Chapter 141: Simplified Mapo Tofu
Xiang Chuan nervously cut a small piece of tofu and placed it into the bowl. The familiar bean aroma wafted from the cross-section of the tofu, but Xiang Chuan still wasn’t reassured. She had already experienced examples where it smelled fragrant but tasted indescribable when cooking modern pork before. Until she actually put the thing in her mouth, she wouldn’t overly trust this superficial aroma.
What’s more, modern times even had liquid food that smelled bland but could refresh one’s worldview when eaten, so unpalatable that it once made Xiang Chuan suspect whether modern people had given up pursuing gourmet food that was appealing in color, aroma, and taste.
Fortunately, later seeing her sister praising nonstop the cake decoration that Liang Gong made for her finally put her at ease.
After placing the cut small piece of tofu into the bowl, when Xiang Chuan picked up the spoon and scooped a small portion to her mouth, she suddenly remembered something: I haven’t eaten uncooked tofu!
What did uncooked tofu taste like? Xiang Chuan racked her brains thinking of a round of tofu dishes, suddenly recalling the undercooked tofu puffs she bit into when eating hot pot vegetables at home in winter, or rather fried tofu. Freshly made soft tofu naturally wouldn’t have a golden-yellow skin with chewiness like fried tofu. Uncooked fried tofu tasted dry and flavorless, and the inside also had a bit of bean smell. Linking it to the unsweetened freshly squeezed soy milk that Xiang Chuan drank yesterday, with that modern-person-unacceptable bean smell, the taste of the tofu in front of her was probably about the same as that soy milk.
The premise was that she controlled the amount of white vinegar used for marinating properly; otherwise, she would have to rush back to her room soon to quickly look up recipes for sour tofu.
After mentally preparing herself, Xiang Chuan put the spoonful of tofu into her mouth with a make-or-break resolve, making the four onlookers unable to help but tense up along with her.
Xiang Chuan gently chewed with her teeth, tasted it in her mouth, then swallowed the spoonful of tofu with a subtle expression. Seeing her like this, the four people’s moods sank: Could it be, it failed?
Seeing Xiang Chuan frowning silently, Ouyang Yating suppressed her inner doubt and quickly stepped forward to comfort her: “It’s okay, Xiang Chuan. If it failed this time, we can try again next time. You have so many beans in your warehouse…”
“Ah?” Xiang Chuan snapped back to reality seeing Ouyang Yating lean over with a nervous expression, and seeing the four people’s anxious faces, she knew they had misunderstood something, so she quickly waved her hand: “No, you misunderstood. The tofu is fine, the recipe is correct. I just didn’t expect freshly made tofu to taste like this.”
More accurately, she didn’t expect uncooked tofu to taste so indescribable. Xiang Chuan almost said this but quickly changed her words. After all, this block of tofu in her home kitchen was probably the first tofu in modern times. Modern people hadn’t even seen tofu, let alone eaten cooked tofu. If she said that out loud, she would really give herself away. Each of her club members was sharp; none were pushovers.
“Taste?” Ouyang Yating and the other two exchanged glances, each took a spoon to scoop a small spoonful of tofu from Xiang Chuan’s bowl and put it in their mouths. Then Xiang Chuan visibly saw the three people’s expressions gradually shift from curiosity to an indescribably complex one.
“Did ancient people really use this thing for cooking?” Ainuo, who wasn’t accustomed to bean smell, barely managed to swallow the tofu in his mouth following the principle of not wasting food, but his face was as black as when seeing Xiang Chuan’s math monthly exam score.
Xiang Chuan gave a dry laugh twice. Even she, an “ancient person,” wasn’t used to eating tofu directly, let alone modern people. But seeing the three already losing interest in the tofu, she quickly said: “Eating it directly probably won’t work. Let me try making it following a recipe.”
In the end, she still had to use the old method to vindicate the tofu.
Xiang Chuan opened the warehouse inventory and the list of medicinal materials regularly kept at home.
