Baozi Xishi's Struggle

Chapter 160: Chestnut Stewed Chicken and Osmanthus Chestnut Cake

Shen Yu chuckled and said, "Mr. Lu sent so many chestnuts. It's too little for us to just send him a box of chestnut cakes. Let's also send him a chestnut stewed chicken. Put this earthenware pot next to the stove at night and simmer it overnight. We can send it together with the chestnut cakes tomorrow morning."

Li was listening and said hurriedly, "You should, Yuzhi, put a few pieces of chicken in our portion. Master Lu has helped us so much, we should personally make some food and send it to him to express our gratitude."

Jiang said puzzledly, "Chestnuts are on the market in August, and it's the right time to make a delicate and small cake like chestnut cake as a thank-you gift. But using a stew pot to stew chicken with chestnuts is a bit, a bit..."

Jiang wanted to give a home-cooked dish of chestnut stewed chicken as a thank you gift, but it was neither presentable nor reasonable. However, she was just a helper in the Shen family, so it was not easy to say it directly.

Li smiled and said, "Well, Mr. Lu likes to eat chicken stewed with chestnuts, so I gave him a jar of it." As she spoke, she secretly tugged at Jiang's sleeve and winked at her.

Although Jiang didn't understand what Li meant, she just followed Li's words and said, "Oh, no wonder, that's why." Then the two changed the topic and chatted about other things.

Shen Yu put the clay pot aside, ready to put it into the stove to simmer after dinner. When it was ready, he would take it to help Mr. Lu tomorrow.

Shen Yu covered the pot and asked Dun Dun to add firewood and simmer on low heat.

I turned around and prepared to make chestnut cake.

To make chestnut cake, you must first steam the chestnut meat.

Shen Yu put the chestnuts into the steamer and sat on the steamer, then lit the small stove and asked Yucheng to watch over the stove and add firewood to the fire, and told him to turn off the fire after steaming for one stick of incense.

While waiting for the chestnuts to be steamed, Shen Yu chopped some scallion and ginger, poured some garlic powder on the fatty fish he had bought, sprinkled some scallion and ginger shreds on it, marinated it, and asked Yutao to wash some vegetables. After a while, when the stove was free, he steamed a fish and made two vegetarian dishes, and then they could have dinner.

At this time, Jiang and Li had already prepared the dough and fillings for tomorrow's stall.

Li took Jiang aside and whispered a few words to her. Jiang was surprised at first, shook her head and sighed, but finally she couldn't help but laugh secretly for a while.

Shen Yu looked at the two middle-aged women, who were giggling like two little girls. He knew that Li must have told Jiang about what happened to Lu Lang at home, and he couldn't help but smile.

At this time, the rich aroma of chestnut stewed chicken was wafting out, causing Yu Cheng to add firewood in his hand, but he kept craning his neck to look at the big pot stove.

Shen Yu opened the lid of the pot, added some salt and pepper to season, then poured the chestnut stewed chicken into a large casserole, covered it with the lid and placed it next to the fire.

Shen Yu put a layer of chopped green onions on the fish plate used for steaming fish, put the marinated fish in, put the fish plate on the steamer, and steamed it over high heat.

The chestnuts for making chestnut cake on the other side have also been steamed.

Shen Yu poured the steamed chestnuts into a large plate and set it aside to cool. He then added water to the small pot used to steam the chestnuts and began to blanch the washed Chinese cabbage.

After blanching, Jiang followed Shen Yu's request, rinsed the cabbage with cold water, cut it, mixed it with ginger, vinegar and oil, and brought it to the small table in the room.

Shen Yu started the pot again and added some oil and peppercorns.

The oil is heated and the fish is steamed.

Lifting the lid of the pot, Shen Yu poured the boiled pepper oil directly onto the fish. After a burst of "crackling", the unique fragrance of steamed fish wafted out.

The casserole of chestnut stewed chicken had been simmering by the fire to keep it warm, and was now served on the table together with the steamed fish.

After everyone sat down, Li glanced at the dining table and asked Yucheng to go to the kitchen and bring the osmanthus wine bought for the Mid-Autumn Festival.

A cup of sweet and fragrant osmanthus wine was poured in front of each person, but Jiang and Li used large cups, while Shen Yu and the others used small glasses that could only hold a mouthful of wine.

Li raised her glass and said with a satisfied smile, "I am so happy today. Our family has bought a store. After a few days, when Mrs. Hu moves out, we can open a restaurant instead of getting up at three in the morning and pulling a cart to set up a stall. Everyone must have a drink to celebrate. I'll drink first."

As he said this, he drank the whole glass of wine, then showed the bottom of the glass joyfully and looked at everyone.

Jiang raised her glass and said, "Although I am just a helper, you treat me and Dun Dun like family members. I am happy for Sister Li and I am happy too. I will drink it too."

As she spoke, Jiang also drank it all in one gulp and revealed the bottom of the cup.

Shen Yu and the others raised their glasses with a smile and shouted in a mess: "We are happy too, we have to drink too."

Although the cups were very small, several people drank them up in one gulp like adults, revealing the bottom of the cup.

The six people each held up their empty cups, looked at each other, and burst into laughter.

After laughing for a while, Li opened the lid of the casserole and said, "It's not good to drink too much wine. As long as the meaning is conveyed, it's fine. Let's eat quickly. This chestnut stewed chicken smells delicious."

The chestnuts and chicken are stewed until soft.

After tasting it, I found that the chestnuts Lu Lang sent were indeed excellent, each one was soft, sticky and sweet.

The chicken is fresh, flavorful, and boneless.

With a gentle bite, the chicken slides into your mouth, fresh, tender and soft, which whets your appetite.

The steamed fish is tender, the mixed cabbage is crispy and sweet, and the three-shredded vegetables are salty and fragrant.

I had a very enjoyable meal and I ate up a whole pot of chicken stewed with chestnuts.

After dinner, Dundun and Yucheng cleaned up the dishes.

Shen Yu wanted to make chestnut cake, but Jiang pressed him on the bench and said with a smile: "You are tired all day, sit there and take a rest. Tell me how to make it, and I will do it."

Shen Yu was indeed a little tired. He had hardly stopped since morning till now. He did not refuse and sat aside to instruct Jiang on how to make osmanthus chestnut cake.

Following Shen Yu's instructions, Jiang crushed the chestnuts in a large bowl and then transferred the crushed chestnuts into the wash basin.

Add some osmanthus honey and fresh milk, crush and beat with the back of a spoon into sticky chestnut paste, and divide into small round pieces.

I picked up a few molds with small animal patterns for making small reunion cakes, sprinkled some cooked glutinous rice flour into the cakes, and pressed them out one by one.

The osmanthus chestnut cake with the aroma of milk and osmanthus is ready.

After they were done, Jiang placed all the chestnut cakes on a flat plate sprinkled with cooked glutinous rice flour, covered it with a lid, and said with a smile, "Now you can rest assured, go to bed."

Shen Yu looked at the earthenware pot simmering in the stove and said with a smile, "Aunt Jiang loves me the most. This way I can go and deliver it to Master Lu early tomorrow morning."

Jiang smiled and said, "Aren't you going to make sugar-roasted chestnuts tomorrow? You might as well not go to the stall in the morning and make some sugar-roasted chestnuts and send them over together."

"This is called, it's called great luck, one chestnut three ways to eat. Let Mr. Lu eat it to his heart's content at once, isn't this better?"