趙暢

母親幾十年來還一直保留著自己的傳統(tǒng)手藝“蠶豆飯”。時節(jié)到了，即便遠在上海的我的女兒和遠在北京的外甥女也會像候鳥一樣準時返回，盡管是借著探望長輩的名號，但其中也有為了嘗一嘗奶奶、外婆“蠶豆飯”手藝的小心計。

春色撩人，尤其在天高云淡的映襯下，大地鮮亮萬分、氣象萬千。農(nóng)村的田地里，除了一大片一大片金黃燦爛的油菜花，那越冬而來的蠶豆也開出了一壟壟、滿簇簇的蠶花，美得讓人失聲叫喊。

到了立夏季節(jié)，蠶豆就可以采摘了。剛剛摘下的蠶豆，一俟剝開豆莢，那嫩綠的豆粒抵近嗅聞，便有縷縷清香撲面而來。

豆子背后的記憶

前不久的一天，我獨自穿行在四明山區(qū)一個小山村連片種植的蠶豆田壟間。定睛細看，在密匝匝、油潤潤的葉隙間錯落有致盛開的蠶花，分明就是一只只翩翩飛舞、悠然停歇在蠶豆間的蝴蝶。而紫白色蠶豆花花瓣上那斑耀眼的圓黑，則恍若蠶豆窺春的眼睛——它或許永遠不知道，其實它自己本身也是一道春天里亮麗無比的獨特風景?！皷|風裊，蝶花妖。驚心蘭蔻艷春嬌。絳株玉莖無人賦，俏蕊風流自艷搖?！边@該是詩人因仰慕繾綣而心旌搖曳的寫照了。

與其說我愛蠶豆花，倒不如說我愛的是它的果實。對蠶豆最初的記憶，源自寄養(yǎng)在鄉(xiāng)村祖父家時祖母嚼碎蠶豆喂我的那一刻。盡管現(xiàn)在想來，這樣的喂食并不衛(wèi)生，但恰恰是這溫馨倍至的舉動，卻永遠橫亙在了我味蕾和感情的深處。蠶豆，被祖母叫做“羅漢豆”，后來才知這是紹興人的俗稱，因其形似羅漢頭，更兼其神似——羅漢是佛教中逍遙閑適的角色，而蠶豆制成的茴香豆是紹興最常見的的“閑食”，茶館以之為茶食，故以羅漢命名蠶豆。

清明過去，要不了多少時間，蠶豆身上便豆莢累累，且每天不見其長卻日有所長。想起孩提時，幾個伙伴們會輪流著去自家地里偷吃，我們稱之為“捉青蟲”。記得汪曾祺先生在《蠶豆二題》中寫道：“我們那時偷吃的是最嫩的蠶豆，也就是長得尚未飽滿的，躲在軟軟的羽葉間，有細細的絨毛，尾巴上尚留些殘花，像極了蠶寶寶，只顏色是青的，家鄉(xiāng)人有時干脆就戲稱其為‘青蟲子，摘一條在手里，毛茸茸的，硬軟適度，剝開殼——或者也不必剝，只一掰就斷了，兩三粒翠玉般的嫩蠶豆舒適地躺在軟白的海綿里，正呼呼大睡，一擠也就出來了，直接扔入口中，清甜的汁液立刻在口中迸出，新嫩莫名?！蓖粼飨壬P下的情景，與我們當年“捉青蟲”情節(jié)是何等相似。

各種美好的吃法

每年到了蠶豆上市季節(jié)，不管價格多貴，父親都會買回來給我們嘗鮮。自然，蠶豆不剝皮而水煮，這是最本真最地道也是最具原味的嘗鮮。饕餮一嘗留下的舌尖印記，以“三月不知肉味”喻之，怕是最恰當不過的了。自然，母親也不甘示弱，幾十年來她還一直保留著自己的傳統(tǒng)手藝“蠶豆飯”。而每到這個時候，即便遠在上海的女兒和遠在北京的外甥女也會像候鳥一樣準時返回，盡管借著探望長輩的名號，但其中也有為了嘗一嘗奶奶和外婆“蠶豆飯”手藝的小心計。

