After a simple rebirth

When I was almost done with my study plan, Fu Zhe came running over and knocked on the door. "Second sister, Mom wants to ask if you want to eat fried potatoes."

Fu Ying replied, "If not this, what else can I eat? Can I make some fried rice with eggs?" Fu's mother would not allow such private cooking, because it wastes oil and eggs, and it is troublesome. If it can be eaten once, it is not allowed to be cooked twice.

When they got to the stove, they saw the potatoes, which were the size of building blocks, in a large aluminum pot and were almost cooked. Fu's mother liked to eat them raw, so she took out some of them when they were almost cooked and prepared to eat them. Fu Ying liked to eat potatoes that were cooked until crispy, like the rice crust potatoes.

Many urban families use large iron pots for cooking, but the rural areas in Fu Ying's hometown use large aluminum pots. Aluminum pots are thicker than iron pots, heat evenly, conduct heat quickly, and do not rust, making them very suitable for use on stoves.

The main reason is that it is cheap and durable. Fu Ying remembers that an aluminum pot can be used for many years. It may not become a family heirloom, but many families can use it for more than ten years. And if the aluminum pot is broken, you can go to the innermost part of the market and find a craftsman to repair the pot on the spot, or sell it to make up some money and buy a new aluminum pot.

Fu Ying's family has a double-handled pointed-bottom aluminum pot, which is specially used for cooking, an aluminum steamer-type pot, but it is more used for cooking noodles and washing dishes, an aluminum kettle, and an aluminum pressure cooker.

Some families with large populations have more aluminum pots. For example, in Fu Ergu's family, they have two oversized aluminum pots that are as big as the entire stove. One is used to cook pig food, and the other is used to steam buns and cook rice dumplings. When Fu Ying's family needs it, Fu's father will go to her house to borrow this aluminum pot.

Fu Ying herself accidentally burned through the large iron pot at home, but she rarely heard of anyone burning through an aluminum pot.

Also, because aluminum pots are rarely seen in Guangdong Province, and rental houses use gas stoves or induction cookers, iron pots are used for cooking in Guangdong Province.

But whether it is due to the memory of childhood or the difference in ingredients between the two provinces, Fu Ying feels that dishes cooked in aluminum pans are really delicious. For example, when frying eggs, Fu Ying always feels that only aluminum pans can produce that rich egg flavor.

Now Fu Ma uses an aluminum pan to fry potatoes. Apart from lard, she doesn’t add any other seasonings, but the potatoes are really fragrant.

The potatoes were a little cool, so Aunt Fu poured some chili powder into a small bowl, picked up the potatoes with chopsticks and dipped them in the chili powder. You can eat one in one bite, and it’s a meal once you’re full.

Although chili peppers are grown and dried locally, the chili powder that most families eat now is not local, but processed by food factories and sold to various places. The chili peppers used to make chili powder seem to be produced in border cities. At least the place of production on the packaging is over there.

Locally grown peppers are spicier. Fresh peppers can be picked for cooking, but more often they are strung together and dried for use as ingredients. This is the same scene on the cover of National Geographic magazine one year.

When picking peppers, you cut them along the root of the branches, or pull them off. The key is to keep the pepper stalk, which is the green part of the pepper head that connects to the branch. Sit on a stool, start with a rope, tie the pepper stalks to the rope one by one, and then put them in the sun to dry. The red strings of peppers drying on the ground are red and spectacular.

Regardless of whether they are dried or not, the peppers are piled in the corner of the granary every day to keep them dry and easy to store. Then a string is placed above the stove. A rack is tied to the chimney pipe, and the peppers placed on it will be gradually dried by the fire. They are not washed when cooking. Just crush them with your hands and throw a few in to stir-fry.

Dried chili peppers are really delicious when used to stir-fry bacon or stir-fry green beans, provided that you don't eat the chili peppers.

In the early years, chili powder was made by pounding this kind of dried chili peppers. Every household had a long chili pounding tool that looked like a bamboo tube, but it was made of iron and was very heavy.

