Chen Mo followed the prompts floating before his eyes and kept working until he had made a hundred egg dumplings before stopping!
The next part of the process was quite interesting.
Using a spoon to make egg dumplings is just the basic step; at this point, the egg skin is cooked, but the filling is still raw.
In the following steps, some regions like to stew them in a pot, cook them in a soup, while others steam them, braise them, or deep-fry them—the variety is endless.
However, Chen Mo chose a simpler and more convenient method: pan-frying with water.
On another burner of the food cart, there was an electric griddle.
Chen Mo used a brush to apply a generous amount of oil, while keeping a close eye on the progress bar in front of him.
[Perfect!]
When the oil temperature rose slightly, he placed the prepared egg dumplings into the electric griddle one by one.
Next to him, Uncle Ham and Brother Squid had been watching for some time, and both stood up simultaneously, "Here we go!"
Chen Mo turned his head and asked curiously, "What's coming?"
Uncle Liu expertly placed skinned sausages into a special grilling tool, able to grill 15 at once!
Brother Squid grabbed a handful of chilled squid and pressed it directly onto the iron plate, where it sizzled and released a strong seafood aroma.
Uncle Liu drizzled oil onto the starch sausages and said, "It's eleven o'clock. This is when people start coming, and it'll be busy again at one in the morning!"
Chen Mo looked ahead.
Sure enough, the previously empty street was starting to see some people arriving.
The preparation of the starch sausages was simple; once Uncle Liu placed them in, there wasn't much left to do. He stood with arms akimbo, watching the scattered people ahead and chatted with Chen Mo, "Every night around this time, some who have finished eating or singing pass by here. And by one in the morning, those from the foot massage and spa places upstairs get off work."
So that's how it is.
Chen Mo nodded slightly. Seeing the progress bar reach the flashing point, he quickly opened the griddle and started adding water.
[Great!]
It seems the control of the oil temperature was still not quite right.
Now, the bottoms of the hundred or so egg dumplings were pan-fried golden and crispy, emitting a rich egg aroma, smelling quite like fried eggs!
After pouring in the water, it immediately exploded with a surge of steam under the high heat. Chen Mo quickly put the lid back on and resumed simmering.
At this point, the little ball on the progress bar moved slowly, making it quite tricky to manage.
As he waited for the dumplings to cook, Chen Mo also waited, feeling a bit of anticipation.
This was his first time setting up a stall.
He was worried that no customers would come, and worried that if they came, they'd say it didn't taste good, just like a nervous young woman on her first night—nervous if he doesn't come, nervous if he comes on too strong, a bundle of nerves.
The other vendors, mostly sisters and aunties, also started to get busy, preparing all kinds of ingredients in advance.
Before long, two black Cadillacs pulled up by the roadside, and five middle-aged men got out in a rush.
"Dude, wasn't that five-kill streak awesome today?"
"Awesome! Brother Feng, your hand speed hasn't aged a bit, haha, no wonder your wife can't stand being apart from you for a minute, calling a dozen times even when you're at an internet café!"
"Hey! Getting a five-kill is awesome; a five-kill means you owe us a foot massage trip!"
The man leading had a protruding round belly, "Deal, just a foot massage or something, I've already arranged with the masseuse over there. Let's grab something to eat, and head over. We're off work tomorrow, let's relax, and open up a gaming room and continue to have fun!"
The man's name was Zhang Feng, thirty-two this year, a regular company employee.
Saturday was his most relaxing day, meeting up with these buddies for a little barbecue, playing games at the café, and if in a good mood, heading to the foot massage later, and finishing with an all-night gaming session at the gaming room!
Only on Saturdays could he relive his youth.
Today's five-kill had Zhang Feng pumped up; he couldn't wait to quickly grab a bite and head to the spa to relax!
Zhang Feng skillfully approached the stall, "Five starch sausages!"
Uncle Liu reminded him with a smile, "Three Yuan each, five Yuan for two, fifteen and I'll give you six!"
The golden, sizzling sausages were taken off, and Uncle Liu expertly sprinkled them with cumin powder, "A bit spicy for everyone, right?"
These young people came every Saturday, so Uncle Liu was well familiar with them by now.
"No problem!" Zhang Feng replied cheerfully, "And ten squid skewers too!"
Brother Squid had everything ready, pouring sauce over the grilled squid, "Here you go!"
Zhang Feng and his buddies stood by the stall, still animatedly discussing the game they just played.
Just then, Zhang Feng glanced at the somewhat artsy looking yellow food cart, "Boss, what are you selling?"
Chen Mo answered nervously, "Egg dumplings."
"Wow!" Zhang Feng walked over curiously, "It's been years since I've eaten these, how much are they?"
"Two Yuan each."
Zhang Feng hesitated, "Let's… have five each!"
Five each, for a total of five people—a math problem he couldn't solve right away.
"Alright!"
It was the first order of business, and Chen Mo felt a little excited, especially as the pan-frying progress bar reached the flashing point at the same time.
Open!
[Perfect!]
As the griddle lid opened, the egg dumplings, simmered for eight minutes, suddenly released a massive cloud of steam, accompanied by an incredibly rich egg aroma!
Yes, it was an indescribable egg aroma, smelling a bit like overdone fried eggs yet also like egg broth, incredibly appetizing!
Zhang Feng couldn't help but tiptoe to peek at the griddle full of egg dumplings, watching as Chen Mo skillfully lifted them with a spatula and placed them in a bamboo basket.
The already golden egg dumplings had bottoms that were fried to a crispy golden-brown, looking even more appetizing under the streetlights.
The top was a soft dumpling skin, thin enough that you could faintly see the meat filling inside through the golden egg crust!
"Wow, this boss has some skills!" Zhang Feng murmured to himself.
Chen Mo placed five dumplings in each paper bowl, "There's vinegar here if you like it, you can add it yourself."
Zhang Feng took the small bowl and nodded.
Jingzhou people love vinegar, they can't be happy without it, and mostly dip many dishes in vinegar before eating.
A dumpling went into his mouth, Zhang Feng had just taken a bite.
"Ouch! Ouch!"
The scalding egg dumpling slid around in his mouth, too hot for him to close it, but the incredibly savory egg flavor made him reluctant to spit it out, so he just kept sucking in air!
Finally, as the temperature cooled a bit, Zhang Feng bit into it.
The water-pan-frying method had caused the meat filling inside to seep with meat juice upon a bite!
The meat juice mixed with the aroma of scallion and garlic flowed freely among his teeth and lips, the bottom of the egg skin was crispy, while the top was imbued with the unique savory taste of eggs, encasing the five-spice meat filling inside.
He swallowed the dumpling.
Zhang Feng, savoring the lingering flavor of meat and egg in his mouth, excitedly turned to his buddies munching on starch sausages.
"Damn, this is delicious!"