Nanyang garlic noodles

Childhood memories are always unforgettable.

It's hot summer again, and I remember my favorite garlic noodle when I was a child. The delicious food that has already been integrated into the bone marrow lures my taste buds, and it still lingers for decades, becoming my eternal memory of eating.

Garlic sauce noodles are called "garlic noodles" by hometown people. At noon in midsummer, it is burning everywhere. Eating a bowl of cold water garlic noodles is neither too hot nor too cold, comfortable and intimate, and the hungry belly will soon be enriched, and the whole person will soon become full of energy. I clearly remember that at that time, if someone asked them what they had for lunch, people who had eaten this kind of meal would strut out these three words: "garlic-noodles-strips!" " "

At that time, eating garlic noodles was conditional. At that time, there was an abnormal shortage of food in rural areas, and almost every household was in a state of not filling their stomachs. There are few polished rice and white flour. Only when they have just received wheat can they have a meal once in a while, which is regarded as improving their lives. Or if you have guests at home, you can follow. If flour and rice eat coarse grains every day as they do now, it will improve, and the food distributed by the production team at home will be enough for one or two months a year. Therefore, housewives must be careful, conscientiously implement the life policy of "coarse grains are the mainstay, flour and rice are the supplement" all year round, and live a tight life. But that's all. Even coarse grains such as dried sweet potatoes and corn grits can't be eaten in spring, let alone flour and rice.

All the noodles I ate at that time were rolled out by my mother with a long rolling pin. When we want to make garlic noodles, my mother will let my younger brother and sister pinch amaranth in the private school when they are busy. Amaranth is the best partner of garlic noodles. It seems that other dishes are not so authentic. This vegetable was also a necessary vegetable variety in summer in my hometown reservation at that time. Every household should plant several ridges, mainly to match garlic noodles. In order to save white flour, housewives put amaranth as much as possible when cooking. At that time, the whole family ate garlic noodles and put a bamboo basket. When eating, there may not be as much noodles in the bowl as amaranth. That for many years, I didn't like amaranth, and it made me feel a little queasy. But this kind of amaranth, which accounts for more than half of the garlic noodles, still makes the whole family gobble it up.

The amaranth and noodles cooked in the pot should be fished into the "cold water from the well", so that the noodles and amaranth can be cooled thoroughly, and you don't sweat when eating, but you can't soak them in cold water for too long, otherwise it will be too cold and easy to upset your stomach. Put it in a bowl, then pour the garlic juice in with a stone mortar, and you can eat it. When eating, both adults and children will carry bowls under the big acacia tree at the head of the village. Everyone will sit around the ground. Parents will talk over dinner. Three or five minutes ago, a bowl of garlic noodles will be swallowed, and then a bowl of noodle soup will be "poured" and two burps will be made. This meal is one word-cool!

There is a difference between noodles and garlic juice. When a family improves their life, mash garlic and salt in a stone mortar, add water and stir, and use a few drops of sesame oil at most. If a guest comes, add a broken egg to the garlic juice with noodles-after the egg is broken, cook it with boiling water, then take it out with a colander and put it in the garlic juice bowl, and pour this version 2.0 garlic juice into the guest's bowl, which is a way of hospitality. So in summer, children are looking forward to having guests at home, and only when they come can they eat garlic and egg noodles. In our hometown, it is necessary to "visit relatives" in summer, and relatives will visit at home from time to time to improve children's lives.

Noodles, amaranth and garlic juice are the "three elements" of garlic noodles. As for why garlic juice must be poured, the older generation said that noodles and amaranth will not have diarrhea if they are poured with garlic juice. Indeed, when I was a child, eating garlic noodles rarely heard of diarrhea. In summer, when people are thirsty and drink cold water, adults always remind them to eat garlic cloves.

Some people say that the memory of childhood is the most unforgettable and the memory of taste is the longest. It's true.

I don't know how many times the living conditions are now stronger than when I was a child, but I can't forget the taste of garlic noodle. When eating hot noodles every summer, no matter what you cook and stir-fry a few dishes, you still have to pound some garlic with a stone mortar and pour it on the noodles. The feeling is still so real and unforgettable. However, I dare not use cold water to eat garlic noodles now.

When you go out to eat in a restaurant, if you eat noodles, you will always ask the store to have another garlic juice. Of course, if the hotel has stone coriander, it will also ask the store to add some stone coriander, which is more delicious.

One side of the soil and water support one side. I haven't studied the area where I eat garlic noodles. I wonder how popular this kind of food in my hometown is? But as a southerner, my university teacher, Professor Wu Gan, doesn't usually eat pasta, but he also falls in love with garlic noodles.

When Mr. Wu came to Nanyang a few years ago, he tasted the special snacks Hu spicy soup and Hui noodles in Nanyang and was full of praise. His classmates suggested that he try Nanyang garlic sauce to make noodles, and he accepted it gladly. Classmate Lao Lu asked the store to serve a garlic juice with stone parsley. After eating, he gave a thumbs-up sign. "It's really delicious. Next time I eat garlic juice to catch noodles! "

I think of two famous sayings: one is that the national is the world's, and the other is that culture is colorful because of communication. The same is true of food culture.

Nanyang Evening News □ Ma Xinfeng Editor/Producer Lu Qian