the taste more fragrant, she also grabbed a handful of crushed peppercorns and sprinkled them into the stuffing, then poured in a little boiling oil and mixed thoroughly.

After the filling is ready and the dough has risen, Qianhua kneads the dough into a long round strip, cuts it into pieces, and then uses a rolling pin to roll it into evenly thick dumpling wrappers.

After the dumpling wrappers were rolled out, Qianhuan said to the cook, "It's too slow for me to make them by myself. Why don't you learn from me and make them with me?"

The cook nodded and agreed, "Yes, okay."

"Put an appropriate amount of filling in the center of the dumpling wrapper, fold the dumpling wrapper in half, pinch the middle first, squeeze out three pleats on each side, gather them in the middle, and pinch the edges tightly. This way of making dumplings in the shape of a boat is the simplest and quick to learn. You can give it a try."

So the cook began to learn how to make dumplings according to Qianhuan’s instruction. At first, she wasn’t very good at it, but after trying a few, she got the hang of it.

Qianhuan didn't rest either. The flawless white dough and the delicious fillings were dancing between her hands. After a while, she had made several plump white dumplings.

The cook saw that Qianhuan's dumplings looked better than hers, so she couldn't help asking, "Master Shanbo, why do your dumplings look like gold ingots? They are much cuter than the boats I made. I also want to learn how to make gold ingots. Is it difficult to learn?"

Seeing that she had gotten the hang of it, Qianhua smiled and said, "It's not difficult. You just need to pinch the corners of the dumplings together based on the shape of the boat."

Qianhuan demonstrated to her, "Yes, just pinch it together like I do."

The cook also tried to make the dumplings like her, but unfortunately the shapes were still not satisfactory.

Qianhuan encouraged her with a smile: "You can make dumplings in the shape of boats today. The more you make, the more skilled you will be. Then you will be able to make dumplings in other shapes naturally."

"Yes, Master Shanbo, I understand."

So the two of them began to make dumplings seriously. The cook made simple small boat shapes, while Qianhuan made gold ingot shapes.

It was indeed much faster when two people worked together. It only took more than two quarters of an hour to wrap all the dumplings.

Next, Qianhuan asked the cook to boil water, while she started making the dipping sauce in another pot.

After the water in the cook's pot started to boil, Qianhuan quickly took a spoonful of salt from the salt jar and added it in to prevent the dumplings from breaking.

Then, she put the gold ingots and boat-shaped dumplings into the boiling water pot. The "gold ingots" and "boats" rolled freely in the pot. Qianhuan also used a spoon to push along the bottom of the pot from time to time to prevent the dumplings from sticking to the pot.

In another pot, Qianhuan was also making a dipping sauce for the dumplings. She heated the oil until it was boiling, fried the dried chilies in it, then poured in aged vinegar, and lastly the minced garlic, and began to stir-fry continuously.

While Qianhuan was making the dipping sauce, she thought to herself: It would be great if her soy sauce could be made. The dipping sauce would taste even better with soy sauce. Unfortunately, she hasn't started making her soy sauce yet.

Suddenly, she remembered that when she was making pickled radish skins some time ago, she also cooked some soybeans to make bean paste. She thought that the jar of bean paste should be ready to eat, so she could use it in the dipping sauce tomorrow to add it as a seasoning.

When the fragrant dipping sauce was ready, in the big pot that the cook was watching, all the "gold ingots" and "little boats" were floating on the boiling water.

Qianhuan took out all the cooked dumplings, and then placed the gold ingot- and boat-shaped dumplings into several large blue and white plates.

When everything was ready, Qianhua called to Changbo, "Changbo, the dumplings are ready. Hurry up and inform the master and the senior brother to have lunch. The dumplings are delicious when they are hot. They will lose their fresh fragrance when they are cold."

"Okay, I'll go and inform them right away."

Mr. Fan, Wenjie and Rongyu heard that it was time for lunch, so they washed their hands and sat down at the eight-immortal table.

The cook and Qianhuan brought plates of steaming dumplings to the table, one plate for each person, with a small dish of dipping sauce.

Qianhuan also introduced considerately: "This dipping sauce is eaten with dumplings. Dip a little before eating, and it will taste better."

Because it was the cook's first time making dumplings, some of the small boat-shaped dumplings she made were still a bit ugly. Qianhuan specially placed the gold ingot-shaped dumplings she made in front of Mr. Fan and Rongyu.

