Chapter 389

Qin Huai clicked on the video tutorial for lotus root starch balls and started watching.

In all fairness, lotus root starch balls cannot be counted as a very high-end snack with difficulty and thresholds. This snack belongs to the kind that looks very exquisite, beautiful, and difficult, but is actually very easy to get started with. Even a novice can make it by following the recipe and video tutorial.

Of course, if you want to make this kind of snack troublesome, it can be very troublesome, but you just have to put effort into the filling.

Lotus root starch balls are standard sweet snacks. If you want to make them exquisite and noble, meeting the standards for concubines in the palace to eat, then the difficulty and complexity might be close to the three types of sweet fillings for four-happiness tangyuan.

But Master Jing's version of lotus root starch balls is clearly not that troublesome, because there are no such conditions. Complex fillings need to be matched with complex ingredients. Master Jing's version of lotus root starch balls is just some little things made casually to solve the apprentice's family conflicts. The filling is the simplest lard and white sugar filling.

Because the ingredients are not rich enough, whether it is lard or white sugar, they were precious things in that era. Therefore, each of Master Jing's lotus root starch balls is very small, tiny like a miniature version. The color is also not like normal traditional lotus root starch balls, which are pink and transparent or burnt yellow and translucent; those colors are exclusive to high-end models.

Master Jing's lotus root starch balls are very traditional, white and a bit deep, with the color between brown and tea-colored. The balls themselves are translucent, round, and bright.

The production process cannot be counted as too difficult either.

The production of the filling is particularly simple, the same as almost the vast majority of white sugar and lard fillings, except that a little more dried osmanthus is added. The three ingredients are mixed together, kneaded, and rolled into small balls the size of a thumb tip, and the filling is considered done.

The rest is the lotus root starch part.

Qin Huai has never made lotus root starch-type snacks and is not particularly familiar with lotus root starch. His greatest understanding of lotus root starch comes from when Qin Luo was in elementary school. At that time, Qin Luo especially liked to go to the small shop at the entrance of their school to spend a few yuan to buy a big bag of cheap lotus root starch, boiling water to brew and stir it well to eat as a snack.

Facing Qin Huai's almost impeccable reason, Zheng Siyuan didn't have any suspicion and chose to believe it, no longer staring at Qin Huai's hand holding the iron tube, turning around to boil noodles.

The high soup was hung by Huang Jia and had been simmering on the stove all the time, making it most suitable for making chicken noodle soup.

Zheng Siyuan boiled noodles silently, and by the way, boiled Qin Huai's portion too. Zheng Siyuan counted the number of portions of noodles before boiling, finding that Qin Huai hadn't eaten breakfast yet.

Qin Huai started rolling lotus root starch balls.

He learned the appearance he saw in the video tutorial, putting the filling kneaded into small balls into the iron tube, sprinkling an appropriate amount of lotus root starch. The amount of lotus root starch must be as small as possible; if you sprinkle too much, the size of the balls will be too big.

Qin Huai shook the iron tube, his wrist exerting force, letting the balls in the iron tube roll.

At the moment of shaking, Qin Huai knew that this thing definitely had techniques. Master Jing Lixiang in the video tutorial shook it so casually, able to chat with Zheng Da and Huang Shengli while shaking the bamboo tube. At this very moment, Qin Huai shook it as awkwardly as he could.

It's not to say he couldn't shake it well, it's just that he felt his hands were clumsy. The iron tube was light for a moment and heavy for a moment, and the balls inside were shaking back and forth. Without looking, just by feeling, he knew it definitely wasn't shaken evenly.

He couldn't care about that much anymore. After shaking the first time, Qin Huai scalded the balls in boiling water for a while.

1 second, 2...

It didn't even need two seconds. Qin Huai quickly fished out the balls, controlling the time just right.

Roll the second time, control the amount of lotus root starch, and continue shaking.

Scald.

Shake.

Repeated three times like this, a not-so-successful lotus root starch ball was born.

As for why it was "not considered very successful" and not "flipped over," it was because Qin Huai felt that this lotus root starch ball couldn't be counted as too failed. The color after scalding three times was about the same as the video tutorial, but the shape was very different.

The lotus root starch balls in the video tutorial were all round and small. Although there would inevitably be differences in size, each one taken out was good-looking.

This lotus root starch ball that Qin Huai shook...

Was a little bit deformed.

Round, but not completely round, between round and oval. Every time after shaking and scalding, it was a kind of setting. When Qin Huai scalded after shaking the first time, he didn't feel how deformed the ball was, but as every time there was a little deviation, these deviations accumulated three times and became very obvious.

Qin Huai looked at the first lotus root starch ball he shook, feeling that it should just be a little small flip on the styling, the problem wasn't big, continue shaking.

