My hometown is known as the thousand-year-old town, the folkway is simple and kind-hearted, hospitable, despite the vicissitudes of life, world changes, fine traditions can be passed on from generation to generation, has been inherited until now.
Dragon Boat Festival is one of my favorite festivals. When it comes to Dragon Boat Festival, we have to talk about the custom of eating and Dragon Boat Festival.
Of course, the topic is naturally related to eating zongzi. In fact, this is only one of the contents of the Dragon Boat Festival program, as well as customs and activities such as hanging incense bags, inserting Puai, drinking realgar wine, dragon boat races, and so on. This is often inseparable from commemorating qu Yuan, a patriotic poet in Chinese history. So the Dragon Boat Festival is also called Poet's Day.
My hometown has a vertical and horizontal river network and developed river system, especially famous for its high-quality rice. Coupled with the Yangkou fishing port adjacent to each other, not far away, swimming crab, size yellow croaker, clams and other seafood supplies are abundant, the four seasons, and cheap and good quality.
The Dragon Boat Festival is the season when the herring is on the market. At this time, the carp is fleshy and delicious, and it is a delicacy loved by everyone. It is also a gluttonous delicacy for the villagers in their hometown to celebrate the Dragon Boat Festival. People from other places often come here to eat in large chunks, feast on their mouths and be full of praise. There are four indispensable things to celebrate the Dragon Boat Festival in my hometown. As long as conditions permit, there is no doubt that they are necessary before the festival. They are braised fish, Salted Duck Egg, zongzi and amaranth.
The reeds in the ditches and ponds around the town are full of stars and stars, countless, the reeds grow green and melancholy, swaying with the wind, you push me, make a rustling sound, like a dream whisper, but also like a naughty child playing, a distant look, boundless, like ups and downs green waves, very spectacular. Wrapped in rice dumplings, glutinous rice, naturally do not worry about the way to come.
But for some reason, the Dragon Boat Festival in my childhood memory is difficult to find the lively scene of dragon boat racing in my hometown.
My grandmother is a short, foot-bound woman, walking trembling Wei Wei, always can not run fast, it seems that a gust of wind may blow her down. I spent my childhood in her arms.
But you can't look like a man, and the sea water can't be measured. Grandma does housework, busy meals, wind and fire, smart and authentic. Diligent housekeeping, inside and outside is recognized as a good wife, a good hand. For lunar holidays and folk customs, it can be said that it is no more than an encyclopedia. Although he can't read, he is as familiar with his family as he is. Sewing, wrapping zongzi, everything can be picked up, put down, can be called an expert. Grandma is kind-hearted, although the family is not well-off, but encounter door-to-door beggars, if there is no money, more or less have to give some broken rice.
On the eve of the Dragon Boat Festival, Grandma had already been busy. First of all, she screened the glutinous rice, red beans, red dates and other ingredients bought to pack zongzi, and picked out all the gravel, moth, and other impurities mixed inside. After Grandma's selection of glutinous rice, the grains were glittering and translucent, pink and white, red dates were round and full, and the flesh was thick.
At that time, I do not know whether it was the decline of the family, or the habit, Grandma never wrapped meat dumplings, egg yolk dumplings. But even if it is no stuffing glutinous rice dumplings, I like to eat Liufang, with relish.
The second is to go to the street to buy Reed vermicelli. Grandma chose Reed vermicelli very carefully and carefully. The texture should not be too old or too tender. She says that the width of the tender is not enough, and the old ones are brittle, lack toughness, and are easy to crack. She said that when she went to Ludang to pick the Reed in person, she must choose the Reed in the middle of the Reed. One is the right width, and the other is that the wrapped zongzi tastes pure and fragrant. On the other hand, it is a pity that she has difficulties in her legs and feet, and everything is on paper.
The purchase of Reed also has to be trimmed, and the upper part of the Reed stem joint or groove is removed to keep it smooth so that it can be wrapped. Then rinse with clean water, scald it with boiling water and set it aside in a cool place.
When wrapping zongzi, grandma holds a straw string in her mouth for binding, then rolls two pieces of Reed into a funnel shape, pours the soaked glutinous rice in a small wine cup, puts the red jujube in when it overflows, tamps it around with the thumb, and finally binds it tightly so that a zongzi begins to take shape.
I like watching grandma wrap zongzi best. The zongzi she makes is different and lives in a different style. The lower three angles form an equilateral triangle, while the upper corner stands tall and seems to be a childish steeple. She bundles rice dumplings with no more or less consumables, all of which are two pieces of Reed. Therefore, the zongzi in milk bags are all the same and of the same size. It appears slender and handsome on the table, just like the bamboo shoots that are quietly breaking the ground and scrambling to sprout.
I asked her curiously why the brown seed she wrapped was different from others. She said that it was so well-cooked that the aroma of Reed could permeate the glutinous rice. Now think about it, it makes a lot of sense, Lu Fu such a maximum touch of glutinous rice, of course, the fragrance overflowing, sultry appetite.
Grandma wrapped zongzi, I am not free, often like the law bubble system. However, instead of making zongzi, I learned to use Reed leaves to weave a sewing kit the size of a Rubik's cube. finally, I also injected glutinous rice, sealed it, and boiled it together in a cauldron. I always weave two or three of this kind of thing every Dragon Boat Festival, not for eating, but for hanging on my chest and showing off in front of my friends!
Grandma said that cooking zongzi is also quite knowledgeable, water should be properly added according to the amount of water, generally just over the top of the zongzi can. Neither too little nor too much! After the water is boiled, heat it slowly over a gentle fire, otherwise the top is undercooked and the bottom may be soaked!
Grandma judged whether the rice dumplings were cooked or not, and she smelled them all by her nose, which really made me wonder, and I still don't understand it! In any case, grandma cooked zongzi hot, time, grasp just right, neither raw nor too bad.
There is an unwritten rule in my hometown: when zongzi comes out of the pot, the family is in no hurry to eat it, but choose three or two strings (a string of four), plus ten Salted Duck Egg to give to the neighbor's street house to taste first.
Soon, the other party will give back in the same way. Moreover, either there are more, or the stuffing is better and richer. It can really be said to cast a wooden peach in return for Qiongyao. People always use the Dragon Boat Festival as a holiday carrier to sublimate their strong neighborhood feelings and get along more and more harmoniously.
Now people's living environment and living conditions have undergone earth-shaking changes, which can not be compared with my childhood. A wide variety of frozen zongzi has become a popular food. If you want to eat it at any time throughout the year, you can be satisfied in the supermarket. In addition to the common red beans, bean paste, fresh meat, egg yolk, but also add high-end varieties such as ham.
But for some reason, I still keep thinking about the Ruo Ruo rice dumplings that my grandmother's bag exudes the feelings of a long time. Its fragrance has been deeply engraved in Yuanyuan's memory of life and the blood of life, so that I will not forget for a long time, I believe it will not be lost.
Author: Ma Dingqi
Post a comment