Chapter 4 Braised River Clams

  Sister Xi first went to take out the clams from behind the kitchen, then instructed Little San Jie to boil water. When the water was almost boiling, she poured all the clams in at once.

  Xi Mei was squatting on the stove, seeing that all the clams had opened, and hurriedly called Xi He to stop burning firewood. After the fire went out, Xi He asked, "What's next? If it doesn't taste good, don't expect me to take the blame for you."

  Gave Xiaosan a dirty look, humph, not even acknowledging me. Look at what you're eating for lunch, don't choke on your tongue. But now is not the time to provoke her. Without this little helper, she would really cry. This kid can't even reach the stove.

  "Three sisters, let's pick it up and throw away the dirty meat. When mother stir-fries meat, we do it the same way. It's all meat, shouldn't be any difference." Xi He thought about it and agreed. Under our sister Xi Mei's silent command, the two sisters handled the meat well.

  "Sister, go to the old house and pick some vegetables back," Xi Mei said with a smile. This third sister is not as easy to fool as those brothers and sisters. You have to coax her with good words. "Okay, what do you say we take? Grandma's vegetables are not many, we can't pick too much." "Third sister, I know this, the problem is what kind of vegetables does grandma have?" Forgive Xi Mei for being blind. "There are cucumbers, lettuce, loofah, and it seems that some pumpkins have also been harvested."

  Sister Mei's face was flushed as she said, "Sis, why don't you just pick some from each one?" Looking at this greedy little girl, it's not like she can be blamed, after all, there's really nothing to eat at home, and even the leftover radishes from last year and the few eggplants grown in the yard are gone.

  "Alright, I'm going. Actually, that's what I meant, haha. You wait here, I'll go and come back right away, you be careful, don't get into trouble, or else I'll spank your butt when I get back."

  "Alright, Third Sister, you're still using the trick Mom used to scare you on me? I'm not falling for it. Although that's what I think, but I still have to put up a good front.

  "Got it, Third Sister, hurry up and go, I'll wait here for you, I promise I won't move."

  Watching Xihe's departing figure, Ximei couldn't help but let out a sigh of relief. Now was her time to shine. She quickly rinsed the clams in cold water twice, washing them clean, and picked up the big knife. Although it was a bit difficult for her small frame, she wasn't one to be defeated by it.

  She slowly cut the clams into shreds, her knife skills were not bad but thinking that she was only 4 years old, it was already surprising that she could cut things at all, and cutting them so well would definitely raise suspicions. So she made sure to cut the meat unevenly in size and thickness. After cutting half of the meat, she thought that she couldn't cut anymore, or else there would be too much left over. But this amount should be enough anyway.

  Put the meat in a large bowl, add salt, secretly pour some Chen Tianfa's wine, and pour in the well-beaten ginger juice. Ginger juice cannot be less, because it needs to remove fishy smell. There is no Sichuan pepper powder. This is easy to handle, light a fire, put Sichuan pepper on a hot pot and stir-fry until the water is gone, then take it out and roll it open with a rolling pin. It's done, throw it in too. A little starch would be good, unfortunately not available in this era. Okay, slightly adding some flour should be fine. Mix well and let it marinate.

  Take advantage of this time to cut the radish. Prepare scallions, ginger and garlic. Now just wait for Little San Jie to come. "Xi Mei I'm back, haven't you made any trouble? I brought back a lot of things, look." The sound of Xi He's voice came from the doorway.

  "Did your grandma give it to you?" To be honest, I haven't seen her grandma in the few days since I arrived. It's just Chen Li and her. One of them has just recovered from a serious illness, and the other is at home taking care of the patient all day, so they haven't had a chance to meet yet.

  "No, Second Grandma from the neighboring village had a grandson who was one month old, and Grandma went to help with that. Little Auntie is at home taking care of Grandpa. This was picked by Auntie for me. Alright, I'm going to cook now, don't bother me!"

  "Alright, considering the time is really not early, I won't argue with you (even if I did, I wouldn't win)" "Third sister, I've prepared the meat, you come stir-fry it, we have to hurry up, or else there won't be enough time." Xi Mei said from behind her back.

  "Alright, you get away from here, don't get hurt, I'll start stir-frying now." Xihe poured the oil in. A little while later, only to hear from the kitchen "Ah, sister, the oil isn't hot yet, don't stir-fry now." Then "Okay, okay, sister, the oil is already this hot, quickly put the scallions, ginger and garlic in!" By the time a sizzling sound came from the kitchen, the aroma of scallions, ginger and garlic had already come out.

  "Sister, hurry up and stir-fry the meat, yes, slowly, don't splash all the oil out." This family is so poor that they usually don't dare to put too much oil, Zhao would definitely be heartbroken if she saw this. Xi Mei found a big jar of sauce her mother made at the stove and scooped out a small spoonful to add in. Immediately, the kitchen was filled with an irresistible aroma. Xi Mei waited for the right moment and added the sliced carrots she had just cut. She also added a bit of salt and soy sauce. The aroma at this point couldn't be described as just making people drool. Looking at San Jie's restless hands, she felt herself getting excited too. No way, calm down, it's not done yet. "Sister, sister, don't drool yet, we're not finished." She added some chili oil and since there was no chicken essence, she added a bit of sugar to bring out the flavor. Then she stirred in the chopped scallions, oh, so fragrant!

  This chili oil is a work of art by my sister. She took the chilies from last year, chopped them up and mixed them with sesame seeds. Then she heated the oil with Sichuan peppercorns and other spices until fragrant, before discarding them. When the oil had cooled to around 60-70% heat, she poured it into the chili-sesame mixture. This chili oil is incredibly aromatic!

  "Sister, we always eat corn cakes, it's so hard to eat. There is pumpkin here, let's wipe the pumpkin and put some water on it to make a pancake, it must be delicious." "No way, today we've already eaten too much oil, pancakes need that much oil, mother will scold us when she comes back." The two of them shivered at the same time, thinking of Zhao's scene scolding second brother. "It's okay, let's put less oil, mother won't say anything again, we did so well, how can mother bear to scold us?" Xihe thought for a moment and agreed.

  "Alright, I agree. You go ahead and do it quickly. I'll go prepare the lettuce. We'll divide up the work." Third sister, you're overestimating yourself. Don't you think about whether what you make is edible or not? Isn't that just a waste? Xi Mei hastily stepped forward and said to her: "Sister, look at the pumpkin cake, I won't be able to do it either. Of course, we should give the difficult tasks to you. The simple ones can be given to me. Otherwise, your skills won't be showcased."

  Xihe thought for a moment, "Fourth sister is so small, she definitely won't be able to make the pancake, I'll go instead." "Okay, you go then. If you forget how to do it, come ask me." "Mm-hmm, got it. Sister, hurry up. We have to hurry." The two sisters divided their tasks, one went to make pancakes and the other went to mix the lettuce.

  Watching San Jie without looking at her, Xi Mei's movements became faster. She squeezed out the water from the just salted lettuce, added vinegar, and then added the remaining Sichuan pepper powder, garlic, chili oil, and sesame oil that were left over from stir-frying the clams. Done.

  Although the seasoning is not much, it's really fragrant. Found a water-filled can. Filled a full pot of water. "Third sister, are you done? We should go." "Almost done, you go get the basket, we'll put things in and leave."

  They covered the stir-fried clams, seasoned cold dishes and baked pancakes with a white cloth. Xi Mei carried a water jug, and Xi He carried a basket. They closed the gate of the fence and walked to the fields together.