Chapter 347: Not Enough Time? Magic to the Rescue!
The traditional process of making "Buddha Jumps Over the Wall" is extremely meticulous, particularly time-consuming and labor-intensive. The whole process can be roughly divided into two major stages: ingredient pre-processing and formal stewing.
Among them, ingredient pre-processing is the most troublesome!
For example, dried abalone needs to be soaked in pure water in a refrigerated environment for three days, changing the water every day. Then, it's slow-cooked for an hour in 50°C warm water with a spoonful of yellow wine (Huangjiu), turn off the heat, and let it steep until naturally cooled.
Finally, the abalone along with the water needs to be refrigerated for another twenty-four hours.
Processing fish maw is equally complex—
First, clean it, lay ginger slices on top, drizzle with yellow wine, steam for twenty minutes, then scrub while hot to remove surface grease—this step is key to removing fishiness.
Then immerse it in ice water and let it soak for forty-eight hours.
Dried sea cucumber also needs to be soaked in refrigerated pure water for three days, changing the water daily. Then simmer for forty minutes, let it cool naturally, and soak for another two days.
Others, like dried scallops, dried shiitake mushrooms, and other auxiliary ingredients, also need to be soaked in warm water for four hours.
And these are just the ingredients that need soaking; processing the other ingredients isn't simple either...
Most critically, the traditional Buddha Jumps Over the Wall that Ryohei prepared to make had a whopping eighteen kinds of ingredients!
"..."
"Tsk—!"
Wearing a light blue sports bra with her hair in a high ponytail and holding a 50kg dumbbell in her hand, Jashin-chan came into the kitchen, glanced around, and said very unhappily:
"This is simply disrupting my Dao Heart!"
"I finally made up my mind to exercise seriously, and you, Servant, are making a big feast to tempt me!"
"Who's tempting you?"
Ryohei didn't even look up as he wrote down the processing steps in a notebook, his tone flat: "Pekola wanted to eat it, so I'm making it."
He paused, as if remembering something, and suggested, "Hmm... you can just help out and not eat."
"Are you speaking human language!?"
Jashin-chan was shocked right then and there. Her eyes widened, looking at Ryohei in disbelief.
Is your heart this black now? Who did you learn from!
"Didn't you say yourself that you wanted to exercise properly?"
Ryohei looked up with a strange expression, his tone innocent: "Am I not considering you?"
"I thank you very much!"
The scummy snake gripped the dumbbell in her hand tightly.
"So that's how it is!"
Lucoa had a look of realization. With her left hand on her slender soft waist and her right hand on her world-class fullness, she played along: "Then I'll take care of Jashin-chan's share!"
"I can also help with that," Pekola raised her hand from the side and said nonchalantly.
"In your dreams!"
The scummy snake's face turned black. She glared at the two and muttered discontentedly, "If I work, I definitely have to eat! This is the fruit of my labor... I'll exercise tomorrow!"
"Heh—!"
"Your will is really not firm! Tomorrow after tomorrow, how many tomorrows are there..."
Ryohei teased with a smile, walked over with the notebook, showed the written processing steps to Jashin-chan, and instructed, "Process these ingredients according to what I wrote."
After finishing, he turned to Lucoa and said, "Lucoa, come help too."
"Hmm? What do you need me to do?"
Lucoa tilted her head and asked curiously.
"Some dried goods need time to process; help apply a 'Time Acceleration' buff."
Not enough time? Magic to the rescue!
Ryohei signaled to Jashin-chan, who was reading the processing steps, and said, "Ask Jashin-chan for specifics; I wrote it on there."
"Okay."
Lucoa glanced at Jashin-chan and made an "OK" gesture.
"..."
Arrangements made—
Ryohei put on his apron, preparing to start today's lunch.
It was already past one o'clock, and he was hungry. Fortunately, Crab Stir-fried Rice Cakes wasn't a time-consuming dish.
He poured the eight plump swimming crabs into the sink, cleaned them, used his ruthless iron hand to pry open the crab shells, and skillfully removed the inedible parts like crab gills and crab stomach.
Then he placed the processed crabs on the cutting board. With a few crisp crack, crack sounds as the knife fell, each crab was divided into even pieces.
Finally, he swung the back of the knife and tapped lightly on the hard crab claws. With a crack, the cracks opened just right.
"..." Ryohei suddenly realized that the "Power of One Dragon" brought not only an increase in combat power but also made processing ingredients increasingly handy.
Now, even without Lucoa's buff, he reckoned he could easily use the "Violent Bull Azure Dragon Slash."
Thinking to himself, Ryohei set up a wok, blanched the strip-shaped rice cakes he bought until soft, then rinsed them in cold water and drained them to maintain a chewy texture.
Then he heated the wok with cold oil. When the oil temperature rose and wisps of green smoke appeared, he added ginger slices and minced garlic, stir-frying over low heat until fragrant, then added the crab pieces with their cut surfaces coated in starch.
Sizzle—!
The moment the hot oil touched the crabs, a burst of steam rose, and the sizzling sound rang out endlessly! The savory aroma of the crabs excited by the hot oil also dispersed!
Smelling this fragrance, Ryohei patiently pan-fried the crab meat.
Seeing the blue-grey crab shells gradually transform into an enticing orange-red, the crab meat at the edges shrink slightly, and clear crab oil seeping out, he knew the time had come.
Ryohei grabbed the cooking wine and quickly drizzled a circle along the edge of the wok. Accompanied by a hiss sound, a burst of steam carrying the aroma of wine rose from the wok, taking away the fishiness.
He quickly stir-fried a few times, then successively added light soy sauce, dark soy sauce, oyster sauce, and white sugar, bringing out the classic savory-sweet base flavor!
In an instant, the complex sauce aroma collided and merged with the domineering crab umami in the high heat. An aroma that made people want to drool rose abruptly, instantly filling the entire kitchen.
"So fragrant!"
Lucoa couldn't help but look towards the stove. Pekola, hands behind her back, had already strode over to Ryohei with her long, full legs, staring into the wok with sparkling eyes.
Jashin-chan, who was processing ingredients, twitched her nose, looked back, and muttered softly:
"So savory!"
"..."
At the same time—
Splash—!
Ryohei poured half a ladle of clear water into the wok. After bringing it to a boil over high heat, he put in the pre-blanched rice cakes, stirring gently to let the rice cakes be immersed in the soup.
Then he turned to medium-low heat, covered the wok, and let it simmer.
"Almost ready," he turned and said to Pekola.
"Mn."
Pekola nodded gently.
Taking advantage of the simmering time, Ryohei took out four plates from the cupboard and laid them out on the counter. Then he went to check on Jashin-chan's progress with the ingredients.
Estimating the time in his mind, he returned to the stove, uncovered the wok, and flipped the contents with a spatula to prevent the rice cakes from sticking to the bottom.
Then simmered for another two minutes—
Ryohei turned off the heat, uncovered the wok, and sprinkled a handful of chopped green onions...
The Crab Stir-fried Rice Cakes were complete!
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