After several days of careful consideration, Lu Yan finally settled on her menu: steamed lotus-leaf buns stuffed with vegetables, meat, and menzi.
She had originally planned to make roujiamo-style flatbread, but that would require baking. Since they didn’t have an oven, she’d have to ask Old Lu to build one for her, so it was much simpler to make lotus-leaf buns, which only needed steaming.
Thus, Lu Yan once again prepared a large basin of dough.
Speaking of lotus-leaf buns, one couldn’t help but think of steamed pork with rice flour. That was the classic filling for the buns. Unfortunately, it was too expensive to make and wouldn’t sell well. Still, it would be great for the family to enjoy, so she decided to make some that evening.
For now, she could make menzi. She had purposely saved a piece of yesterday’s braised meat and now minced it into tiny pieces.
She brought two bowls of meat broth to a boil, added seasonings, then poured in a bowl of diluted starch slurry, stirring constantly. The broth gradually thickened in the pot, turning into an unappetizing yellowish-white paste. Then she added the minced meat and continued stirring.
As she stirred, the paste became increasingly sticky, clumping together like dough. Its color deepened, slowly turning into a translucent dark brown. Lu Yan added a generous spoonful of sesame oil and kept stirring. By the time the mixture had gathered into a translucent dark-brown ball, the menzi was essentially done.
Menzi
She transferred the cooked menzi into a large bowl and placed it in the steamer.
It still needed another half hour of steaming, so Lu Yan wandered over to Lu Sheng’s room.
Lu Sheng looked up, greatly surprised.
Clearing her throat, Lu Yan asked, “Do you have any books I can read to pass the time?”
Still looking astonished, Lu Sheng asked, “You can read?”
“I… think so?” Lu Yan looked a little awkward. She suddenly remembered that the Great Li Dynasty in this novel was fictional. She wasn’t even sure she could read its writing system.
“Give me a book and let me see.”
Lu Sheng handed her the copy of The Doctrine of the Mean that he had been reading. Lu Yan thought to herself, So they take the Four Books and Five Classics for the imperial examinations here too?
When she opened it, she immediately relaxed.
It was just ordinary traditional Chinese characters.
The author had probably set it up this way and wasn’t about to invent an entirely new script. That was a relief. At least she didn’t need to learn another language from scratch.
“Great, I really can read all of it.” Lu Yan handed The Doctrine of the Mean back to him. “I don’t want to read serious books. Do you have any storybooks?”
Lu Sheng: “…”
“Unfortunately, I only have serious books,” he said. “I don’t have money to buy books. I copied all these myself. Why would I waste time copying storybooks?”
Lu Yan found that perfectly reasonable and asked, “Then do you know how much storybooks cost?”
Lu Sheng stroked his chin.
“They’re quite a bit cheaper than scholarly texts. Even so, a thin one costs over ten copper coins, and a thick one can cost twenty or thirty.”
Not bad. I still need to make more money, Lu Yan thought.
Having gotten her answer, she drifted out of the room like a gust of wind, leaving Lu Sheng sitting there in bewilderment.
What does she mean? Does she want me to write storybooks to help support the family? Come to think of it, that really would be a good way to make money…
Meanwhile, Lu Yan returned to the kitchen. The menzi had finished steaming, but the dough still needed time to rise, and it was still far from lunchtime. She simply put out the fire and went back to her room to rest.
One thing about ancient times was that there was hardly any entertainment.
Lu Yan happened to be someone who liked amusing herself. She had no interest in gathering a roomful of people to play mahjong or cards, and without a cellphone, there really wasn’t much to do besides reading storybooks.
Because she had gotten up so early, she fell asleep while thinking about it. By the time she woke from her nap, it was already noon.
Lunch would soon be ready.
Looking at the basket of radishes, Lu Yan decided to make something new.
She took several large white radishes, peeled them, and shredded them into fine strips. After salting them to draw out the moisture, she cracked two eggs into the bowl, added a bowl of flour and seasonings, then greased a pan and spooned in the radish mixture, spreading it into cakes about the size of a bowl’s mouth.
The radish pancakes cooked quickly. As soon as both sides turned golden and crispy and released their delicious aroma, she took them out. Before long, she had piled up a whole basin of them.
Shredded Radish Pancakes
Actually, they were somewhat similar to fried radish fritters, except those were deep-fried. Lu Yan didn’t dare pour out a whole pot of oil to fry things right now—it would make Old Lu and Madam Xu’s hearts ache from the waste. Pan-fried like this, however, they were still delicious and didn’t lack anything.
Lunch was soon served.
After taking food to Madam Xu, only Lu Sheng and Lu Yan remained at the table. Breathing in the familiar yet unfamiliar aroma, Lu Sheng looked utterly enchanted.
Today’s lunch was different from usual; he couldn’t even tell what the ingredients were.
“What is this?” he asked curiously.
“Try it first,” Lu Yan replied.
Lu Sheng picked one up and took a bite. His eyes immediately lit up.
The cooked radish had completely lost its pungent taste and instead was sweet and crisp, with a crispy exterior and tender interior. He quickly finished one and picked up another, giving Lu Yan a thumbs-up.
“Delicious.”
“As long as it tastes good.” Lu Yan smiled. “It’s made from radishes.”
Lu Sheng couldn’t help sighing. This was the best radish he had ever eaten.
In winter, radishes were dirt cheap. To save oil, people usually just boiled vegetables in water with salt. In previous winters, every meal had consisted of boiled radishes and cabbage, to the point where he felt sick just smelling radishes.
Who would have thought they could taste like this?
Then again, Lu Yan’s cooking skills were truly remarkable. She could always turn cheap, ordinary ingredients into something delicious. The radish pancakes were good, and yesterday’s stir-fried cabbage with vinegar and shredded potatoes had been excellent too. None of it tasted like something made from ingredients that cost only a few coins.
“It’s really delicious. If radishes could always taste like this, I wouldn’t hate them anymore,” Lu Sheng said.
Lu Yan smiled.
“This is nothing. Once we buy some mutton, I’ll make mutton stewed with radishes. The mutton will be cooked until it’s tender, and the radishes will soak up all the flavor of the broth. One bite and your mouth will be filled with juice. That’s what real delicious food is. I guarantee you’ll never say you hate radishes again.”
Lu Sheng was stunned just listening to her description and couldn’t help imagining it.
Mutton stewed with radishes…
That was mutton!
“Can our family really afford that?” he asked tentatively.
Lu Yan instinctively felt this was a perfect opportunity to encourage the child to work hard.
“Why ask me? You’re the pillar of our family! Once you pass the county examination and become a xiucai, our family won’t have to pay land taxes anymore. And if you become a juren, that’ll be even more amazing—you’ll get two taels of silver every month! Forget mutton stewed with radishes; by then, I’ll roast a whole sheep for you! An entire sheep!”
Lu Sheng was so thoroughly persuaded that he felt dizzy.
“Our family… is depending entirely on me?”
“That’s right, our future Lord Juren!” Lu Yan said, patting his hand.
Having eaten eight radish pancakes, the future Lord Juren returned to his room in a daze and continued studying.