The craving for fried food that our generation had when they were young, kids nowadays can't imagine. In the years when you can eat enough but it is more difficult to eat well, the oil and water in the stomach are looming, up and down, which is the most difficult and the most expected.
During the Chinese New Year, it is a collective carnival of fried food. People who have been picking and asking for a year like to put all the surprises within their ability at a certain stage: either they don't eat it, or they eat it all at once. Long-term poverty, as far as the eye can see, make our thinking in stability with hysteria, in fact, is not good.
Some fried foods, such as croquettes, fried hairtails, and fried cakes, can only be eaten once or twice and cannot be sustained; Others, such as fried twist flowers and fried fruits, can be eaten for a long time, because when making them, people calculate the amount of the entire New Year. Things like fried twist and fried fruit are excellent when they are breakfast, snacks, gifts, and greetings.
Fried twist to pick a day with good weather. At that time, people didn't have anything like a range hood, and ventilation depended on opening doors and windows. In the winter on the dam, if the weather is not good, I dare not open the windows and doors easily, and it is cold. The smoke of fried twist oil is too heavy, and the person who fried it should wear a thick cotton mask for fear of choking his throat. The elderly and children are not allowed to step into the stove, the elderly are weak, and the invasion of oil smoke will cough for a long time, and even cause diseases. The child's body is immature, and if he is exposed to oil smoke, he will fall into the root of the disease.
As far as my family is concerned, the day of fried twist is the day after everyone returns to their hometown. At that time, my grandparents were alive, and with them in charge, I naturally had to go back to my hometown in the countryside for the Chinese New Year. The uncle who lived in the village prepared sesame oil, sugar and flour early, and when the younger brothers who worked in the city came back, each family reported the approximate amount of fried food to be taken when they left.
We all like the uncle to preside over the fried twist, and he is willing to put sugar. In the countryside, the things that are grown with their own efforts, everyone will involuntarily not ponder their ** value, in the face of the brothers who earn wages, the uncle's noodles and oil grown by a year's hard work and sweat are the same as his taciturnity, no matter how much, no matter how expensive, but also with a trace of promise and inferiority.
The younger brothers took things back in large bags, and you stuffed me to keep the money, so that the uncle always wanted to give them back his best things. White sugar, buy the whole bag and the whole bag, put a big scoop and a big scoop. Sesame oil is poured with a clatter, flour, not worth mentioning.
On the day of fried twist, everyone did it together. Men with great strength, women and old people twist twisted flowers, rubbed fruits, and kneaded kueh teow on the kang. twist out the twist braid, just wait for it to be fried; The fruit is rolled into a round ball, and the sugar should be rolled again while it is hot; The same goes for kway teow, which has to be rolled all over the sugar when it is fried.
Not everyone has sugar-covered fruits and kuay teow. Most people in the village don't eat these two kinds of food. Speaking of which, sticky sugar doesn't cost much, but many people feel that it's unnecessary, and the stinginess in generosity, to put it bluntly, still has no money.
Everything is ready, ** burn oil. The oil temperature rises, and the twist is put into the pot first. A small twist flower, turning over and rolling in the oil, comes out of the oil yellow and fragrant, the size becomes bigger, and some will crack their mouths and smile. The twist is fried, the big pot is put aside to dry, the fruit and the kuay teow are first in the pot, the fruit is fried for a longer time, and the kuay teow is shorter. Fry a wave, fish a wave, stick the sugar, and also put it aside to dry.
The house was sizzling, and the smell of fireworks spread far away with the wind. The villagers passing by smelled the smell and didn't fry it, and they thought about it for half a day. The house has already exploded, muttering: "Why did his house blow up?" My family ate it all. ”
In half a day, the twist is fried. It stands to reason that the oil in the pot can no longer be used, but how can the diligent and thrifty people waste it easily, and when the oil is cold, the upper layer should be skimmed into the basin and used later. If there is a slag underneath, pour it out. Not when the garbage is taken out, but when it is received in the bucket, I don't know if it was mixed with pig food or what was done in the end. In rural areas, there is little garbage.
In the days that followed, fried twist flowers, fruits, and kuay teow would be served on a plate and placed on the table every day. When you are tired of playing cards, eat a few sips and drink a cup of tea to replenish your energy; Watching TV is boring, that's a snack; When a guest comes, grab a few handfuls from the big bag and fill the plate, and then you can serve the guest.
After the New Year, we are going back to the city. The fried items were packed in big bags by the uncle and brought back by the family. Not to mention how good the life of the people in the city is, this thing is also a good thing to put anywhere. People in the city who don't have relatives in the countryside will envy every time they see others carrying large bags of explosives: "It's better to have relatives in my hometown." This guy, the flour he grows and the oil he squeezes at home is much better than the one he bought. ”
Over the years, people's living standards have changed from what they used to be. Fried food is no longer popular, and some girls who love beauty and are afraid of fat hardly eat a bite. The population of the village is withering, the old people are too lazy to fry it, no one wants to fry it and give it away, and the young people don't want to fry it, so if they want to eat it, they can buy a little.
In the past, the scene of fried twist smoke from every household has become a memory, and today's village, not to mention the oil smoke, the cooking smoke is scattered. Lonely them, I don't know if they can remember the excitement of the past, maybe, they don't care.