Chapter 115 (1/2)

Chapter 115: Strange Methods

“Sure,” Yuan Zhou agreed.

“Boss Yuan, you can even cook this?” Yin Ya had only eaten this food once which was brought by one of her colleagues.

At that time, she just felt it was smooth, tender and soft; in one word, very delicious. After enquiring, however, she only knew it was a kind of snack made of rice, which couldn’t be found locally. Right now when she heard of rice products, she immediately recalled the snack subconsciously and thus asked casually, without holding any expectations.

“Yes, I can,” Yuan Zhou said affirmatively.

“Then I’m going to eat it today,” Yin Ya said happily.

“Of course. Just come tomorrow at this hour,” Yuan Zhou answered with an earnest expression.

“Humm… what?” YinYa first agreed subconsciously before reacting to what Yuan Zhou was saying.

“Why?” Yin Ya became puzzled.

“Fenli requires a night of preparation. So it’s unavailable today,” Yuan Zhou straightforwardly said that.

“Eh… haven’t you said that reservations were not allowed?” Yin Ya felt rather speechless. She then asked Yuan Zhou while pointing at the rules on the wall.

“That’s why I ask you to come tomorrow at this hour,” Yuan Zhou answered offhandedly.

“You sure it’s not available today?” Yin Ya asked again as if for confirmation.

“No.” Yuan Zhou answered firmly.

“Then what are the dishes that I can eat today?” Yin Ya asked after thinking for a while.

“It depends on what you want to eat.” It felt like the conversation between these two people had returned to the start.

Yin Ya couldn’t help but support her forehead with her hand. “Oh, my god. Just forget it. What about Lotus Leaf Rice?”

“No problem,” Yuan Zhou frowned, not quite understanding what was wrong with YinYa, but still he gave a positive answer.

“In addition, a serving of Jin’ling Grass and beef mince.” Yin Ya frugally ordered the dishes and emphasized the allocation of meat and vegetables.

“One moment, please.”

Yuan Zhou directly turned around and began to prepare the food.

Lotus leaves were included among the flavorings; therefore, the system had already prepared it.

The Lotus Leaf Rice could trace back to 1300 years ago. Earliest records of the Lotus Leaf Rice in regions of Guangdong could be seen in the book New Talks of Guangdong during the transitional period from the End of the Ming Dynasty to Early Qing Dynasty, “There is a dish called Lotus Leaf Rice in Dongguan, where local people used lotus leaves to wrap the fragrant rice, fish, and meat, etc. and then steamed them together, emitting fragrance from both the exterior and the interior.”

In addition, there was another poem mentioning the Lotus Leaves Rice, “In the Pantang area, there is a pond filled with lotus leaves; sisters arrived at dawn to busy with picking them; they don’t pick the lotus flower but the lotus leaves instead; as the scent of Lotus Leaf Rice is more fragrant than the lotus flowers itself.”

The Lotus Leaf Rice cooked by Yuan Zhou was just like the one mentioned in the poem, more fragrant than the lotus flowers. He didn’t actually prepare to put other ingredients in the rice. It was no more than just the Lotus Leaf Rice.

Due to the restrictions on the time, Yuan Zhou directly put the rice into a pot prepared by the system to soak after washing it clean. The pot had an effect of accelerating fermentation and hence could shorten the original two hours’ time to within 5 minutes.

During the period of time, Yuan Zhou began to rinse the lotus leaves.

Taken out from the cabinet, the lotus leaves seemed like they had just been picked. There were even still some filaments hanging around at the fracture sections and there were also some crystal dewdrops over the leaves.

The newly picked lotus leaves weren’t subject to immediate use, not only because of the cleanliness but also because they had an astringent taste that needed some prior treatment. Yuan Zhou directly used the dewdrops taken from the lotus leaves to rinse them, which could not only prevent the intrinsic fragrant taste of the lotus leaves from being ruined but could also wash them clean that way.

Subsequently, he took out some dewdrops and boiled them with a pot. The lotus leaves were then placed inside for blanching. When they turned darker in color and became slightly soft, Yuan Zhou directly fished out and aired them to dry.

At that time, he took out the rice grains that were well soaked and began to wrap them using the lotus leaves.

Yuan Zhou acted quite meticulously while wrapping the rice. Even the filaments used to bind the lotus leaves were the lotus stalks that had become soft in the boiling water. This was to prevent any foreign flavor from affecting the Lotus Leaf Rice.

The Lotus Leaf Rice needed to be steamed. Therefore, Yuan Zhou used the pressure cooker to steam the food quickly, which guaranteed the taste while retaining the nutrition.