Chapter 34: Fish Soup
Ji Zhao quickly pulled out two reed poles and skewered all the fish. She handed them to Shen Yao with a smile. “Can you help me carry them?”
“I didn’t expect you to know how to catch fish.” Shen Yao really didn’t expect her to be so powerful.
“Hehe, I didn’t expect my luck to be so good!” Ji Zhao said happily. “Let’s go back to the courtyard later?”
“Okay,” Shen Yao agreed happily.
The two of them walked side by side in the direction of the Shen family’s courtyard. Ji Zhao deliberately slowed down so that Shen Yao could keep up with her.
Zhao Lanhua, who was drying the bedding in the courtyard, raised her eyebrows in surprise when she heard Ji Zhao’s voice.
“Ah Tao?”
“Mother, I caught a lot of fish!” Ji Zhao pointed at the fish in Shen Yao’s hand and asked happily, “Can you lend me the kitchen? I want to use these fish to cook.”
“Okay,” Zhao Lanhua agreed.
Second Sister-in-law Shen’s eyes lit up when she heard that there was fish to eat!
After entering the kitchen, Ji Zhao began to show off her skills.
She picked up the kitchen knife and knocked out a fish that was still jumping around on the chopping board.
Then, she swiftly cut it open and quickly took out the organs.
“Ah Tao, I didn’t expect your knife skills to be so amazing.” Zhao Lanhua was full of praise for Ji Zhao’s knife skills.
“Mother, do you have pickled vegetables at home?” Ji Zhao changed the topic without batting an eyelid.
“We do.”
“Mother, please bring me some pickled vegetables. I want to make fish with pickled vegetables.”
“Okay!”
She placed the sliced fish in a bowl and added wine, salt, and starch to prepare it. Then, she washed the onions, ginger, and garlic and minced them.
She rinsed the pickled vegetables a few more times and finally cut them into the right square size.
“Mother, is there any tofu at home?”
“You want tofu?” Zhao Lanhua hurriedly called out to the outside. “Second wife, go to Grandma Chunhua’s house and buy two pieces of tofu!”
“Yes!” Second Sister-in-law Shen replied. She took two large sums of money and left.
After all the ingredients were prepared, Ji Zhao began to cook.
She heated the oil in the pot and stir-fried the chopped onions, garlic, and chili until they were fragrant. Then, she added pickled vegetables and stir-fried them continuously. Then, she poured clear water into the pot. Finally, when the water was completely boiled, she poured in the fish fillet. When the fish fillet was slightly curled up from the heat, she poured a spoonful of boiling hot oil.
Sizzle-
The fragrant pickled vegetable fish was fresh out of the pot.
In addition to pickled fish, Ji Zhao also made a crucian carp tofu soup.
“The crucian carp tofu soup with fried eggs and shredded radish will have a richer fragrance and taste,” Ji Zhao explained with a smile as she placed the chopped scallions into the pot of fish soup.
At noon, the Shen family sat in the central room and prepared to eat.
Ji Zhao got up and scooped a spoonful of fish soup for Second Sister-in-law Shen. “Second Sister-in-law, drink more soup. I heard that pregnant people should drink more fish soup. It will make the baby in their stomach smarter.”
“Really?” Second Sister-in-law Shen took the bowl of fish soup without hesitation and drank it in one gulp.
“It smells so good! There’s actually no fishy taste at all?” Second Sister-in-law Shen usually did not like to eat fish. She felt that it was too troublesome to eat fish, and the fish meat always had a fishy smell. However, she did not expect Ji Ah Tao’s fish soup to be so delicious.
Ji Zhao smiled and scooped another bowl of fish soup for Zhao Lanhua. “Mother, why don’t you drink it while it’s hot?”
Shen Yao lowered his head and looked at the empty bowl in front of him. Anticipation rose in his heart.