Wensi Tofu is simple to make, but the requirements for knife skills are quite high. To make this dish, you need to choose the tenderest tofu and shred it. After cutting, the threads are as thin as hair and not broken. It is impossible to do it without very good knife skills. .
As for his cooking method, it is relatively simple. Normally, he uses stock to cook it, but today it was cooked for monks, so Miao Qiang only used water and a little salt to season it.
After the soup is boiled in the pot, add salt to make a base, and then make a thin thickening with water starch. After the thickening is done, add the shredded tofu, turn to low heat, and stir gently with the back of a hand spoon against the soup surface. , stir until the tofu shreds hugged in a ball are scattered. However, it should be noted that during the stirring process, you must use skill and do not break the tofu shreds.
After it is cooked, the soup of this dish is translucent and smooth, and the shredded tofu roots are clearly spread out in the soup, making it look like chrysanthemums and melt in your mouth. It is light but tastes good.
At this time, Miao Qiang was standing in front of the chopping board, chopping tofu shreds, while Xiao Wuzi and the waiter passing the dishes were watching from his side.
Xiao Wuzi noticed a detail while watching. He saw that every time Miao Qiang cut the shredded tofu, a little water would stick to the kitchen knife, so he asked curiously.
After hearing this, Miao Qiang laughed and said: "You still have some snacks. Dip the water on the kitchen knife to make it smoother and less likely to stick to the knife during the cutting process. The tofu itself is very tender. If you are cutting it, If the knife sticks, it will all break off, and the cut tofu shreds will turn into a pot of porridge, broken into pieces."
"Also, Wensi Tofu is a Huaiyang cuisine in Jiangsu cuisine. Our chefs who cook Jinglu cuisine used to use old-fashioned Beijing knives. The big head and round tail of the Beijing knife are relatively thick, so it is very laborious when cutting this dish. .But now few people use the Jing Dao, and they all use the lighter Sang Dao instead."
While speaking, Miao Qiang raised the kitchen knife in his hand, waved it in front of Xiao Wuzi's eyes, and continued: "Well, these are the mulberry knives you are using now."
The waiter standing on the other side of Miao Qiang said at this time: "Master Miao, tell us quickly, why did you ask me to ask those monks whether they should abstain from meat or fish? What is going on? "
Miao Qiang put down the kitchen knife in his hand, smiled slightly and said, "You really want to know?"
Xiao Wuzi and the waiter who passed the dishes nodded quickly to express their interest in knowing. Even the chopping boards of several other cuisines on the side came over and looked at Miao Qiang curiously.
Seeing this, Miao Qiang smiled and said, "Well, I will tell you today. But before I tell you, I want to ask you a question. Is it in your impression that monks cannot eat meat?"
After hearing this, everyone nodded and said, "Yes, don't monks just not be able to eat meat? Aren't they vegetarians?"
After hearing this, Miao Qiang shook his head and said with a smile: "You are wrong. It's not that monks can't eat meat, but they can't kill. Have you seen "Old Liang Talks"? I remember he talked about meat and vegetables in one of the programs The thing about Xingzhai. Generally speaking, the five basic precepts in Buddhism are: no killing, no stealing, no sexual intercourse, no lying, and no drinking. None of them is about not eating meat. And in any Buddhist scriptures There are no strict rules prohibiting you from eating meat."
When Xiao Wuzi heard this, he interrupted and said, "Master, that's not right. Didn't you tell me that my family doesn't eat meat and fish, so I have to be vegetarian."
Miao Qiang laughed and said: "You don't understand what is meat, what is vegetarian, what is fishy, what is eating fast and chanting Buddha's name."
"Let me explain to you. Su is easy to understand. Su is the fruits, vegetables, dried fruits, fungi, and other plant foods that everyone often eats."
"As for what meat is, many people may think that meat is meat. I tell you that this understanding is wrong. Do you see how the word meat is written? It has the prefix "grass" on it, so meat also refers to plant-based ingredients.
In Buddhism, it is said that you cannot eat meat. This meat refers to some foods with special taste, such as onions, garlic, and stinky tofu. After eating it, you breathe out the smell.
It feels so sour. So they think it is a sin to preach Buddhism and religion after eating these things, which is a kind of disrespect to other living beings. Therefore, they cannot eat food such as onions and garlic, which is called meat."
