Returning to hometown to farm: The apocalypse system arrived ten years earlier?

Chapter 30: Eat New Rice, Traditional Lao Lao Fan

Li Xiang put the carefully selected rice into baskets and weighed them in batches. He recorded the number after weighing a basket and then carried the basket over to pour it into the newly bought barn.

Of course, this number of kilograms is minus the weight of the basket.

In the final count, a total of 310 kilograms of new rice were harvested.

Li Xiang and his grandmother were quite happy. They only had six or seven mu of land, and no fertilizer or pesticides were used, but they harvested so much, all organically, so it was considered a bumper harvest.

Finally, two baskets of rice were left outside. It was not because the barn could not hold them, but because they planned to use a tricycle to tow them to the rice mill tomorrow.

After harvesting the new rice, it is natural to taste it first.

The net weight of the two baskets of rice is about 106 kilograms. After being milled at the rice milling station, we get about 74 kilograms of polished japonica rice and 31 kilograms of bran. There is a little loss, but not much.

In the past, when there were no rice mills, rice was pounded manually in rural areas. The rice was put into a stone mortar and pounded slowly with a pestle. Not only was it inefficient, but the key was that there would be a lot of broken rice and the bran (husk) was not fine enough. Now with rice mills, the efficiency has been greatly improved. Although there are still broken rice, it is better than pounding by hand.

In addition, the bran produced by the rice mill is very fine and is more suitable for feeding pigs.

The rice mill was located not far from the temporary market where Li Xiang used to buy vegetables. It was a lonely little house. It was said that it used to be a power station in a nearby village. Later, the power station was relocated, and the old house was contracted to open this rice mill.

It is also convenient for the surrounding villagers. Otherwise, they have to go to the town or county to mill rice, which is too inconvenient.

Li Xiang took 106 kilograms of rice and it only took him about 15 minutes to process the bran into bran and the rice into rice. He charged 10 yuan for the processing fee.

The price quoted on the wall was 10 yuan per hundred kilograms of rice. Although Li Xiang asked a little more, the other party did not charge him anything extra and said it was just 10 yuan. Li Xiang handed a cigarette to the master to show his gratitude.

He also wants to take the bran back with him because he plans to raise pigs next year. Corn bran is very good pig food. Although there is not much, he can save it first.

After returning home, Li Xiang stored the new rice in a clean rice jar and scooped out two bowls of rice to wash the rice and cook.

After the new rice is soaked in water, scoop it up with your hands and look at it in the palm of your hand. You will see that each grain is plump and crystal clear, like pearls, and has a faint natural fragrance. To be honest, Li Xiang really enjoys the process of washing rice.

There is a step of "exhibiting tea" in the art of Kung Fu tea. Simply put, it is to watch the process of tea leaves stretching and appreciating the tea leaves, just like a beautiful painting, which is pleasing to the eyes.

If it is green tea, there is no such tedious process of scraping foam, rubbing tea leaves, shaking fragrance, entering the sea, butterfly dance, tea display, falling butterflies, and returning to oneness, but many people love to use glass cups to make tea, because glass cups are transparent and you can clearly observe the changes of tea leaves in water. The better the green tea, the more beautiful this process is.

Li Xiang does the same thing when washing rice now. He soaks the new rice in water and then holds it in the palm of his hand to observe it. He cannot let it go, like admiring pearls and jade.

Each grain is as white as frost, and as translucent as moisture; when steamed, the fragrance fills the room, and it is so delicious to eat.

But no matter how good it looks, it still needs to be eaten. Li Xiang washed the rice and walked into the kitchen, praising it.

Grandma had already boiled a pot of water, which began to boil slightly. Li Xiang put the new rice into the pot, covered it with a lid, and then went to prepare other dishes.

He built a new kitchen in the backyard. The wood-burning stove is a double stove with two pots, so he can cook porridge and stir-fry vegetables at the same time.

Otherwise, if you cook a little more food in one pot, it will be cold by the time it is done. And from the efficiency point of view, it is definitely faster to operate two pots at the same time.