The next few were slightly better, mainly because Qin Huai found a little bit of the clever force that should be used when shaking the balls. Shaking this ball definitely had techniques. While reasonably controlling the amount of lotus root starch, one also had to master the amplitude of shaking and the technique of exerting force.

Qin Huai even felt that it was a bit like the clever force that should be used when kneading dough.

Qin Huai shook one after another like this, shaking until the end, he felt that he wasn't shaking balls, maybe he was shaking milk tea. If he continued shaking, he should be able to apply for a job at Ouyang's Little Ou hand-shaken lemon tea shop to shake milk tea.

Sometimes when Qin Huai went to Ouyang's shop to buy milk tea and saw the clerk in his shop being lazy and shaking it casually, it was probably his current state of strength and amplitude.

It was quite boring.

No wonder Master Jing just did it casually. That the core process of a snack could be so boring was something Qin Huai hadn't expected.

Zheng Siyuan had been boiling noodles silently without speaking. After the noodles were boiled and served, he opened his mouth: "Eat now or eat later?"

Qin Huai scanned the number of balls shaken, finding there were twenty-something. Each was small and miniature. 6 balls in a bowl was indeed just the portion of a small dessert.

Because it was the first time making lotus root starch balls, Qin Huai was very cautious when putting lotus root starch. The amount each time was controlled very little, causing the balls he shook to be even smaller than the balls Master Jing shook in the video tutorial.

Finally, what was boiled was probably the youth mini version of lotus root starch balls.

"Wait a while, I'll boil the lotus root starch balls first." Qin Huai said, without any hesitation boiling all the shaken lotus root starch balls in one pot.

Boiling lotus root starch balls is very simple, the principle is the same as boiling dumplings, just wait for the lotus root starch balls to boil and float up.

Putting the lotus root starch balls into the pot, Qin Huai went to serve the noodles.

Qin Huai picked up the chicken noodle soup and took a look, finding that Zheng Siyuan had added an egg to his noodles, but added two eggs to his own noodles.

It could be seen that Zheng Siyuan was a bit hungry today.

Qin Huai picked up the bowl and ate the noodles with a slurping sound. Don't say, this chicken noodle soup really has to be made in Huang Ji to be delicious (Yunzhong Canteen doesn't have good high soup).

Zang Liang's soup-hanging level is not as good as Huang Jia's, and Cao Guixiang's soup-hanging level is too good. Qin Huai always feels that using the high soup she hung to boil chicken noodle soup is a bit of a waste of heaven's things. Only Huang Jia's high soup can achieve a perfect balance with Qin Huai's hand-kneaded noodles, and the chicken noodle soup composed of them can be called perfect, evenly matched.

Zheng Siyuan also ate noodles silently, his eyes staring at the pot boiling lotus root starch balls. After the lotus root starch balls started to float up, Zheng Siyuan reminded: "The lotus root starch balls are ready."

Qin Huai hurriedly put down the noodle bowl and started fishing out the lotus root starch balls, scooping two big spoons of soup into the bowl, then adding a little honey and white sugar to season, simply sprinkling a small pinch of dried osmanthus.

Out of the pot.

【Lotus Root Starch Balls B-grade】 With Qin Huai's current level, making B-grade snacks can be said to be within his grasp. As long as he doesn't flip over and performs normally, he can make B-grade snacks.

This lotus root starch ball was originally a super simplified version of lotus root starch balls. The production method is very simple. Only the steps of shaking and scalding are more testing of techniques. Making B-grade, Qin Huai is not surprised.

However, he had a bit of a headache.

Because Qin Huai knew very well how big the gap between B-grade and A-grade snacks was. The difference between the two definitely wasn't appearance. Qin Huai's lotus root starch balls were only B-grade, indicating that his lotus root starch balls still had problems in other places, and they were obvious problems.

Qin Huai wanted to scratch his head a bit.

He felt that besides not shaking well, leading to the balls not being round enough, not exquisite enough, and not good-looking enough, there was no big problem. The color of this ball was also very good, the outside circle was translucent, the color was between gray and tea-colored, and the soup was slightly yellowish because of the addition of a little honey.

It could be said that it was very like the lotus root starch balls in the video tutorial.

The freshly boiled lotus root starch balls must be very hot. Qin Huai didn't eat them first, but held the chicken noodle soup and ate it with a slurping sound, and after drinking the last bit of chicken soup in one gulp, Qin Huai put down the bowl and started studying the lotus root starch balls.

The way of studying was very simple. Eating one would know where the problem was. Qin Huai had confidence in his tongue.

Qin Huai scooped up a lotus root starch ball and sent it into his mouth, planning to chew it carefully.

Then chewed and chewed and swallowed.

