Thursday, December 28 Sunny
Radish and sweet potato may be the most remembered vegetables and grains of our time. There are almost no people in every household who have not eaten turnips. Radish seedlings, shredded radish, radish slices, diced radish, dried radish, etc., etc., etc., are full of tricks.
Why turnips?Radish is a very easy plant to wait for, with few pests and diseases, it can be sown all year round, and the yield is high. In the vegetable garden, it can be found almost everywhere.
Radish is said to have originated on the Mediterranean coast and was one of the world's first cultivated crops. In the Tang Dynasty, there was planting in Dinghui Temple, which was paid tribute to the Emperor Zetian and given to the donor. Later, it gradually spread to the folk and was widely planted. Shazhou villagers have a long history of growing radishes, and they should have started planting them when the village was established. Shazhou radish has always been famous in Wenxiuyuan, which may be related to the soil quality, and is particularly crisp and sweet.
There are two types of turnips. One color is white, the other color is yellow, also called carrots. White radish has a high yield and many uses, and it is white radish that is planted in a large area on the sandbank.
After harvesting the late rice, the paddy fields suddenly became empty. When the soil is a little dry, each household begins to dig up the grass in the field with a hoe, and make a vegetable field with more than a width of rice and rice, and plant onions, garlic and cabbage, etc., and the most is radish. Evenly level the ground, dig holes, remove seeds, cover with fire silt, and sprinkle water. Five or six days later, the radish seedlings broke through the soil, with two real leaves, like a newborn baby, delicate and weak, green and tender, so cute.
The radish seedlings sucked in the earth's air, basking in the sun, riveting their strength, with long days and big nights. In ten and a half days, the radish seedlings have become tall, green and densely crowded. At this time, it is necessary to be a radish sprout. Leave three or four plants in one hole to facilitate ventilation, lighting and nutrient absorption. After watering the manure a few more times, it will grow into a large radish.
Seedlings that have been pulled out are also a good dish. It's called radish tassels, boiled taro, sucked a bite, fresh and refined, and the taste is also very good.
Radish has the reputation of small ginseng. In winter, he became a frequent guest at the dinner table of every household. There is a saying that "radishes enter the city, pharmacies are closed".
Radishes are mainly eaten fresh. Shredded, sliced, vegetarian stir-fried soup is acceptable. Diced, stewed lamb beef and pork chops are delicious.
It can also be processed into snacks. Cut into slices, soak in a sweet and sour sauce and serve in small glass bottles. At the entrance of the central school, there are many such stalls, two cents a piece, and students are vying to buy them after school, and the business is quite good.
In recent years, there are local famous dishes in Chenzhou. Stewed tube bones with Guidong Hankou alpine radish, the radish melts in the mouth, is extremely tender and sweet.
In the past, because there was no meat to match, I ate too many radishes. My brother was born in winter, and his memory is that when it comes to the season of eating turnips, it is his birthday. It means that even if it is a birthday, it is just a radish to eat, at most with some pork bones to cook.
There are too many radishes, and they can't eat them at once, so they pickle and dry them into dried radish. In autumn and winter, the sun is shining, and a bunch of radishes, except for a few plants that are left to be planted, are all uprooted, washed with mud in the nearby stream, and spread on the nearby grass ridge to expose to the sun. The land is white and vast, and it is also a landscape. When the leaves wilt and the moisture is less, they are retracted to reduce the weight.
When night falls, after dinner, every household pickles radishes while roasting the stove. Clean the roots, cut off the leaves, put the radish into a wide-mouth wooden basin, cut it in half and then in half, into four, sprinkle with salt, rub it repeatedly, and put it into a wide-mouth clay pot. The next day, the radish that had been pickled overnight was dried again in a bamboo canopy or a grass flat. After being exposed to the sun, the radish becomes white and yellow, giving off the aroma of radish. Take it back again, mix the chopped peppers, put them in a belly jar with a lid, fill it with water, and the dried radish in the jar is ready. Some people will also mix some tofu into it, which tastes better. It can be eaten in a few days. It can be eaten immediately or reprocessed.
With a machine for cutting shredded sweet potatoes, radishes can also be cut into thin strips. Easier to dry. After drying, it can be stored in an airtight bag, and it can be eaten for a long time.
Dried radish is good to keep, and it is not bad for a long time. Many poor children go to boarding and return to school on Sundays with a can and jar of dried radish. Meals use it for bibimbap, a crunchy chirp, and rely on it to survive the years of hard reading in the cold window.
Radishes can also be eaten as a fruit. When you are hungry and thirsty, you pull it out of the turnip field, wash it, peel it, and chew it in large gulps. It's just a little spicy.
There are also a few literati who have a good impression of radish. Wang Zengqi wrote about shredded radish salad. Cut the small red radish with the skin in the south into thin strips, add sugar and marinate it slightly, pour soy sauce, sesame oil and vinegar, and add a small amount of jellyfish skin shreds, which is a reserved dish for guests.
I have a better impression of turnips than sweet potatoes. Although the sweet potato has contributed to me, and it can even be said that it saved my life, I still don't eat sweet potatoes, and I really hurt myself. Turnips, on the other hand, are equally fond of eating them now.
Author: Wu Conghui).