I Am A Gourmet: Just Eight And You Want Me To Start A Roadside Stall Novel! - Chapter 81
Chapter 81: Wolf Fang Potato!
Xu Le searched through the shopping bags and looked at the tabasco peppers inside. He thought to himself, “I miscalculated. I forgot that these kids probably can’t eat spicy food.”
Therefore, he could only replace the peppers with something that was more fragrant and less spicy. Fortunately, he had instructed Lu Yuxi to buy some dried bell peppers.
Lu Yuxi continued with her repetitive action of peeling the potatoes. “Aren’t you a kid too?”
“…”
Xu Le thought to himself, ‘I’m the same age as you. How can I compare to a bunch of kids?’
He picked up a steel pot, heated it up, and poured some bell peppers into it. Then, he broke open two aniseeds and added a suitable amount of fennel, cumin granules, and green peppers.
He switched to low heat and continuously stir-fried the ingredients with a spatula.
“Cough cough cough…”
There was no fume hood there. As Lu Yuxi stood at the side, the wind was blowing in her direction. It was as if he was done on purpose, and she could barely open her eyes.
She could only change her position and rebuked, “Xu Le, you did it on purpose!”
“I don’t have the ability to control the wind direction… cough cough.”
At the end of his sentence, the wind suddenly changed direction and he also started to cough.
Very quickly, the fragrance of dried bell peppers drifted throughout the school. At this moment, everyone only had two or three cards left in their hands.
Smelling the fragrance of the chili, they all turned to look for the source of the fragrance.
After stir-frying the spices, in order to avoid overcooking them, he immediately scooped them out when he saw that the color of the chili had darkened and was about to turn brown.
There was even a thoughtfully prepared shredder for everyone in the cabinet at the school. Xu Le poured the chilies into the shredder, together with the cooked peanuts and sesame seeds that he had bought, and began to grind them.
The shredder on the side continued to whir loudly. Xu Le’s pot of oil was almost 50% boiling and was emitting white smoke.
Lu Yuxi stood by the stall and waved her hand to get the onlookers to stay away, lest they get splashed by the oil.
After the oil was heated up to 50%, Xu Le turned to low heat and poured the potatoes into the pot. After two minutes of deep frying, he looked at his watch, it was exactly 120 seconds.
He immediately fished out the potatoes with a strainer and placed them aside to remove the oil.
He had timed it just nice. The potatoes were cooked and the chili noodles in Lu Yuxi’s shredder were ready. When he opened the lid, the spicy fragrance wafted over.
A few spices were used to make the chili powder fragrant but not spicy. It tasted numb but did not sting.
He poured the chili powder on the surface of the potatoes, poured out the oil in the pot, and continued to heat up the remaining oil.
“Cut some garlic and onions.”
“Okay.”
Ever since Lu Yuxi and Xu Le stayed under the same roof, she would watch him cook from time to time. Her culinary skills had also unknowingly improved.
Seeing Lu Yuxi holding the knife clumsily, Xu Le said, “Have you ever cut vegetables before?”
“Even if I’ve never eaten pork, but wouldn’t I have seen a pig run?”
Lu Yuxi rebutted and then realised and said, “Hey, I’m not scolding you. I’m just giving an analogy…”
She felt that it would only make things worse if she tried to explain, so she simply shut her mouth and obediently cut the onion and garlic for him.
When the oil in the pot was 80% to 90% hot, he used a spoon to pour the oil on the surface of the potatoes.
With a ‘whoosh’, the fragrance of the chili was instantly stimulated, attracting everyone’s attention.
He added garlic to the wolf fang potatoes and then began to season it.
Wolf Fang Potato was a simple street snack. It was made with the right amount of salt, soy sauce, white sugar, scallions and fragrant oil, then stirred evenly.
The entire process took less than half an hour.
Lu Yuxi’s eyes lit up when she saw this. She first picked up a toothpick and tasted it. The spicy and refreshing potatoes were very crispy and had a different taste compared to potato chips.
She said, “It’s not bad. It would be perfect if you could add some fungus and coriander!”
“Eh…”
Xu Tian couldn’t help but frown when he heard her mention fungus and coriander. He replied, “Those ingredients are like smelly dead fish and have a very strong fishy smell.”
“What? It’s very delicious, okay?”
Xu Le smiled and said, “One’s honey, another’s poison. Everyone’s tastes are different. Some things when not eaten since a young age can’t be accepted when one grow up. That’s why I didn’t put them inside.”
“That’s true.”
Xu Le and Lu Yuxi cooperated well. Before they were done packing, the customers around had already rushed over.
“Are you selling this?”
“How much for a box? Is one card enough?”
“It smells so good. I wonder how’s the taste.”
“I’ve used up all my cards. Can I pay one with my money?”
The customers were all talking at once. Xu Tian puffed up her cheeks and shouted, “Line up, line up! Don’t be anxious, everyone can buy it!”
The first parent who bought it had a taste and immediately exclaimed, “Wow! This tastes exactly the same as when I was young. It’s so authentic!”
“It’s just a street snack. It’s good enough as long as it’s delicious. There’s no such thing as being authentic or not…” The man’s wife was laughing at him. She used a toothpick to place one potato into her mouth. She exclaimed and said, “I remember that this thing tastes awful. Little kid, how did you fry it so well? ”
Potatoes had to fried in seconds. After six or seven seconds, it was the best time to scoop them out. Not only would they be cooked thoroughly, they would also have an exceptionally crispy taste.
“What Wolf Fang Potato? It’s called Silkworm Potato in my home place.”
“It’s just a different name, but it’s the same thing.”
This simple street snack evoked many people’s childhood memories. The person without a card stood rooted to the ground and said anxiously, “Little kid, how much do you sell for each serving? I’ll pay for it.”
Lu Yuxi’s ears were filled with chaotic noises. She raised her voice and said, “Everyone, don’t be anxious. We made a lot. If it’s not enough, there are still potatoes to fry over there.”
Suddenly, their business was booming for no reason, making Xu Le feel like he had returned to his store to open for business. He lowered his head and focused on his work while Lu Yuxi helped him sell the food items.
10 minutes, and 20 minutes… passed just like that. When he looked up, the sky was covered in a layer of darkness, and there were still dozens of people in front of him who still did not get to try the food.
Fortunately, Lu Yuxi had bought enough ingredients as backup. Their box was already full of cards and some parents even started to buy cards or ask for favors from each other. They did everything they could just to get two more cards to buy Xu Le’s snacks.
Lu Yuxi didn’t know whether to laugh or cry. “It’s really hard to know what these people like.”
Initially, the parents who sold their food were targeting at the children’s preferences, so they brought many snacks that the children crave. Now that Xu Le brought back the parents’ childhood memories, all of them looked on eagerly, their expressions not any more mature than a child’s.
A man who was extremely extroverted even leaned against the stall while eating the potatoes, and said, “Let me tell you. When I was young, my parents didn’t allow me to eat them, so I learned how to make wolf fang potatoes myself. I almost spilled all the oil in the process of making it. When they came back, they almost scolded me to death. Later on, I only dared to make them secretly. I didn’t expect you to be younger than me and cook better than me..”
