"Your courier has arrived, please sign for it. Jian Fang took the express, opened the layers of packaging, and a box full of potato balls appeared in front of her. Jian Fang's heart warmed, it turned out that her parents sent her the flavor of the New Year in northern Shaanxi - potato balls, which is also her favorite taste of northern Shaanxi.
Jian Fang will not go back again during the Spring Festival this year. For various reasons, she hasn't been home for 3 years, and the moment she saw the potato balls, she was homesick.
Potato meatballs. Photo by Beijing News reporter Liu Huan.
In Jian Fang's memory, meatballs are the most unique flavor of the year. The winter in the rural areas of northern Shaanxi is bitterly cold, and every year into the wax moon, every household in the village begins to prepare for the New Year, killing pigs, grinding tofu, making vermicelli, croquettes, steaming crispy meat, ......Among them, what Jian Fang is looking forward to the most is croquettes.
It takes a whole day to make one meatball, and in the morning start peeling, shredding, chopping ......To use half sacks of potatoes, grandma always wants to make more so that she can divide them for her children.
When she was a child, the short Jian Fang often stood on the stool, kneading the meatballs while slipping through the side of the pot, and when they were fried until golden brown and the fragrance wafted out, she begged her grandmother to take them out and eat them quickly. Grandma is afraid that it will not be fried, so she always scoops up small meatballs, and the hot meatballs are fragrant.
In northern Shaanxi, especially in the Yan'an Zichang area, potato balls are not only a Chinese New Year's Eve meal, but also a gift for each other during the New Year. Each family will make dozens of catties of potato balls and distribute them to neighbors, relatives and friends, and everyone tastes each other and comments on which meatballs are the most delicious. The leftover potato balls are enough to eat for a long time, and there will be potato balls on almost every dining table, which is also the deepest memory of many people for the New Year.
Potato balls are also used to worship ancestors. When Jian Fang was a child, every year in the thirtieth year of the Chinese New Year's Eve, she would go to the mountains with her grandmother or other elders in the family to burn paper for her deceased relatives, and there must be home-made potato balls, crispy meat and other foods on the table at the grave. Later, when her grandmother died, Jian Fang returned to the mountain, this time she kowtowed to her grandmother. Jian Fang felt that the person who made croquettes for her was gone and would never come back. Later, Jian Fang's parents also began to make potato balls every winter and send them to Jian Fang and other sisters, so that children far away from home could also eat the taste of their hometown.
Looking at the box full of potato balls, Jian Fang thoughtfully, took out her mobile phone and booked a ticket for the New Year, she wanted to go back to see her parents, wanted to go to her grandmother's grave to burn a piece of paper, put some favorite potato balls, and sit there to chat with her.
New Year's Flavor Recommended Practice].
1. Prepare 2 catties of pork filling (you can sell pork mixer and crush it yourself), 4 catties of potatoes, 4-5 green onions, 1 ginger, 2 steamed buns, 2 eggs, seasonings (thirteen spices, pepper noodles, salt).
2. Chop ginger, green onion and steamed bread for later use.
3. Peel the potatoes and chop them and pour them into a basin.
4. Pour the minced pork, chopped green onions, ginger and steamed buns into the diced potatoes.
5. Add about 250 grams of starch, 500 grams of white flour, a little salt, thirteen spices, and Sichuan pepper noodles, and stir well.
6. Crack in 2 eggs and stir the mashed potatoes well.
7. Heat the oil and start the croquettes, dip the croquettes in a little honey water and fry them until golden brown.
8. After frying, put all the meatballs into the steamer and steam for 10-15 minutes.
Beijing News reporter Liu Huan.
Edited by Zhu Fenglan.
Proofread by Wu Xingfa.