Chapter 19 Changsha Green Beans

In the summer of Changsha, the days in the city of fire are extremely hot.Summer is the time when everything grows the fastest, and it is also the season for the harvest of vegetables in the field. The common vegetables on the table, such as peppers, beans, eggplants, loofahs, pumpkins, wax gourds, cucumbers, etc., are already too much to eat and pick. Farmers must Change the way to store fresh vegetables and reserve them for other seasons when there are no vegetables. Changsha people have their own talent for cooking food. When developing food, they do not let go of the gift of weather and sunshine. They use the hot summer sun resources to develop their special hot and sour food. This is the famous carob and pepper. .Changsha people pick fresh vegetables from the ground, scald them in boiling water, expose them to the sun, and store them in pottery jars, etc., to make Changsha’s unique gourmet delicacies, satisfying their delicious appetite and unruly taste.

The summer in Changsha is extremely hot, which affects people's normal appetite and extravagant expectations, and their eating conditions are not as good as those in winter and spring.In order to have a good summer meal, Changsha people develop delicious food suitable for summer. They pick off the endless fresh beans and peppers in the vegetable garden, and use the traditional sun-dried method to make hot and sour beans, peppers, eggplant skins, and pumpkins. Dried and other dishes are also made into grandma's dishes, which are famous overseas, and become summer meals and appetizers, bringing deliciousness and appetite to summer.

To make long beans and peppers, the first choice is fresh long beans that have just been picked. Pick a variety of long beans with large, thick flesh and small seeds. Remove the tendons, wash them with clean water, and soak them for a while to remove the worms in the beans .After being scalded with boiling water, it is exposed to the sun in summer until it is half-dried, then it is ready to be stored, cut into small pieces, and stored in a ceramic jar. When it tastes a little sour, it is taken out and fried with mashed meat. It is hot and sour and delicious. It has endless aftertaste and is very refreshing. It is both an appetizer and a meal. It is a common delicacy for adults and children.The ancient pronunciation of pu is pronounced pu, and the sound is close to puff. Some people once wrote it as puff or fu. Fu means that after being exposed to the sun, the beans and peppers have to be marinated in a water-covered jar for a period of time before the aftertaste becomes sour and raw.

Changsha people call long beans bean shells. After cleaning fresh cowpeas, boil them in boiling water until the surface of the beans changes color. Do not boil them, otherwise they can only be dried beans.Then put it under the sun for a day or half a day, and stop drying when the beans turn white. During the exposure process, after one side turns white, turn it over to dry the other side, and the plump beans will become soft and collapsed. The color is tender and white.Cut the exposed beans into small pieces of about two centimeters, sprinkle with salt, stir evenly, and rub vigorously in a large basin to let the salt soak into the beans.Put the salted beans into a kimchi jar or an airtight container, put it well and cover it tightly. After three or four days, the beans will start to change in taste, sweet and sour, crisp and chewy. Take it out and stir fry, add meat puree, bacon, etc. to serve. vegetable.When cooking, sauté the minced meat first, then add chopped chili, add beans and garlic, and stir-fry together, the aroma is elegant, sweet and sour.When marinating, the saltiness should be moderate, and it is not necessary to add salt when cooking.The beans are a little dry in the sun. During the cooking process, add a small amount of water, cook for a while, and dip some meat. The original fragrance of the beans will be stronger and the taste will be more chewy, which is very suitable for rice.

Budou is an authentic Changsha delicacy. Every summer, every family will cook it.Whenever at noon, walking in the streets and alleys, the bamboo plaques and bamboo plates on the street are full of scalded vegetables, and the strong smell of pepper, beans, and eggplant skin permeates the whole steaming streets and alleys. Let people enter the heaven of food.When the beans, peppers, and eggplant skins are completely dried, they become dried beans and white peppers for Changsha people to steam fish and meat or stir-fry cured fish and bacon in autumn and winter.Beans, sword beans, cucumbers, radishes, sweet potato lumps, lotus root slices, water spinach stalks, purslane, peppers, garlic and other vegetables that have been exposed to the sun can all be put into ceramic jars to become authentic bottle dishes.If beans, sword beans, cucumbers, radishes, and peppers are mixed together and marinated in a jar, it will become a famous grandma's dish, and it is an ideal food for serving rice and eating steamed buns.People in Changsha do not leave their containers idle. In other seasons, they will also put a few scallions in the jars to raise the jars to enhance the sour taste and become the first choice jars for drying beans and peppers in the coming year.

Now there are more and more people in demand for snap beans, and there are hawkers in the vegetable market who specialize in and sell snap beans and chili peppers, and commercial production has begun. I remember when I was a child, whenever my mother was free in summer, she would make food such as beans, peppers, eggplant skins, etc., to stimulate our sisters to eat. The sour beans and peppers were fried together, sour and sweet. , It goes well with rice, and it is a must-have vegetable for our every meal. One of the classic dishes I have eaten is the fried bean curd with diced lotus root. It is crispy and delicious, with a sweet and sour taste and very flavorful.Now I often cook this dish. Heat the oil in the pot until it is half-baked, pour in the beans and stir-fry, then add diced lotus root, stir-fry for a while, add pepper, and add salt, monosodium glutamate, soy sauce, and garlic leaves before serving.Refreshing and delicious, extremely crisp and tender, it has the refreshing fragrance of lotus root, the sweet and sour taste of green beans, and the spicy taste of chili.