Apocalyptic Hoarding Diary

Chapter 554 Squirrel Mandarin Fish

Xu Xiaoyan took out several bulging bags from her spatial storage.

The bag was sealed tightly and wrapped in two layers of plastic bags, but even so, the faint smell still managed to seep through the thick plastic.

These were items she had deliberately saved when she processed those large fish in Qing City: fish intestines, swim bladders, scales, subgill meat from the fish head, and internal organs.

This stuff is the best for use as a base fertilizer. It's fertile, works quickly, and is much more reliable than chemical fertilizers. Plus, it won't burn the roots or cause the soil to compact.

She thought that if she ever had her own land in the future, these things would be treasures, so she saved them up and put them in her space. She never expected that they would actually come in handy one day.

Xu Xiaoyan walked around the greenhouse and selected four corner locations.

Digging a half-meter-deep pit was more difficult than I had imagined, but fortunately the soil had become much softer after being mixed with and improved with humus.

After digging for more than ten minutes, four deep pits appeared one after another in the four corners of the greenhouse.

Each pit is about half a meter deep and forty centimeters wide, with straight walls and a flat bottom.

Xu Xiaoyan put the entrenching tool aside, squatted down, and untied the knot of one of the sealed bags.

The moment the plastic bag was opened, a strong, pungent odor burst out.

She reflexively tilted her head back, frowned, and held her breath.

His hands didn't stop; he lifted the bag by the opening and poured the dark brown, viscous liquid and semi-solid debris into the first pit.

Xu Xiaoyan couldn't help but turn her head away and cough twice. She put the bag aside and quickly grabbed an entrenching tool to fill the pit with the loose soil next to her.

The clods of earth fell with a clatter, covering the sticky, red, viscous substance.

She used the back of a shovel to flatten and compact the soil that had been filled in, and then stomped on it a few times to make the surface soil more compact and seal in the smell below.

The first pit is done, then the second, the third, and the fourth.

After filling all four holes, she threw away the empty bag, took two steps back, took off her gloves, and took deep breaths of the fresh air.

The strong fishy smell still lingered with each breath, but it was much fainter than when the fertilizer was poured.

She walked around the greenhouse, squatted down, and sniffed the areas that had just been filled in; the soil still emitted a faint smell.

She stood at the entrance of the greenhouse with a frown, hands on her hips, looking at the four pits that had been trampled into place.

With such a thick layer of soil and such firm compaction, the smell should have been mostly suppressed, but the lingering odor still stubbornly lingered in the air.

She looked up at the sky, then at the path outside the courtyard wall. The wind was light today, and the air was almost still.

But if a strong wind blows and carries the smell to the neighboring plot or alleyway, and someone smells it and comes to complain, then it will be hard to explain.

She stood in the yard for a moment, then turned around and rummaged through the house, finding an old plastic sheet and a few stones.

I bent down and laid the plastic sheet over the four fertilizer burial sites, pressed the four corners down with bricks, and then sprinkled a layer of dry soil to cover the edges of the plastic sheet, sealing the small gaps as much as possible.

After doing all that, the smell seemed to be suppressed even more.

At least you can hardly smell it when you stand at the entrance of the greenhouse; you can only catch a faint trace of the strange smell when you bend down and get close to the ground.

She tidied up her tools and watered the seeds that had just been sown in the greenhouse again. The water droplets seeped into the soft soil, bringing out a faint, fresh earthy scent.

Xu Xiaoyan stood up, patted the dirt off her hands, and prepared to go back inside to wash her hands.

A thought suddenly popped into my head: since fish intestines and other internal organs can be composted, why not dispose of all the big fish caught from the Qing City River in my space?

However, the work in the yard is almost done, and I finally have some free time. I should treat myself well first, instead of trying to finish all the work in one day.

She walked quickly back into the house, washed her hands, and then stood in the center of the kitchen.

With a thought, he took out his belongings one by one from the space: a fresh carp, a kitchen knife, a cutting board, an induction cooker, a non-stick frying pan, a soup pot, a small saucepan, and a rice cooker.

She also has oil, salt, soy sauce, vinegar, oyster sauce, sugar, starch, tomato sauce, and fermented bean paste. She likes to have a full range of seasonings when cooking, preferring to have more than to be at a loss when she has to cook.

Xu Xiaoyan placed the large fish on the cutting board, took a deep breath. She had made this dish, Squirrel Mandarin Fish, a few times before. She wasn't particularly skilled at it, but she still remembered the process.

I have plenty of time and I'm in a good mood today, so I might as well put my heart into making something special and reward myself for all the hard work I've been doing these past few days.

She rinsed the large carp under the tap, scraped off any remaining small scales, and then placed it on the cutting board to dry the surface of the fish with kitchen paper towels.

Then she used a knife to cut from behind the gills and sliced ​​the fish meat off the spine intact.

Two evenly sliced ​​pieces of fish are laid flat on the cutting board, while the fish head and bones can be kept to make soup.

She made decorative cuts on the inside of the fish, first making diagonal cuts and then cutting straight through, making each cut as even as possible.

After cutting it, she grabbed the fish skin and flipped the fish meat over so that the side with the cuts was facing outwards.

You can see that the cut pieces of meat curl outwards like the scales of a pine cone, which is the prototype of the "squirrel" shape.

Xu Xiaoyan cracked an egg into a large bowl, added a little salt and cooking wine, then put the fish in and mixed it well to marinate.

Another layer of dry starch was sprinkled on top, so that each piece of fish meat that curled up was evenly coated with starch.

Next, she heated oil in a wok, turned the induction cooker to medium-high heat, and when the oil reached 60% of its maximum temperature, she carefully lifted the fish by the skin and put the whole piece of fish into the oil.

The scalding hot oil instantly coated the fish, and the sliced ​​pieces of meat quickly burst open under the high temperature, curling up one by one.

She gently shook the pot to ensure the fish was heated evenly, and then removed it from the oil when it was golden brown and crispy.

Pour tomato sauce, sugar, white vinegar, and a little water into a small bowl.

The approximate ratio is three tablespoons of tomato sauce, two tablespoons of sugar, one tablespoon of vinegar, and a pinch of salt for flavor. Mix well and set aside.

In a separate small pot, heat a little oil, add minced garlic and ginger and sauté until fragrant. Pour in the prepared sauce and simmer over low heat until it bubbles.

The sauce thickened and became glossy, its vibrant red color swirling in the pot, while a sweet and sour aroma rose with the steam, filling the entire kitchen.

She picked up the fried fish and placed it on a plate, then placed the fried fish head at the head of the plate.

Then scoop up the piping hot sauce and pour it evenly over the fish from head to tail. The fish makes a soft crackling sound the moment the hot sauce is poured on.