Too small.

Sure enough, practice brings true knowledge. Only when really eating did Qin Huai understand why Master Jing deliberately made the lotus root starch balls small, but not that small. It was because if the lotus root starch balls were made too small, there was really no edibility, and you could swallow them after chewing twice, and you couldn't feel the happiness of chewing at all. The deliciousness of lotus root starch needs to be felt through chewing.

Qin Huai scooped two balls at once for the second spoon, sending them into his mouth.

Well, very chewy.

Sweet.

The filling of this simplified version of lotus root starch balls was very simple, just white sugar, lard, and a little dried osmanthus. Dried osmanthus provided a unique fragrance and osmanthus flavor, white sugar provided sweetness, and lard made the filling not so dry and relatively smooth.

The combination was simple, but reasonable.

As for the layer of lotus root starch on the outside, Q-elastic and chewy was its taste. The more you chew, the more you can eat the unique clear sweetness of lotus root starch. This clear sweetness needs white sugar to magnify, otherwise, the taste of eating it alone is very bland.

This time the chewing time was a little longer, and Qin Huai ate a little bit of something wrong.

But he couldn't say specifically where it was wrong, because he hadn't eaten lotus root starch balls. He just felt that it seemed there was something not done well. This lotus root starch ball should be able to be more delicious, more delicate and refreshing, and more lingering, but he didn't do it.

Qin Huai ate a few more lotus root starch balls. As the chewing time got longer, this feeling became more intense. He seemed to understand a little why this lotus root starch ball was only B-grade. It could only be B-grade. Qin Huai had a little A-grade thinking in his heart. He felt that the problem should be in the lotus root starch, that is, in the step of scalding and rolling, but he didn't know specifically where the problem was.

This is the disadvantage of simple imitation without the guidance of a famous teacher. In the process of imitation, even if problems are discovered, they are difficult to solve, because the imitator doesn't know where the problem lies at all.

"Siyuan, do you want to taste it? I feel there is something weird." Qin Huai handed the lotus root starch balls to Zheng Siyuan. The 20-something lotus root starch balls just boiled were all served in a bowl by him.

Zheng Siyuan took the lotus root starch balls, scooped two balls with one spoon, and started eating.

After eating seven or eight balls, Zheng Siyuan put down the bowl and said: "Do you feel that this lotus root starch ball is missing something on the lotus root starch skin?"

"Yes, yes, yes." Qin Huai nodded crazily, feeling that Zheng Siyuan was really a soulmate, and he could even eat this out.

"I saw your process of making lotus root starch balls just now. The scalding has no problem at all. The time control is very good, entering the pot quickly and leaving the pot quickly, just rolling in boiling water once."

"But there is a problem with your shaking process."

"Shaking balls has techniques. You have to use wrist force, but you can't completely use wrist force, because it will be very tiring after a long time."

"Lotus root starch must be evenly wrapped on the balls. It must be shaken evenly. The final balls must be round. Once the shape of the balls has problems, it means that the lotus root starch was not wrapped evenly in the process of shaking several times, and the scalding time is constant. The consequence of unevenness will lead to uneven heating of the lotus root starch on the surface of the balls."

"This kind of lotus root starch balls needs to be scalded several times repeatedly. Every time there is uneven heating, it will lead to problems with the taste of the final finished product. When chewing, this lotus root starch is not symmetrical. Some places feel very Q-elastic, and some places are slightly inferior. And the taste of lotus root starch balls comes from chewing, so it will finally affect the taste."

"Therefore, the lotus root starch balls made by this method are of course much more delicious than other methods, but at the same time, the difficulty is very great. Its core soul is no longer in the filling, not in the soup, but in the process of shaking."

Zheng Siyuan finished speaking.

The thinking was clear, the language was fluent, and there was no stuttering in the middle, and there was not even too much nonsense.

Qin Huai was completely convinced.

After reading the message Su Gan returned, Qin Huai suddenly felt that it was quite good to grab everyone in Zhi Wei Ju to Huang Ji. If Su Gan really stayed in the Yunzhong Canteen for a month, the uncles and aunts would have long forgotten Master Assistant Xiao Qin.

What Master Assistant Xiao Qin, Master Little Zheng, in the hearts of the uncles and aunts, there is only Master Little Su.

At the end of the message Su Gan returned, he asked Qin Huai cautiously:

Master Qin, you are staying in Huang Ji for such a long time this time, are you studying new snacks?

Qin Huai replied very happily: Yes, I am currently studying lotus root starch balls.

Su Gan, who saw the message on the high-speed rail:?

Su Gan looked at the message with some doubt, and then called Boss Su.

"Hello, Second Uncle, does our Zhi Wei Ju have a master who is very good at making lotus root starch balls?"