母親的蠶豆飯，其原料就是剝皮的蠶豆、切成細粒的火腿肉以及白凈的糯米。煮飯前，母親通常會將蠶豆在油鍋中汆一下，然后再放入若干細?；鹜热夂团疵?，撮上些許鹽，續(xù)上適量的熱水燒煮。不知何故，這般加工出來的蠶豆飯，就是別具一格、無可比擬。尤其當蠶豆的清香、火腿的鮮香與糯米的糯香交融一起，蠶豆如翡翠綠、火腿似寶石紅、糯米像和田白糅合一塊之時，豈一個妙字了得！要不了多少時間，一大鍋蠶豆飯便早早地被我們風卷殘云般地一掃而光。

蠶豆的吃法很多，按照傳統(tǒng)的加工方法，鮮嫩時盡可用清水煮著吃、放蛋湯吃、剝皮蒸咸肉吃、與紅莧菜炒了吃，曬干成為老蠶豆后，則可孵出豆芽佐咸菜吃、鐵鍋細砂翻炒吃、放入油鍋炸了吃。最讓人心儀的，大約要算是炒干蠶豆了。20世紀六七十年代，物質(zhì)特別匱乏，加之家庭經(jīng)濟拮據(jù)，于是，炒干蠶豆成了我們家里最為常見的零食。炒干蠶豆，最好是用柴灶，并用鐵鍋和米粒大小的細砂。用柴灶，主要是容易控制火候，開始可以用點猛火，慢慢地，最后就借余燼來炒。母親說：“炒干蠶豆，先用猛火是為了讓干豆僵硬的身體盡快蘇醒起來、舒展過來。爾后不再添柴，將余燼攏一攏，再炒上一會兒，則是為了從外到內(nèi)慢慢攻其里掏其心。用剩余的柴火炒干豆，恰似用溫熱的手去慢慢撫摸蠶豆，直至它深紅油亮而至熟透、香脆。佐以細砂，當是出于均勻炒制的考慮?！弊鳛榻處煹哪赣H，一番形象比喻和富于哲理的話語，早就勾出了我們肚里蠢蠢欲動的饞蟲。

因為炒蠶豆是日常的零食，差不多半個來月母親都會給我們姐弟幾個分配一次。有一回，因為起床遲了，沒吃早飯，我就匆匆趕往學校。在肚子餓得咕咕叫的時候，我突然想到了留在口袋的幾粒炒蠶豆。為了不被老師發(fā)現(xiàn)，我剝了幾粒偷偷含在嘴里。慢慢地，因為含軟，于是我竟情不自禁地嚼動起來。真是奇怪，隨著幾粒蠶豆的吞咽，肚子始偃旗息鼓而不再鬧騰?？晌丛爰?，就在嘴巴不自覺的張合間，炒蠶豆的釅釅醇香也在“跑風漏氣”，且很快被全班同學和正在授課的老師發(fā)現(xiàn)了。當我認錯并說明了上課嚼炒蠶豆的原委以后，老師和同學還是原諒了我。授課老師甚至還不忘他平日的幽默，轉(zhuǎn)過身笑著說道：“這蠶豆炒得是到家了，這不，炒蠶豆的香氣竟然蓋過了我上課的人氣。下次有機會，我一定上你家去取取經(jīng)呵！”

