Push Me Away When I Come, Don't Hold Me Back When I Leave - Chapter 18

Chapter 18: Ruoming’s Secret Recipe Fried Chicken Wings

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After cycling home, Xia Ruoming threw her backpack onto the sofa and hurriedly rushed out again, cycling towards the supermarket. Liu Ruoxue wanted to stop her to ask something, but before she could even open her mouth, Xia Ruoming had already disappeared.

“This child, ah… always in such a rush and so careless with everything, I really wish she could be more steady,” Liu Ruoxue shook her head as she watched the energetic Xia Ruoming.

“2 kg of frozen chicken wings, 1 box of milk, 2 boxes of yogurt, 1 pack of onion powder, 1 pack of salt…” Xia Ruoming was muttering the items from memory while selecting the ingredients.

“1 pack of brown sugar… wow, how can packaged brown sugar be so expensive? Next time I should go to the farmers’ market for loose sugar instead.” Xia Ruoming picked up a bag of Wang brand brown sugar, looked at the price, 400g for 40 yuan. He might as well rob people directly, but instead sold some brown sugar to you, Xia Ruoming could really cry about this. The loose brown sugar at the neighboring farmers’ market was only 9 yuan per 500g, buying 2.5kg would even get you a rate of 6 yuan per 500g.

“2 packs of chili powder, 1 pack of garlic powder, 1 bottle of Italian seasoning, 1 pack of corn starch, 1 pack of low-gluten flour, 1 pack of spicy coating powder, 1 pack of baking soda… and 3 boxes of glucose drinks…” After checking the items in her shopping cart and recalling everything from memory, making sure nothing was missing, Xia Ruoming went to the cashier to pay, then returned home with the big bag of groceries.

Liu Ruoxue looked at the big bag of things Xia Ruoming brought back, feeling somewhat puzzled.

“Why did you bring back so many things? We don’t lack starch and seasonings at home.”

“Mom, I’m just going to use the kitchen!” Xia Ruoming directly carried the big bag of groceries into the kitchen and locked the door.

“You stubborn child, open the door! You’re cooking? Have you forgotten how you almost burned down the kitchen last time?” Liu Ruoxue’s eyes widened outside the door. She knew best that Xia Ruoming never did any housework, usually doing nothing at home, but now which nerve wasn’t working right that made her want to cook again?

“Oh mom, just wait for my good news, this time is different from last time.” Hearing Xia Ruoming’s excited voice from the kitchen, Liu Ruoxue collapsed lifelessly onto the sofa.

Fine, she’d probably have to clean up again in half an hour.

Xia Ruoming used a fork to poke holes in the chicken wings and began preparing to marinate them.

Just thinking about the finished product made her mouth water. These fried chicken wings were a technique she had learned from a certain boss in her previous life, with taste comparable to McDonald’s spicy chicken wings.

She didn’t usually eat such things to maintain her figure; making fried chicken wings was for her future shop plans. In her previous life, the bubble tea shop was quite popular. She planned to open a mixed shop with fried chicken + bubble tea + ice cream, where the fried chicken would use homemade seasonings instead of pre-made products, the bubble tea would use real ingredients, and the ice cream would be cream-based. Triple the fattening effect, but it didn’t matter since she wouldn’t be the one eating it.

“1 spoon of brown sugar, 1 spoon of chili powder, 1 spoon of garlic powder, 1 spoon of salt, 1 spoon of onion powder, 1 spoon of Italian seasoning.” She hummed while pouring the dry ingredients into a bowl, mixing them evenly, then poured 500ml of milk and 150ml of yogurt into another bowl, mixing it well.

After coating the chicken wings in the dry ingredients, Xia Ruoming put them all in the prepared milk mixture, covered it with plastic wrap, and placed it in the quick-freeze compartment to freeze for 30 minutes. It would have been better to marinate overnight in the refrigerator, but she didn’t seem to have time for that, this was just for a trial run.

While waiting for the chicken wings to marinate, Xia Ruoming mixed 2 spoons of low-gluten flour, 1 spoon of corn starch, 1 spoon of spicy coating powder, plus a little baking soda and the remaining dry ingredients together to make the frying powder.

After taking the marinated chicken wings out of the refrigerator, she coated them with the frying powder, dipped them back in the remaining milk liquid, then coated them with frying powder again.

She lit the stove, heated oil in the pan to 160 degrees Celsius, and fried each chicken wing for 5 minutes before removing them to drain oil. Then she arranged the fried chicken wings on a plate, picked some celery that Liu Ruoxue grew in the kitchen, and cut two slices of lemon for garnish.

Due to not controlling it well this time, two chicken wings still got burnt.

“Mom! Come try the fried chicken wings I made!” Xia Ruoming carried the plate out of the kitchen, facing Liu Ruoxue’s lifeless gaze.

However, Liu Ruoxue’s lifeless expression only lasted for 2 seconds before turning into a somewhat delighted expression. This delight wasn’t because her daughter suddenly knew how to cook, but because the kitchen hadn’t exploded and she wouldn’t need to clean it up.

The kitchen really hadn’t exploded, and it seemed her daughter had actually made a dish. Except for the two burnt chicken wings, the presentation looked quite good, slightly reddish golden-yellow chicken wings. Although the appearance couldn’t compare to M’s products, it was still decent.

Liu Ruoxue picked up a chicken wing with chopsticks and tasted it. It was actually quite delicious, the skin was crispy, and the chicken was fried just right, though perhaps due to insufficient marinating time, it seemed a bit bland, but the coating was quite good.

“Not bad, just that the meat seems a bit bland,” Liu Ruoxue commented while eating. “How did you make it? Teach mom too, next time mom will make it for you.”

“I’m glad you like it, mom. I just learned this, seeing how tired you are lately, I especially made it for you.” Xia Ruoming stuck out her tongue. Actually, what she thought was that Liu Ruoxue’s taste was quite hard to please, if she thought it was not bad, then this thing definitely had selling potential.

As for planning to open a shop and do business in the future, she didn’t dare tell Liu Ruoxue, to avoid getting lectured.

“You didn’t burn down the kitchen, that’s already a relief for mom.” Although Liu Ruoxue said this, she still pressed Xia Ruoming to sit down and picked up a chicken wing for her to eat. “You still have plenty of time ahead. Now focus on studying well, that would make mom happy. This isn’t the time to do these things. If you want to eat something, just tell mom, mom will make it for you.”

After simply finishing the meal, the mother and daughter also discussed the day’s events regarding Chu Suhe.

“Ah, I see.” Liu Ruoxue nodded with a smile. “Mom was wrong to blame you, mom apologizes.”

In Xia Ruoming’s family, it had always been this way, whoever was wrong admitted it, and any issues were resolved that day, never left for later settling of scores.

“However… it’s not that mom doesn’t agree with you dating, but there’s just over a month until the college entrance exam. If you want to date, date all you want in university. Wanting to get into a 211 university was your own words, mom never forced you into anything, but that was your promise.” Liu Ruoxue looked into Xia Ruoming’s eyes, her clear gaze showing only concern, without any blame.