CHAPTER 427: CHAPTER 145 THE BATTLE BETWEEN SWEET AND SALTY (PART 2)

Tangyuan is a soup-based snack, generally filled with black sesame and pork lard, with a little white sugar added. The outer layer is made of glutinous rice flour shaped into balls, and after cooking, they become soft, sticky, sweet, and delicious.

Peanut filling is one of the later variations. The roasted peanuts are rubbed to remove the skins and ground into coarse powder with white sugar. Then, just like sesame filling, they are mixed with lard, resulting in a sweet yet slightly salty peanut flavor that offers a unique taste.

Grinding sesame and peanut grains by hand would be too strenuous, so Du Xixi and 2569 first toasted the black sesame and peanuts together, rubbed off the peanut skins, and then each grabbed a grinder to finely grind the sesame and peanuts.

Du Xixi dealt with the more delicate peanuts. After adding a bowl full of peanuts, half of the grinder was already filled. Du Xixi scooped two large spoonfuls of white sugar on top, covered it, and then gently pressed to start grinding.

The sound of grinding continuously echoed in the kitchen. Everything went smoothly for 2569, who only needed to monitor the grinding level of the black sesame, whereas Du Xixi had to pause several times midway to flip the half-ground peanuts to ensure better contact with the sharp blades.

In theory, the grinder shouldn’t need Du Xixi to be so attentive, as it should grind the peanuts perfectly on its own. However, with such issues, could something be wrong with the blades?

"We must complain tomorrow; this grinder is too inefficient!" 2569 shook its robotic head and, seeing Du Xixi struggling with the grinder, displayed a dissatisfied expression on its huge electronic screen.

Du Xixi rarely uses the grinder at home, except for one or two instances when she needed to grind meat or something else. Who knew that while the grinder was good at grinding meat and fine ingredients like black sesame, it struggled with peanuts?

"No need to go to such lengths." Du Xixi pursed her lips, not wanting 2569 to notice her growing frustration. "Perhaps the blade isn’t suitable? It’s rare to make tangyuan; we’ll just make do."

Since Du Xixi had said so, 2569 naturally couldn’t say more. Moreover, 2569 keenly detected that Du Xixi’s mood wasn’t quite right, so it dared not speak further to avoid inadvertently adding to her troubles.

Du Xixi, somewhat impatiently, patted the side of the grinder, and after adjusting the angle, the blades finally started "working," efficiently grinding the peanuts and mixing the sugar and peanut fragments evenly.

"Add some lard, and when it thickens slightly, add some water." Du Xixi took a deep breath and instructed 2569 in her usual calm voice, while she continued scooping a spoonful of lard and carefully stirring it into the peanut paste with a mixing spoon.

Still not satisfied with the flowing consistency, she added a few more spoonfuls of lard until the thick yet fluid peanut filling slid slowly off the spoon. Only then did she relax her eyebrows and add a little water.

With water added, the slightly oily peanut filling became smoother and less greasy to eat.

hadn’t prepared tangyuan filling before, but with enough culinary data, it didn’t even shiver its mechanical hand. Following Du Xixi’s instructions to add lard, while observing the peanut filling’s state, it adjusted the amounts of lard and water during stirring.

Surprisingly, 2569 made an excellent sesame filling. At least in Du Xixi’s view, it was already a qualified tangyuan filling.

Du Xixi instructed 2569 to wrap each filling in individual cling films, place them on plates, and put them in the fridge to cool and solidify. She then took out a large bowl, pouring in half a pack of glutinous rice flour.

But as Du Xixi looked at the glutinous rice flour, she suddenly paused — speaking of which, besides tangyuan being sweet, a similar yet different treat, yuanxiao, also seems to be sweet.

"Madam, should we use cold or hot water for kneading the glutinous rice dough?" Seeing Du Xixi halt after pouring the flour, 2569 curiously approached and asked, "I remember the dough for buns is made with warm water."

Du Xixi snapped back to reality and instinctively answered 2569’s question: "Naturally, it’s warm water. Hot water will make the dough too sticky, while cold water will make it not elastic enough."

While answering 2569’s question, Du Xixi was already contemplating whether to make yuanxiao along with tangyuan. However, seeing 2569 excitedly fetching warm water for her, she suddenly chuckled lightly, deciding to make yuanxiao another day.