In the 90s, the development of greenhouse vegetables and cold storage was quite mature, so people's dining tables began to feature many out-of-season vegetables. Of course, it wasn't exactly counter-seasonal; it was more about having more preservation methods, which allowed food to be preserved very well.
Pumpkins are generally harvested at the end of autumn and store quite well, and these pumpkins had only recently been purchased, still looking quite fresh.
"Brother Wang, do we have anyone at the worksite who doesn't eat chili?"
Wang Hao, who was kneading dough in a basin, looked up and responded, "Yes, but not many. Most can handle a bit of spice,"
Gong Mingxia glanced at her daughter, Xiao Xiao, who sat there not knowing what to do, and pulled out a basket of garlic, handing her a clean enamel basin.
"Xiao Xiao, dear, could you peel the garlic for mom? We're going to need a lot of garlic later."
Upon hearing there was work to be done, and it was something she could do, the little girl was delighted and nodded repeatedly.
"Sure, sure, mom, don't worry, I can do this well."
After assigning the child a task, she cradled the pumpkins over to the sink to scrub them clean and then brought them to the cutting board to be arranged.
Then, she started washing the eggs; after rinsing them clean under a tap, she placed them into a large rice cooker that she had lined with cheesecloth filled with various spices and tea leaves she found in a cabinet.
She added salt, light soy sauce, and dark soy sauce to the water, covered it with a lid, pressed the start button, and began cooking the eggs.
Since tea eggs needed to soak for a while to absorb the flavors after cooking, she prioritized preparing the eggs before moving on to chopping vegetables.
The task of cutting the pumpkin into cubes and dices was significant, considering it was for seventy to eighty people. She used at least five large pumpkins, each weighing around seven to eight catties. While cutting, she could feel their firmness, suggesting a fairly sweet taste.
About twenty minutes later, the eggs in the rice cooker were done. She took out a spoon and tapped each egg until it cracked to reveal the marbled pattern, then she could turn off the heat to let them soak in flavor. The eggs didn't need to be fully cooked since they would be stewed later, allowing them to absorb more flavor without becoming overcooked.
Just chopping the vegetables had taken her an hour. In that hour, Wang Hao had been kneading countless batches of dough. Knowing they were going to make steamed buns, he saw Gong Mingxia cutting pumpkins and then chili peppers without interruption, providing her with as much space as possible to work.
In the same time span, Xiao Xiao had peeled a large quantity of garlic, enough for the day's use. Outside, dawn was breaking, and since she had been peeling nonstop, Gong Mingxia felt a bit sorry for her.
"Xiao Xiao, why don't you go inside and sleep for a bit? When I'm done cooking, I'll call you to eat, okay?"
Xiao Xiao hesitated, but seeing her mother was truly busy and couldn't keep an eye on her, she obediently nodded her head.
So Gong Mingxia washed her hands, led her daughter into the house—where there was still no movement as everyone was still asleep—and quietly took off her shoes, tucked her in, closed the door, and returned to the kitchen. After washing her hands again, she began to chop the garlic.
Today, the buns Gong Mingxia was making were a traditional style from Southern Province with pumpkin filling. All it took was a mix of light soy sauce, dark soy sauce, salt chicken powder, oyster sauce, thirteen spices, and a good amount of minced garlic; chili could be added to one's preference. Tʜe sourcᴇ of thɪs content ɪs noᴠelfire.net
Considering some didn't eat chili, she didn't add it to the seasoning mix right away.
Once the vegetables were seasoned, Wang Hao continued kneading the dough, approaching the final stages. On a large stove, a pot of millet porridge was simmering, which didn't need much attention, just some starch water stirred in before serving to make the soup appear thicker—though it wasn't a big issue, since most treated it like drinking water anyway. Achieving the thickness of homemade porridge wasn't practical there.