In addition, there is a channel dedicated to boiling water and a channel dedicated to simmering soup. These two channels do not need special care, just burn the fire normally and the heat will pass.

If you are not making soup, just put water in the pot.

By the time the three dishes, stir-fried pumpkin, braised winter melon and rice flower, fish and tofu soup, were ready, the rice in the porridge was already half cooked. If you scooped up a little with a colander and took a closer look, you could tell that the color of the rice center was different from the surface.

Or if you pinch it with your hands, the rice core is still a little hard. Then, Li Xiang took a bamboo woven colander (one side is flat, the rest is like a sieve, used to drain rice in rural areas), scooped out most of the rice with a colander, and placed it in the colander to drain the water, leaving a proper amount of rice grains to continue cooking until the consistency is appropriate. This pot of porridge is very sweet and can be eaten by humans and cats.

You can also add some corn kernels, yam or sweet potato to the porridge according to your personal preference, which will give it a unique flavor.

The drained rice is poured into a wooden steaming barrel and steamed over high heat.

The rice steamed in this way is very chewy, has a great taste and a fragrant aroma. It is called "Lao Mi Rice" or "Lao Lao Fan".

Steaming rice with scoops has a long history. It was mentioned in the Book of Songs "Da Ya. Sheng Min Zhi Shi. Xuan Zhuo". There is a word "餴饎" in it, which refers to this way of steaming rice. First, cook the rice until half-cooked, then scoop it out and put it on the steamer to steam it.

Although the term "餴饎" has long been abandoned, "laofan rice" has remained popular for three thousand years. Everyone who has eaten it knows that steamed rice is much more fragrant than that made in electric rice cookers in the city.

Some rice cookers are designed with a "firewood-cooked rice" mode. However, no matter how good the design is, it is still a simulation. How can it compare to real firewood-cooked rice?

The half-cooked rice was put into the steamer and Li Xiang added two more dishes, namely braised beef and braised pork.

Didn’t I buy the marinade packets, beef and pork before? I used a large iron pot to marinate eight pounds of beef and ten pounds of pork, and also added several handfuls of dried chilies. The braised meat was fresh and fragrant, and it was refrigerated in the refrigerator together with the marinade. It was very flavorful. Now I took out a few pieces, cut them into a plate respectively, and steamed them together on the rice.

Today's meal is simple again, with four dishes and one soup, three meat dishes and two vegetable dishes.

The food is much better than being a migrant worker in a big city!

Li Xiang took a video of the new rice coming out of the pot and showed it to everyone, and fans expressed their envy.

"This rice is so shiny and delicious!"

“I want to eat it so much!”

"It's the legendary rice dish. It's a bit strange, but it looks really appetizing."

Li Xiang: "Not only does it look good, it tastes even better!"

In ancient times, eating new rice was a grand ceremony. This is a custom that farming culture attaches great importance to.

It usually includes a series of sacrificial ceremonies and celebrations, such as choosing an auspicious day, cooking new rice, setting off firecrackers, worshiping ancestors, performing Nuo opera, practicing martial arts, etc. It is mainly to celebrate the harvest and to be grateful for the blessings of nature and ancestors.

But now, we keep things simple and just enjoying the deliciousness of the new rice is full of ritual.

Of course Li Xiang did not forget the two dogs and the litter of cats.

The dog eats a slightly heavier taste, with vegetable soup, winter melon, pumpkin, and a few slices of braised beef and pork added to his rice, while the mother cat and kittens eat lighter food, mainly porridge.

Li Xiang filled a bowl of porridge for them, poured in fish soup and fish meat, and stirred it evenly.

There was not a single bone in the fish meat, which Li Xiang had picked out very carefully. His grandmother couldn't bear to watch and couldn't help but say, "Are you still worried that the cat will get stuck by the thorns? They are better at spitting out the thorns than you!"

Li Xiang: "..."

　Thanks to "Lin Hai Zang Shu" and "Bai Xi Ci Mu" for their monthly tickets.

　　
　
(End of this chapter)