"As for meat, it means fishy in Buddhism. Look, how is the word fishy written? It has the word "month" next to it. Anything next to the word "sticky moon" is basically related to meat. What does it look like?
, the liver, the lungs, the intestines, the elbows, don’t they all have the word "月" next to them, these are called fishy. So, meat is meat, fishy is fishy, they are not the same thing."
"As for what you mean by fasting, I can tell you that this fasting does not refer to food or things. It does not mean that when a monk goes out to beg for alms and becomes a vegetarian, it is fasting food. If you think so, you are wrong. This fasting refers to
It is a kind of precept. Not eating after noon is regarded as fasting. There are many practitioners who will not eat anything except drinking water after noon. This is called fasting. It is wrong to say that eating fasting and worshiping Buddha is a mistake. It should be observing fasting.
Worship the Buddha. Uphold, insist on upholding, I adhere to this precept, so fasting refers to the precept, and adhere to the precept of not eating after noon."
"In the history of Buddhism, there has never been any classic that told you not to eat any meat. This started from Emperor Wu of Liang, Xiao Yan. During the Northern and Southern Dynasties, the so-called Four Hundred and Eighty Temples in the Southern Dynasties, there were many towers in the mist. Emperor Wu of Liang
Xiao Yan is the most devout Buddhist. In his opinion, eating meat is equivalent to killing, so he implemented this rule of not eating meat throughout the country, and it slowly evolved into a commandment. Therefore, Cong Liang
After Emperor Wu, many Buddhists stopped eating meat."
"Whether or not you eat meat is also affected by many factors. Take Tibetan Buddhism as an example. They eat meat. The reason is also very simple. In Tibet, if you want to eat vegetables, where can you get them?"
There are only yak meat, mutton and other things.”
"So this Buddhism is not an immutable dogma. It also advances with the times and changes according to circumstances. There are many Chinese Buddhists now, who can eat meat because they cannot abstain from meat due to physical reasons, but
What they eat is called 'three pure meats'."
Hearing this, many people showed surprised expressions, and Xiaowuzi even blurted out: "What?! Do monks really eat meat? What is 'Three Pure Meat', Master?"
Miao Qiang patted him on the head and said, "Don't be surprised and make such a fuss."
"This 'Three Pure Meat' refers to not seeing killing, not hearing killing, and not killing for me. This is called Three Pure Meat. For example, I went to your house for dinner, and I was eating chicken. I didn't see it when the chicken was being killed.
, I didn’t hear the chicken’s scream before it died. The most important thing is that this chicken was not killed specifically because of my arrival. I happened to meet this chicken in front of me. This is called three
Clean meat.”
After listening to Miao Qiang's words, everyone looked like they suddenly understood. Xiao Wuzi even smiled coquettishly at the waiter on the side and said, "Is this considered self-deception?"
Before the other party could answer, Miao Qiang put his foot on Xiao Wuzi's butt and said: "Don't talk nonsense. The so-called Buddha does not harm all living beings. Practice is a process. You may not be able to adhere to the precepts at the beginning, but as time goes by,
By purifying your heart bit by bit, you will slowly stay away from these things."
After finishing the vegetarian dishes, Miao Qiang looked at the time and saw that it was already past seven o'clock in the evening. After asking the waiter to ask the monks if they wanted to add more dishes, Miao Qiang said hello to the chef and took Xiao Wuzi with him.
Left the hotel.
As soon as he went out, Xiaowuzi plunged into an Internet cafe next to the Yingbin Building. Miao Qiang shook his head helplessly, hailed a taxi and returned home.
After returning home, Miao Qiang didn't turn on the lights. He took out a can of beer from the refrigerator and sat on the sofa with the street lights coming from outside. He held the beer in one hand and the remote control in the other to turn on the TV.
.
I saw on the TV screen a few guys with oily hair and pink faces, dressed in both male and female styles, posing and posing in what they thought were cool poses, opening their mouths and saying in a cooing voice: "Hello, everyone.
We are the ‘Stinky Tofu Super Stinky Combination’.”
Miao Qiang was speechless for a while, and couldn't help but said to himself: "Well, there is something wrong with people's aesthetics nowadays, or I am old and can't keep up with the times."
Then he pressed the remote control on his hand and switched to the next channel. This channel was broadcasting an urgent news, and the content in the news caught Miao Qiang's attention.