After finishing with the tofu, there wasn’t much time left before dinner. It wasn’t appropriate for her to rush back to her room now to search for tofu recipes, so she could only search her memories from watching Mother cook in her hometown and the one or two years right after university graduation when she personally cooked for some simple tofu dishes to eat.
Using tofu for cooking is actually very simple. Tofu is an ingredient very good at absorbing soup juices. Whether it’s delicious on the serving plate mostly depends on other ingredients, seasonings, or cooking techniques: heavy-flavored mapo tofu, stinky tofu; light-flavored Chinese cabbage tofu stew, tofu fish soup… Xiang Chuan could list a whole string of tofu dishes she had eaten from memory, but selecting ones she could make right now was really quite challenging.
The biggest difficulty was insufficient seasonings, which referred not only to soy sauce but also oyster sauce, Sichuan peppercorn, and other seasonings modern people hadn’t contacted. Casually picking a heavier-flavored recipe might satisfy everyone when done, but it probably still wouldn’t satisfy her picky tongue, so most were temporarily not considered.
There were many more light-flavored recipes to choose from, but with time tight, she prioritized some that could be made relatively quickly.
After finalizing tonight’s dinner menu in her mind, the three A Bite of China Club members who were watching also started being directed by her to help out. Thanks to the basic skills the three had practiced during usual club activities, simple cutting vegetables and marinating were no problem, allowing Xiang Chuan to free up her hands to handle the tofu and seasonings.
Tools… oh no, more helpers are really great. Xiang Chuan thought gratifiedly.
When Mr. and Mrs. Xiang Weiguo got off work and returned to the dining hall, they smelled a somewhat stimulating aroma. The dining table already had noodles and eggplant sauce steamed fish as the staple food laid out. Notably, there were some unseen milky-white lumps scattered in the plate of steamed fish, mixed in the red soup juice looking especially appetizing.
The couple exchanged glances: Could this be the thing their eldest daughter was talking about this morning? Tofu?
“Ah, Father, Mother, you’re back.” Xiang Xue put away the hover camera, and upon looking up seeing her parents, she instantly turned into a good child. Lin Ming beside her was long accustomed to his partner’s instant face-change and also politely greeted the two elders.
Nodding to the two children as acknowledgment, Da Xing had greeted this morning saying he had Student Union activities in the afternoon so wouldn’t return for dinner tonight. But with Xiang Chuan’s club members and this little tail beside Xiang Xue, dinner was still lively, yet now the other four A Bite of China Club members weren’t visible.
Suddenly, a burst of commotion came from the kitchen.
First was the eldest daughter’s incessant nagging: “—Alright, the non-spicy mapo tofu is done. Satisfied now? But how can it be called mapo without spice—”
“Enough, enough. You’ve been saying that from the moment you started cutting until now. The dishes are all done; what’s left to fuss about? You can’t possibly sprinkle a handful of chili powder on top.” The retort came from Ainuo.
“It’s not impossible either…”
“Stop right there.” “Stop now.” “Please don’t.” The three club members said in unison.
Then they saw the eldest daughter, black-faced, leading Da Xing who was carrying two large soup bowls out of the kitchen. Upon seeing them, she also performed a familiar Sichuan Opera face-changing: “Dad, Mom, you’re back.”
Their own pair of daughters really were blood sisters. The couple thought simultaneously, then saw the two large soup bowls Da Xing carried filled with bright red soup juice and milky-white lumps within.
Before the two could speak, Xiang Chuan came up to greet them to sit quickly: “Come sit at the table quickly. Try if the mapo tofu suits your taste.”
It was mapo tofu alright, but a simplified version without Sichuan peppercorn and only with minced beef, a super modified version. Xiang Chuan silently apologized in her heart to the mapo tofu she usually ate at Sichuan restaurants. No way around it; special circumstances, couldn’t gather the ingredients, but with a strong craving for mapo tofu, it ended up like this.
After handling the first half-month’s matters, started preparing updates, but a sudden cold caused coughing, now coughing so much my lungs feel like they’re about to explode… Everyone, take care of your health in winter.
