In the 1960s and 1970s, I also ate fish when I was a child, but it was only a few. At that time, we could have fish ball noodles twice a year. These fish are wild and come from paddy fields that grow rice at the foot of the mountain in my hometown. The time is generally around May and August of each year.
5 is the season for seedling planting in my hometown in Sichuan. By this time, the water in the paddy fields had been filled for several months, and many wild fish were growing inside.
8 is the rice harvest season. A few months have passed and wild fish have grown up. Put the paddy fields dry, and fish of all sizes inside cannot move in the dry rice fields. Whether before planting seedlings or when harvesting rice, the people working are rushing to harvest these fish. The fish in paddy fields are mainly crucian carp , there are also grass carp , and mullet , which has few fish bones. Sometimes you can catch eels and loach , etc.
I remember one night in May, when my father finished work and went home, carrying a bucket of fish full of fish in his hand, including crucian carp, mullet, eels and loaches, etc. Dad put the bucket full of fish in the dark stove room. My mother lit a kerosene lamp, broke the fish belly under the dim kerosene lamp, slaughtered the fish balls, and put them in the washbasin. After about an hour, my mother prepared a full pot of raw fish balls.
Daddy added firewood to the stove in front of the stove, and the pot became hotter and hotter. Mom put lard in lard, put the prepared minced green onion, ginger, garlic, pepper and dried pepper into the pot, stir-fry for a few times, pour in clean water, and the aroma of steam mixed with the seasonings turned into lingering smoke rising from the pot, scattering in every corner of the kitchen, with the fragrance everywhere. When the water in the pot boiled, my mother put the fish balls in it. After a while, the snow-white fish soup like milk rolled in the pot, making it fragrant. At this time, my mother put a large handful of dry noodles into the pot. Mix and blend the fish balls, milky white fish soup, noodles and dissolved seasonings thoroughly, and finally add chopped green onion. A pot of delicious fish ball noodles are ready. When you eat the fish balls into your mouth, it feels like they are melted in your mouth. The taste is very delicious and fragrant, leaving only the chopped fish bones that need to be chewed and swallowed slowly.
These are the taste of mother I will never forget. This taste will never come back. My mother is still alive, but there are basically no fish in the paddy fields.
