I remember when I was a child, on Laba day, my grandma would get up at 2-3 a.m. to make porridge. She would wake us up at 6 a.m. to drink Laba porridge. Then she would send Laba porridge to relatives and neighbors, and finally save the remaining Laba porridge to eat during the New Year.
I still remember one year on Laba Day, I wanted to sleep and didn’t want to get up so early to drink porridge. When grandma came to call me, I said, grandma, I don’t want to drink porridge this year. Grandma actually pulled me up from the quilt. I couldn’t resist the old lady, so I got up from the comfortable bed and ate the porridge in a daze. At this time, I also woke up. I asked grandma why she had to eat it so early? Grandma said this was how she came when she was a child.
This is the tradition passed down by our ancestors from generation to generation. There is a legend: "If you eat Laba porridge until noon, you will have a good harvest in the coming year." Grandma also said that drinking Laba porridge during the Laba Festival can pray for blessings and avoid the plague. I guess grandma was afraid of being poor and hungry in that era, but we can’t lose this tradition that has been passed down.
Thinking back to us today, maybe our living standards have improved, maybe we are all busy, we have forgotten the old traditional festivals inadvertently, and our next generation of children will have no sense of ritual. Our traditions need to be passed down from generation to generation. The Laba Festival is coming soon. No matter how busy we are, we can’t forget to drink Laba porridge, eat Laba noodles, and pickle Laba garlic. I wish all of us good health and a happy life in 2023.
Eat 2 things:
1. Laba porridge
Laba porridge contains 8 treasures, all of which are nutritious. Today’s living standards have improved, and there are more than 8 types of cereals and beans. The materials we used today include 30 grams of soybeans, adzuki beans 30 grams, black beans 30 grams, mung beans 30 grams, barley 30 grams, htm 17930 grams of black rice, 30 grams of glutinous rice, 930 grams of oats, 20 grams of red and white lotus seeds, 20 grams of wolfberry, 93 shelled longans, 20 grams of peanuts, and 5 pitted red dates.
1. Wash all the ingredients with clean water and drain off the water. Today we use a pressure cooker, so there is no need to brew them in advance. Those who don’t have a pressure cooker can brew the beans one night in advance and cereals 4 hours in advance. Using a pressure cooker saves time.
2. Put the cleaned rice into the pressure cooker, add 4 times the water of the beans, the ratio of water to beans is 4:1, here we add 1200 ml of water, the cooked Laba porridge is just right in consistency, here we press it for 30 minutes, after it is out of the pot, add brown sugar according to your taste.
2. Laba Noodles
1. Put 400 grams of flour in a basin and 2 grams of salt to increase the gluten of the noodles. Stir evenly. Add 200 grams of water in small amounts and many times. Stir into large dough pieces. Knead the dough with your hands. Knead it into a smooth dough and set it aside to rest.
2. Prepare the ingredients: 1 clean and dice the beans and put them on a plate, 1 potato peel and dice and half a carrot, wash and dice them and put them on a plate, 3 pieces of shiitake mushrooms, blanch them in boiling water and cut them Wash and chop the fungus after dicing and blanching and put it on a plate. Wash half a hot pepper and cut it into small pieces and put it on a plate. Break the cooked corn into corn kernels and put it on the plate.
3. The ingredients are ready and the noodles are relaxed. Let’s roll the noodles. Cut the rolled noodles into long noodles. The thickness is determined according to your taste. Put it aside for later use.
4. Heat oil in a pan, add pork belly cubes, stir-fry until color changes, add prepared onions, ginger and garlic, sauté until fragrant, add beans and potatoes, stir-fry until beans turn green, add diced mushrooms and stir-fry evenly again, top with soy sauce, a small spoonful of thirteen spices, 2 spoons of oyster sauce, stir-fry evenly, add corn kernels, add water to cover all the ingredients, then pour the fungus into it, bring to a boil over high heat, add carrot cubes, and slowly reduce the soup over low heat. At this time, the vegetables in the pot are basically cooked. Add the pepper cubes, season with about 2 tablespoons of salt, and thicken it with a little water starch. At this time, our marinade of 8 ingredients is ready and put into a bowl.
5. Boil the noodles in a pot. Take out the cooked noodles and put them into a large bowl. Add the prepared brine and add chili oil according to your taste.
Laba noodles are out of the pot. The weather is cold, so a big bowl of them will warm you from head to toe.
Do one thing: Laba Garlic
Remember to do one thing on Laba Festival: soak a jar of Laba Garlic and eat it with dumplings during the Chinese New Year. It is especially delicious. The key method is very simple.
1. Choose plump purple garlic 2 jin, which tastes better when soaked. After peeling, wash it and place it on the chopping board, then use a knife to remove the roots. This will make it easier to soak the hair and make it more emerald in color.
2. Prepare an oil-free and water-free glass jar, put the processed garlic into the jar, put a small handful of rock sugar, in order to make it less sour and spicy and have a sweet taste, then pour in rice vinegar, soak the garlic with rice vinegar, the color will be more emerald, and the color of the garlic cloves will not turn black easily. The amount of vinegar should cover the garlic, then cover and seal it and store it in a cool place. It will start to turn green in about 3 days. At this time, put it in the refrigerator. Only low temperature can activate the garlic enzyme, and it will all turn green in half a month. The best effect is about 20 days. Just in time to eat during the Chinese New Year.
The sugar garlic soaked in Laba on this day will be greener, crisper and more delicious.
The above is the custom of drinking Laba porridge, eating Laba noodles, and pickling Laba garlic on Laba day in the north. I wish you all a happy new year in advance. I wish that we can defeat the new coronavirus in the new year, be healthier and have a better life. What did you eat during Laba today? Tell me in the comments that you love your baking soda.
