Chapter 113 (2/2)

“Boss Yuan, what does that mean, the one called 100 Styles of Rice Cuisine?” Zhuang Xinmu asked.

“It’s literally what it’s supposed to mean.” Yuan Zhou straightforwardly answered.

“Eh, is it really the name of a particular rice cuisine?” Wu Zhou still believed his speculation was right.

“It should be the 100 ways of cooking rice?” After thinking for a while, Zhuang Xinmu said to Yuan Zhou.

This time, Yuan Zhou gave her a simple nod, affirming her speculation.

If one were to say that there were a 100 ways of cooking rice, most people would probably believe that. They just didn’t know which method it was.

“What kind of cooking ways? Does it include porridge?” Actually, Zhuang Xinmu preferred to drink porridge. As her mom was from the south and their breakfast was always porridge, with Southern snacks sometimes.

“No, it doesn’t include that. It’s limited to only the cooking ways of rice. You can add flavorings but cannot add side dishes.” Yuan Zhou gave a supplementary explanation to her.

“That’s fine. I want a serving of Fried Rice Patties. Boss Yuan should know the way of cooking, right?” Zhuang Xinmu asked with a mischievous expression.

This place was located in the southwest. Therefore, this dish name, which sounded to be a kind of snack, was rather unfamiliar. Obviously, Zhuang Xinmu did this on purpose.

She just wanted to see the expression of Yuan Zhou when he wasn’t able to cook it.

She would never have thought that Yuan Zhou still remained calm and say, “Sure, wait a moment, please.”

When she found Yuan Zhou actually knew how to cook it, she got a little surprised. Thinking of the Jin’ling cuisines, however, she immediately understood.

Wu Zhou just stood at the side and watched them. He hadn’t eaten the Fried Rice Patties before either, hence said hurriedly, “I want a serving of that dish too.” Only after ordering his dish did he sit down and wait there.

Fried Rice Patties was matter-of-factly a traditional snack which was especially popular in the area south of the Yangtze River. It was a deep fried pastry, usually cooked for breakfast.

Of course, Yuan Zhou had a good knowledge of the snack. Perfect Fried Rice Patties were characterized by the golden yellow external layer along with the snowy internal layer of cooked soft rice, giving it a fragrant taste and crisp feeling when being bit. Chewed in the mouth, the Fried Rice Patties gave crisp, salty and fresh texture without any greasy feeling even though it was fried with oil.

He took out some Jing Shan Qiao Rice, washed them clean and threw them into a high-temperature ceramic rice cooker. After that, he added some water until the water level was 5 cm above the rice and added some fragrant well salt. Having heated the cooker on high heat first, he then turned down the flames and kept heating the cooker for another 10 minutes. At this time, the lid of the cooker needed to be removed, thus the fragrance of the cooked rice naturally floated slowly into the noses of the several people.

“What kind of rice is it? With such a fragrant flavor, it feels that I can even eat at least two bowls of the plain rice,” while inhaling the scent of the rice, Wu Zhou asked directly.

However, Yuan Zhou pretended not to hear that and didn’t give him any answer.

“It’s likely to be some new crops of rice. My mum has once said some new crops of rice in the area south of the Yangtze River were quite fragrant to cook,” Zhuang Xinmu said hesitantly.

“Yeah, yeah. Mu Mu is always right,” Wu Zhou responded primly.

“With such heavy fragrance, it must have been cooked with new crops of rice and spring mountain water.” Now, Zhuang Xinmu’s expression appeared to be more firm.

On this point, Zhuang Xinmu definitely speculated correctly. It was indeed new crops of rice being cooked with spring mountain water. It was just that this spring mountain water was the flowing spring water from deep within the mountains, hence free from any pollution or peculiar smells, while the rice was Yang Xi Zao, a breed of the Jing Shan Qiao Rice.

Soon the rice was well cooked. He then poured them into a square wooden plate and made them into two shaped pastries of identical size. After setting them down in a special place for cooling, Yuan Zhou began to prepare the oil and wok for frying.

The oil that Yuan Zhou had poured into the wok was just enough to submerge the two rectangle soap-sized shaped pastries. When the oil was heated until it boiled, the shaped pastries had also cooled properly. Then, Yuan Zhou slid the two pastries along the verge of the oil into the wok and began to fry them.

During the process, he stirred the oil lightly with the spoon. At that time, the main hall was again free of any greasy smell.

After turning to golden yellow color, the Fried Rice Patties took shape. Yuan Zhou directly scooped them up and shook his hand quickly during the process. When they were laid out on the square plate, there was no excessive oil, leaving only the golden yellow and delicious Fried Rice Patties emitting a tempting fragrance.

It greatly stirred some appetites…