From selling box lunches to becoming a famous Chinese chef

Chapter 3 Braised Eggplant in Big Pot
  Zhang Lei and Yang Peng watched Feng Zhengming pick out those eggplants with crooked melons and cracked dates. They thought that the other party was their junior uncle after all, and they were worried that the master would find out and reprimand them.

The two exchanged glances, and Zhang Lei said: "Uncle, you don't have to pick out the flat ones. They're all cooking anyway. If you need them, just use them. We'll deal with the flat ones later."

Yang Peng supported from the side: "That's right, Zhengming, don't use those crushed ones, leave those to us."

Feng Zhengming smiled and said, "It doesn't matter. I want to make a batch of lunch boxes at night and try selling them at the South Station. I can just use these crushed eggplants."

Zhang Lei and Yang Peng were a little surprised when they heard this.

They didn't expect that Feng Zhengming had just arrived today and was going to try selling lunch boxes in the evening.

Zhang Lei calmed down and said, "Are you going in the evening? Are you in a hurry?"

Yang Peng said: "Yes, and the way back from South Railway Station at night is dark, so don't let anything happen to you again."

Feng Zhengming said: "Don't worry, it's not too far to go to South Station and back, so you'll be fine."

As he spoke, Feng Zhengming pointed to a pile of shriveled eggplants.

"And if you don't cook these eggplants tonight, they will probably rot tomorrow. By then, I'm afraid you two will be scolded by your senior brother's brother-in-law again."

Feng Zhengming did not hesitate and quickly cleaned the crushed and crushed eggplants.

Then he asked Zhang Lei and Yang Peng to find him a big basin.

Feng Zhengming was next to the pool in the backyard of the cafeteria. He used a knife to cut off the eggplant stems and some of the crushed parts, and then cut the entire eggplant into small strips.

Cut the eggplant strips and rinse them again, and then drain the water through a large drain in the canteen.

The eggplant is ready, but there is still an important question before Feng Zhengming.

How is he going to cook such a large pot of eggplant strips?

Eggplant is a very oily ingredient. If you don't give it enough oil, the eggplant won't be delicious.

And the important thing about box lunches is that the accompanying dishes must go with the rice.

Therefore, if you want to make these eggplants delicious, you must add heavy oil, and then add some meat and braise them together. Otherwise, the eggplants will not taste good, and no one will be willing to buy them for lunch.

At the moment, Feng Zhengming is in the canteen contracted by his senior brother.

Although the senior brother promised to provide all the help, Feng Zhengming was embarrassed to use all kinds of raw materials without restraint.

Just when Feng Zhengming was at a loss what to do, senior brother Li Huidong walked out of the kitchen.

I saw Feng Zhengming guarding a large pot of eggplant strips.

Li Huidong couldn't help but smile bitterly and said: "Zhengming, did you prepare too many eggplants this time? I heard Zhang Lei and Yang Peng tell me that when you bought them back, you used all the crushed and crushed eggplants. What are you going to do with so many eggplants?”

Feng Zhengming raised his head and looked at Li Huidong, and an idea suddenly appeared in his mind.

"Elder brother, can you give me the big stove and pot in your kitchen to use first?"

Li Huidong nodded and said, "Okay, you just need to use it first. Anyway, the canteen is not in a hurry to cook."

Feng Zhengming then said: "Sir, can you lend me some more pork?"

Li Huidong smiled and said, "Okay, no problem. I'll take you to the warehouse to get as much as you want, but you have to calculate the price yourself. If you have so many eggplants, it will take a lot of meat to fry them with pork." of."

Feng Zhengming said: "It doesn't matter, my method shouldn't use much meat."

Li Huidong was a little curious when he heard it, but he didn't ask any more questions. Instead, he led Feng Zhengming to the warehouse to get the meat.

In the warehouse, Feng Zhengming chose the fatter part of the whole fan of pork.

By the way, I also took onions, ginger, garlic and some seasonings from the warehouse.

Returning to the kitchen, Feng Zhengming first started processing the pork.

First, cut off the pig skin separately.

Li Huidong watched his junior brother working and had to admit that his work was indeed very neat.

The knife was very precise and cut off the entire pig skin, leaving almost no meat.

Then Feng Zhengming first cut the pork into small dices, about the size of a thumb.

And he cut the pig skin into similar sizes.