放入油鍋炸了吃，那是一種被江南人稱之為“蘭花豆”的加工方法。就是先將蠶豆放入水中浸泡一下，待其軟化便在豆嘴上剁一刀。這剁一刀，可是大有學問。聽母親說，“這剁下去要不偏不倚剁在蠶豆扁平面的中間，而且長度要放在從豆嘴到豆身的三分之二處。這樣下油鍋炸出來的‘蘭花豆不僅好看，而且食用起來也易于用舌尖和牙齒將豆殼剔除”。果真如母親所說的一樣，這般剁過的蠶豆放入油鍋一炸，便緩緩裂開而向外翻開，就如慢鏡頭中花瓣的綻放一樣。待其油炸成型，則形似“蘭花”?！疤m花豆”的得名，就由此而來。母親炸的“蘭花豆”好吃，不啻因為有像似蘭花的造型和富于詩意的名字，更是因為它那令人難忘的口感——它是脆的，它的脆很有分寸，松脆有致，既不松垮、脆弱還爽利不乏嚼勁;它是醇的，它的醇是淡雅悠長的，是菜油、豆香渾然一體、滋潤有加的滋味。難怪，每年的年夜飯，“蘭花豆”總是成為集體的“定制菜”。就如父親所言：“要是桌上少了一碗‘蘭花豆，年夜飯吃起來也就不香了?！?/p>

一粒小小的蠶豆，竟然成為我們生活中不可或缺的一部分，這是始料未及的。而今，市場上的物資供應(yīng)也早已今非昔比，可謂應(yīng)有盡有。即便是作為零食，休閑食品也是多了去了，但不知為何，蠶豆在我們?nèi)胰诵睦锏牡匚皇冀K無法替代、無可撼動——說到底，這是因為蠶豆中承載著全家人幾十年來太多的情感，以及對于由蠶豆喂養(yǎng)而成的幸福內(nèi)涵的特別解讀。

My love of broad beans started in childhood years. In my earliest memory my grandmother fed road beans to me when I was just a baby girl living with my grandparents in a village in Shaoxing. In Shaoxing， broad beans are called the arhat beans because they look somewhat like the image of an arhat in Buddhism. These beans were the most favorite between-meal nibbles in the years when I was a kid.

Also in my memory of childhood years， we kids stole broad beans from vegetable gardens of our families in turn. Broad beans in days after the Qingming Festival are sweet， tender and succulent. We took the beans out of their fuzzy pods and threw them into the mouth and chewed the juicy beans like a glutton.

When I was a kid， my father always bought broad beans when they were first available in the local produce market no matter how exorbitant they were. These broad beans were cooked in water without taking the pods off. This is my fathers favorite recipe. My mother gives us a different broad bean treat. Her recipe is for broad-bean rice. Ingredients in her recipe are diced ham， broad beans， and glutinous rice. Over the past decades， I have enjoyed the treat every year. My daughter in Shanghai and my sisters daughter in Beijing come back to visit us in the spring time every year. I know in my heart they also come for the broad-bean rice my mother prepares after the Qingming Festival when broad beans are available.

In Shaoxing， there are many ways to turn broad beans into delicious dishes. When broad beans are fresh and tender and succulent， they can be directly cooked in plain water， they can be an ingredient in egg soup， steamed with bacon， or cooked with amaranth. Dehydrated broad beans can be rehydrated and let shoots come out. Such broad beans can be cooked with pickled vegetables. Dried broad beans can also be turned into between-meal edibles. In the 1970s， an age of economic shortages， broad beans were the best thing for us. My mother， a teacher who knows how to cook， has recipes for preparing broad beans in sand or in hot edible oil. I remember being awed by her brief lectures on the way she prepares such delicious snack food.

Deep-fried broad beans are a most time-consuming delicacy. My father likes it best. Naturally my mother gives me a detailed lecture on how to deep-fry broad beans. Dehydrated broad beans must be steeped in water until they become so soft that one can use a kitchen knife to give each bean a cut. The cut must not be too deep or too shallow. The cut must be about two-thirds into a bean so that after deep fried， the husk can be easily removed. When deep fried， broad beans can， due to the cut， open like flowers. That is why deep-fried broad beans are called “orchid beans” in Shaoxing. The deep-fried broad beans my mother prepares are delicious and crispy. A bowl of deep-fried broad beans is a must at our family reunion dinner on the eve of the Spring Festival. My father goes so far as to state that it is the broad beans that make the dinner complete.

In my teenage years， broad beans were the best between-meal edible at the time when the national economy was struggling hard for growth. Nowadays， there are all kinds of snack food. However， broad beans remain as our familys favorite， for they are part of our memories， our love for each other， our sense of happiness and togetherness.