She and Wenjie ate dumplings in the shape of boats.

Rong Yu looked at the plump, white dumplings shaped like silver dollars lying quietly on the plate in front of him, and then smelled the delicious aroma, and finally he felt hungry.

Mr. Fan picked up his chopsticks and said, "Everyone, stop looking and start eating."

So everyone picked up the dumplings with their chopsticks, put them in a small dish, dipped them in a little sauce, and then put them into their mouths.

Wenjie is a child after all. After taking a bite, he shook his head and kept shouting: "This dumpling tastes so good, so delicious, so delicious."

After Mr. Fan tasted the first dumpling, he couldn't help but look at Qianhuan and praised her, "Shanbo, the dumplings you made are really delicious. I seem to taste the aroma of walnuts and radishes. What kind of filling is this dumpling made of?"

"Sir, these are dumplings stuffed with walnuts, radish and meat. They contain not only walnuts and radish, but also a lot of chopped fresh meat."

"I have spent a lot of time in both the north and south, but this is the first time I have eaten dumplings stuffed with walnuts, carrots and meat. The key is that they taste surprisingly good."

"Well, sir, walnut dumplings are more fragrant than ordinary dumplings. The white radish and meat fillings are mixed with walnut kernels. The dumplings are more juicy and the meat tastes more tender. If you eat a few more, I guarantee that they will become more fragrant and satisfying the more you eat."

After listening to her introduction, Mr. Fan ate several more dumplings in a row. They tasted better and better.

Mr. Fan pointed at the dipping sauce and praised it, "People in the north eat dumplings with a small dish of vinegar. But Shanbo, the dipping sauce you made has both vinegar and spicy flavors. It tastes really different when dipped in dumplings. Even though I don't usually like dumplings, I have fallen in love with them all of a sudden."

Qianhuan couldn't help but think: Mr. Fan doesn't like dumplings? Then why did Chang Bo say that Mr. Fan wanted to eat dumplings and specifically asked her to make them? Unless, Mr. Fan didn't want to eat them at all.

Thinking of the new senior brother, she couldn't help but look up at Rong Yu, only to see him concentrating on putting dumplings into his mouth one after another, and the plate of dumplings was about to be empty.

Rong Yu didn't expect that this lazy junior brother could make such delicious dumplings, mixing walnut filling, white radish and meat filling together. I don't know how he came up with the idea.

He had participated in countless palace banquets, big and small, but no imperial chef had ever thought of mixing these ingredients together to make dumpling fillings.

After his plate of dumplings was completely wiped out, Rong Yu said to Chang Bo who was standing beside him: "Chang Bo, give me another plate."

Chang Bo saw that the prince's appetite had finally improved, and he immediately said happily: "Okay, I'll go to the kitchen and get it."

Qianhuan looked at this situation and knew everything. She had been cooking in the Fan Mansion for a long time, but Chang Bo had never asked her to cook northern food.

But when the senior brother came, he suddenly asked her to cook northern food. I'm afraid this senior brother is from the north.

So she looked at Rong Yu and asked, "Brother, I heard from the teacher that you have been studying abroad. I wonder what kind of food you like to eat? I wonder if you can eat the dumplings made by Shanbo?"

"It's okay." Rong Yu replied simply with two words.

Mr. Fan said at this time: "Shanbo, don't worry, your brother will definitely be used to it. He is originally from the north. Compared with rice, your brother likes northern food such as dumplings more."

Qianhuan thought to herself, it was just as she thought.

She pretended to be surprised and said, "Sir, no wonder Senior Brother Rong Yu is so tall, it turns out he is from the north. Since Senior Brother likes northern flavors, Shan Bo will cook more northern food for Senior Brother to taste in the future."

"Well, Shanbo, have you ever been to the North before? Otherwise, how can you cook Northern food?"

Rong Yu couldn't help but look up at her. He was also curious about her.

Qianhuan's face suddenly looked a little unnatural. She thought for a moment and then said, "My grandfather was sick before, so my parents went to the capital to seek medicine. They stayed in the north for a while. After my mother saw these northern foods, she went home and tried to make them herself, and I learned how to do it."

In order to quickly change the subject, she deliberately added: "I was born in the North. My mother was already pregnant with me for more than three months when she left Lingzhou City for the capital, but she didn't know it at the time. My mother gave birth to me on the way back from the capital."

"That's it."

"Yes." She breathed a sigh of relief when she saw that Mr. Fan did not continue to ask questions.