As the saying goes, "the people take food as the sky". The rice wrapped in grain grits I want to talk about is a home-cooked meal for the people of the 800-mile Guanzhong Plain. Rural people, in particular, are inseparable almost every day. I, a mountain baby who grew up in the depths of the Great Qinling Mountains since I was a child, has reached a level of obsession with rice grits.
Rice with grits is also called rice porridge and corn porridge. As the name suggests, Shaanxi people call corn as grain, and grain grits are grits that are ground to the size of corn grains and sieved out of corn flour. The porridge made from the rice grits is called rice porridge if it is thinner, and the rural people who are thicker are called rice grits. I've always had a soft spot for this thick rice grit. There is also a certain skill in making rice grits, and my mother is particularly experienced, and the rice she boiled is even more sticky and delicious. Add the unique Qinling mountain spring water in the iron pot, light the fire under the pot stove, put on the hard wood, the fire is whirring, and the water will boil away after a while, and then begin to wrap the grits. The mother first scooped a bowl of rice grits, then put a little edible alkaline noodles in the bowl, then shook the bowl with one hand to let the rice grits scatter in the boiling pot, and held a long spoon in the other hand to stir constantly to prevent pimples. After the grits are finished and boiled over high heat, switch to low heat to boil, at this time the pot will keep bubbling, and stir with a spoon from time to time during the whole process to prevent the pot from sticking. After boiling for about 20 minutes, a mellow aroma of corn came to my nose, and the rice was ready. It is more difficult to make rice with grits than to boil thin corn porridge, and the consistency of the rice, the amount of grits and the size of the heat are all controlled by the mother's rich experience.
Why do you want to put alkaline noodles in boiled rice grits? At first, I didn't know why, so when I asked my mother, she said that it was easier to cook and that it was the experience of my predecessors. Later, I accidentally got a more scientific answer in a TV health program, boiling porridge and eating alkaline noodles is easier to cook on the one hand, and on the other hand, because corn is rich in B vitamins, and eating alkaline noodles (sodium bicarbonate) can help the body absorb B vitamins.
The rice with grain grits is delicious, and the side dishes are not picky, pickled shredded radish, pickled lotus white (cabbage), sauerkraut or choked vegetables are all good matches, and you don't need to stir-fry the scoop to form a good meal. Every time it is time to eat, in the sun recess of the laneway, everyone invariably gathers together with the big old bowl, or squatting or sitting or standing, the bowl is filled with golden rice grits, and the rice bowl is like a hill bun with pickled cabbage or choked vegetables, steaming rice grits, digging a piece and feasting, you say a word of his homely words accompany the whole process.
Later, I joined the army and went to Lanzhou, Gansu Province, far away from my homeland, and my fascination with rice with grain grits became a representative embodiment of my homesickness. In those years, every time I came back from visiting relatives, the happiest thing was to eat two large bowls of rice made by my mother. Later, when I changed jobs and lived in the city, I often asked my wife to cook rice grits, but the taste of the small pot of the natural gas stove always felt worse than the taste of my mother's cooking in a large pot of wood fire, and even so, for me, a fan of rice grits, the difference was almost negligible. Many restaurants in the city also offer free gruel with grits in order to attract customers. I've tasted it a few times, but I always feel that gruel is not as enjoyable as the thick breaded grits rice that digs a piece of it.
There are many innovative ways to make rice grits. Boiled sweet potatoes with grain grits, pumpkin with grain grits, potatoes (potatoes) boiled with grain grits, and boiled apples with grits in the Baishui area. Wrapped grain grits noodles are also a special delicacy. After the water is boiled, first put in the wrapped grain grits, stir and boil into thin porridge, then put in the handmade noodles, stir while boiling, and wait for the noodles to be cooked. The best match is to mix fried garlic sprouts and coriander, the mellow aroma of corn accompanied by the fragrance of garlic sprouts and coriander instantly comes to the nose, so that eating breaded grains grits noodles is delicious without having to dish.
One side of the water and soil nourishes one side of the people, and one side of the people loves the taste. I love my hometown, and I love my mother's rice dumplings. In the eyes of ordinary people, it is an ordinary multigrain rice, but it is my infinite attachment to the taste of my hometown.
About the Author:Lv Yonggang, a native of Linwei District, a demobilized soldier, a member of the Linwei District Association, is now working in the Linwei District Film Company. Love literature, like to read, like to put their moods, feelings, etc. into the pen after work, often have poems, small essays published on the Internet**.
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Huashan LiteratureCool Breeze to White Frost FallOrganizer: Weinan Federation of Literary and Art Circles.
Editor-in-chief: Zhao Fenrong.
Editor of this issue: Yu Ruihuan.
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