Put the chili peppers or Sichuan peppercorns in a bucket, step on the edge of the bucket, and pound them with a stick. The pungent smell of the chili peppers will float up through the air. No one can avoid coughing when pounding chili peppers, even if they cover their noses in advance. If they accidentally get on your skin or in your eyes, it will be doubly uncomfortable.

The chili powder pounded in this way will not be very uniform, part of it is very fine like flour, and part of the skin cannot be crushed. So it needs to be filtered again, and the fine part is put into a jar for dipping, and the coarse part with skin is used for cooking.

Fu Ying's memory of this chili is that it is very spicy. A little bit of this hand-pounded chili powder is equivalent to half a bag of chili powder bought from the factory. Even she, who has been eating spicy food since childhood and loves spicy food in Guangdong Province, can't stand this kind of spiciness. This chili powder can be called extra spicy, and for a few people, it is abnormally spicy.

This is pure chili, without any other flavors, and you need to add other seasonings when you want to eat it. The packaged chili powder has a pre-made ratio, with salt, MSG, and pepper all mixed in it, and the taste is richer. So many people choose to buy the packaged one-time, and it is more convenient to use it right after opening the bag.

When Fu Ying was in Guangdong Province, her mother sent her two packets of chili powder and a piece of bacon during the years when she went back to her hometown. The chili powder Fu mother sent was in this packaging, which Fu Ying could also buy online, but Fu mother thought it was easy to buy the wrong one. She found this one very delicious, so she sent the same one to Fu Ying.

So over time, there are very few local people who grind chili powder by themselves. Even Fu Ergu, who has always been admirably hardworking, chooses to buy chili powder directly.

Fu Ying hadn't eaten that kind of chili powder for a long time, and her family didn't even have the tools to pound the powder. Whether it tasted good or not was another matter, but the lament for the old life was real.

Speaking of eating, Fu's mother always said that Fu Ying looked like a seedling, but in fact, her own eating habits were also quite strange.

The fried potatoes would have been fine if they were dipped in chili powder, but she felt that was not enough, so she went to get another bowl, put some chili powder and watercress in it, poured some soy sauce, and then fried the potatoes and served them with the watercress dipping sauce.

This seems to be the way to eat it in Guizhou Province, with Houttuynia cordata dipped in water and served with pig's feet. In Yunnan Province, Houttuynia cordata is usually served cold, and is rarely used as a dip except at banquets.

In Fu Ying's opinion, the meaning of dipping Houttuynia cordata in water is not easy to understand, because the taste here is salty, and the dipping water will become saltier and saltier, and the Houttuynia cordata will also become very salty, which will make you choke. If you eat the Houttuynia cordata immediately after mixing the dipping sauce, then what is the meaning of adding the Houttuynia cordata? Dipping it in water is the main ingredient?

What Fu's mother does now is pick up a piece of potato to dip it in the sauce, then pick up a few pieces of watercress and put them on the potato and put them into her mouth.

Fu Ying... Can't you eat the cold-mixed zheergen and potatoes at the same time? It's quite unnecessary.

Inspired by Fu's mother's strange behavior, Fu Ying wanted to make barbecue dipping sauce, but she was short of crushed peanuts.

While the potatoes were still frying, Fu Ying went to her fourth aunt's house and borrowed a dozen fried peanuts. She put them on a plate and crushed them in a small bowl. Grind them into finer pieces and pour them on the chili powder. There was no cumin powder but there was five-spice powder and sesame seeds. She also sprinkled a little pepper powder and mixed them evenly.

Maybe it was a psychological effect. Fu Ying picked up a potato and tried the sauce. It wasn’t amazing, but it was quite fragrant. The simple version of barbecue dipping sauce is still okay.

"Second sister, what's the point of adding so many things? Isn't the taste much different?"

Fu Ying... Life should also have some sense of ritual and interest, do you understand?

"Don't talk, just eat your fried potatoes."

"Oh." Fu Zhe was scared and ate one potato cube at a time.