Then Feng Zhengming came to the large stove in the back kitchen of the canteen, lit a fire to heat the pot, put in a little oil, and added the diced pork and pig skin to the pot.

Feng Zhengming picked up a spatula that was as long as an adult's arm and stir-fried diced pork and pork rinds vigorously in the large pot. Throughout the whole process, Li Huidong was a little dumbfounded as he watched.

"Junior brother, your arm strength is incredible."

Feng Zhengming said with a smile while stir-frying: "As you know, Senior Brother, I eat a lot, and the more I eat, the stronger I will be. From now on, Senior Brother, the kitchen in your cafeteria will stir-fry a large pot of food. If the quantity is too large and you can't turn it over, Just leave it to me."

Li Huidong smiled and said: "Hahaha, okay, senior brother will give you more money."

Feng Zhengming said: "No, senior brother, you have taken good care of me by taking care of my food, food and housing. It is my duty to do some work for you in the kitchen in the cafeteria. I will work hard to earn the money myself."

During the conversation, the fat of the fat meat in the big pot was constantly being stir-fried, and the oil in the pot became more and more during the stir-frying.

After Feng Zhengming added more oil in the pot, he smashed the whole piece of ginger and green onion and threw them all into the big pot.

After the onion and ginger are put into the pot, the aroma is quickly stimulated.

Accompanied by the aroma of hot oil in the pot, the whole kitchen in the canteen is filled with aroma.

Li Huidong looked at the diced pork and pork rinds in the pot, which were getting smaller and smaller in the oil pan. He wanted to remind Feng Zhengming that it was almost time to take them out?

But seeing Feng Zhengming's calm and confident manner, Li Huidong did not speak in the end.

Feng Zhengming turned down the heat on the stove and slowly fried the diced pork and pork skin in the pot until crispy.

The diced meat has almost shrunk to the point of grease residue.

He just turned off the heat and took out all the diced meat and pork rinds from the big pot.

Then he went to the backyard and moved in the large pot of eggplant strips.

Li Huidong looked at this scene and naturally understood that Feng Zhengming was going to use the oil in the pot to fry eggplant strips.

Then I saw that before frying the eggplant strips, Feng Zhengming sprinkled a layer of starch on the eggplant strips.

Put your hands into the basin to mix the eggplant strips.

Make sure that each eggplant strip is evenly coated with a layer of starch.

After coating them in starch, Feng Zhengming put the eggplant strips in batches and deep-fried them.

In this way, batch after batch of eggplant strips are fried.

Not much oil was lost in the pot.

After all the eggplant strips were fried, Feng Zhengming poured out some of the remaining oil in the pot.

Turn on the heat again, add the onions, ginger, and garlic and sauté until fragrant. Add the diced pork and pork skin that have been rendered out of most of the fat and stir-fry.

After sauteing, add water to the pot and add all the fried eggplant strips to the pot.

Then Feng Zhengming began to season.

Add only a small amount of salt and sugar, use dark soy sauce to color it, and then add sweet noodle sauce and soybean paste.

Use a large spatula to stir-fry until the aroma of the sauce is brought out and the eggplant strips collapse. Cover the pot and simmer for a period of time.

When Feng Zhengming took off the lid of the pot again, a rich aroma instantly rose from the pot.

The eggplant strips were completely burnt and tender.

Li Huidong looked at the braised eggplant in the pot and smelled the aroma that hit his face. He couldn't help but swallowed several times in a row.

When he came to his senses, Feng Zhengming had already turned off the heat and poured the cooked eggplants into a large basin.

Li Huidong couldn't help but admire: "Junior brother, your craftsmanship is really incredible. No wonder Master often praises you for your spirituality. This pot of braised eggplant is really good."

Feng Zhengming took out the eggplant and said modestly: "Thank you for the compliment, senior brother. I'm really embarrassed to do this in front of senior brother."

Li Huidong smiled and said: "Hahaha, don't be embarrassed, senior brother feels that I really want to learn from you in this big pot of cooking in the future."

Feng Zhengming borrowed a pot of rice and a lunch box from his senior brother's cafeteria.

Quickly pack the rice and braised eggplant meal boxes.

Load up the tricycle that is usually used to buy groceries in the Senior Brother cafeteria.

Feng Zhengming pedaled his tricycle and headed straight to the South Railway Station.

(End of this chapter)