Chapter 161 - Dongpo Tofu (2/2)
As soon as the bamboo leaves were placed in the pot, one could immediately smell the faint fragrance of bamboo. Li Qing leaned over curiously and asked, “Can bamboo leaves be eaten too?”
“I don’t see you eating the dumpling leaves either.” Xu Le explained, “I was just borrowing the taste.”
“I remember that this dish didn’t need bamboo leaves in the beginning.”
“Yes. It’s modified. Adding bamboo leaves will make the taste more fragrant. Didn’t Su Dongpo say that it’s better to eat without meat than to live without bamboo? When cooking rice, add a few bamboo leaves into it, and it will taste better when it comes out.”
Xu Le took the sesame oil and dripped a few drops into it. Then, he found some yellow wine and poured five grams of it into the pot.
After completely stewing the fragrance of the bamboo leaves into the soup and tofu, he could remove the bamboo leaves and place them on a plate. A small amount of starch would be used to thicken the sauce. Then, he aded onion oil and salt to produce the flavor and evaporated the sauce over high heat.
On the plate, the dark green bamboo leaves contrasted with the snow-white tofu. The top was covered with fragrant fenugreek seeds. It was indescribably beautiful.
Xu Le ground some pine nuts and sprinkled them on it to increase the rich texture of the nuts.
Little did they know that the netizens watching from their screens were already in huge excitement when they saw this dish.
“He actually made tofu at such a grand competition venue.”
“How can fried tofu be presentable?”
“But what’s on it? That nut looks quite delicious.”
“Please stop. I’m not used to fenugreek seeds at all. I bought a packet and put it away until it’s moldy.”
“It’s not delicious at all.”
“What nonsense. I grew up eating nuts.”
“Why don’t you guys see why the Master Chef is not showing his finished product for the next few dishes?”
They did not dare to relax for a moment while cooking. The second round of the competition finally reached the plating segment. The order in which the audience saw the cut scenes was completely chaotic. It was impossible to tell which dish was made by whom.
Xu Le finally heaved a sigh of relief after pouring the hot dark red soup on the last bowl of tea noodles.
But the relief didn’t last. He started becoming tensed again.
This was because he saw from the corner of his eye that when the staff distributed the noodles, there were two servings of tea noodles and two servings of Dongpo Tofu…
He felt that something was amiss and thought to himself, “There are so many ingredients. How can he have the same four dishes as me?”
The host said, “Two dishes will be served every time. You should vote for whichever dish you think tastes better. At the end, the votes will be counted to determine the winner.”
The first dish was Dongpo Tofu. The Master Chef used egg pancakes at the bottom to plate the dish, while Xu Le used bamboo leaves. Other than the difference in the plating, the two dishes looked almost identical.
Song Deyue tasted the Dongpo Tofu made by Xu Le. The savory tofu was filled with the fragrance of bamboo leaves. One side was golden, and the other side was snow-white. It was crispy and tender, and the aftertaste was slightly sweet.
The nuts on it were the finishing touch. They were crisp and fragrant.
He looked at the ingredients in disbelief and tasted a second mouthful after confirming that it was tofu.
Mapo Tofu was salty, fresh, and spicy. Dongpo Tofu looked bland, but it was delicious. It was solid but tender.
The other Dongpo Tofu dish with fried eggs on the bottom blended the taste of the two and actually tasted like vegetarian meat. However, in comparison, it was less fragrant and more greasy.
There were too many people present. Even from listening to the sound of the system collecting gold coins, it was difficult for him to estimate the number of votes. He could only wait silently.
Li Qing looked at his heavy expression and asked curiously, “You were still lecturing me just now. Why do you suddenly lose confidence?”