Transmigration: The Little Chef Calls The Shots-Chapter 1443 - 262, Sugar Lotus Root (4)

At this time, Lady Jiang’s face truly stung painfully, but what was this minor pain compared to her daughter’s future prospects?

"Sister dear, this matter really owes much to you. Without your bustle and help, where could our Yaoyao have had such good fortune to meet His Highness Third Prince? Haha, once my daughter enters the Prince’s Mansion, I, oh, I will prepare a huge red packet of a thousand taels for you!"

A thousand taels?

Tao Hua’s eyes shone brightly as she attentively helped Lady Jiang sit down to rest, "Big sister, you’re really too polite. Come, come, sit down and rest. Your older sister here, although unskilled, just knows a bit of massage technique. Here, let me press those bruises for you, ensuring you’ll wake up feeling refreshed and relaxed tomorrow morning!"

It must be said, Lady Jiang’s body truly hurt terribly, she couldn’t even move her arm casually now!

Hearing Tao Hua say so, she agreed happily, and while one massaged, the other chatted; on the other side, Chen Leyao and the Third Prince also chatted happily, a scene of pure bliss.

While sharing a carriage back to town with Xu Muqing, out of boredom, Lin Yuan explained to Xu Muqing the recipes for lotus roots and fish. Already a big food lover, Xu Muqing found herself unable to move an inch after hearing Lin Yuan’s description.

It took much pleading, but Lin Yuan finally agreed to make a delicious sweet osmanthus sugar lotus root to finally keep this foodie’s mouth shut.

Upon arriving back at Dong Tian, Shopkeeper Liu came forward and said that the fish and lotus roots sent from the riverbank had been delivered to the kitchen; the fish was indeed too abundant, even Dong Tian couldn’t consume it all in a day.

However, luckily the weather was now cooler, so the fish could be stored for at least two or three days in the big tanks at the back courtyard.

This was the first time Lin Yuan cooked personally for Xu Muqing. To thank this girl for her care over the past few days, Lin Yuan personally went to the kitchen to select two uniformly thick and well-shaped lotus roots, and then took Xu Muqing to her private kitchen.

Shopkeeper Liu, knowing Lin Yuan’s habit of cooking and her frequent experimentation with new recipes, had built a small kitchen in the open space of the backyard for her. Although it was a small kitchen, it contained all sorts of knives, cooking implements, big stoves, and small ovens, comprehensive in every way except a bit smaller in scale compared to the main kitchen.

This small kitchen usually remained locked, only opened by Lin Yuan when needed.

The osmanthus sugar lotus root wasn’t a particularly complex dish, but it was one that truly tested one’s patience, demanding a long time from preparation to completion. However, fortunately, they were now in Dong Tian, where all sorts of ingredients were already prepared in the big kitchen.

Lin Yuan’s consistent style dictated that those eating should not just sit around waiting but also participate in the cooking process, even if it was just to hold a plate or stoke the fire. This was not for anything else but because when one participated in cooking, whoever ate the food would cherish and find it even more delicious.

Thus, Xu Muqing, this little plump girl had the task of fetching ingredients back and forth for Lin Yuan. Speaking of fetching ingredients, what she really needed was just the soaked glutinous rice. Glutinous rice needed to be soaked for four hours in advance, but since Lin Yuan had decided today to make this dish and considering Xu Muqing was eagerly waiting, she couldn’t possibly let this girl drool in anticipation for four hours, could she?

"Yuanyuan, I’ve brought the glutinous rice for you!" Xu Muqing carried in a big basin and with a loud thump, squatted down on the cutting board, causing the ground, where Lin Yuan was peeling the lotus root, to tremble. freewebnoveℓ.com

"You, why did you bring all the glutinous rice here?" Looking at the almost-full basin of glutinous rice, Lin Yuan couldn’t help but hold her forehead.

Xu Muqing giggled, "I really like eating glutinous rice, so I thought of asking you to put in a bit more."

Lin Yuan couldn’t help but laugh and cry. The sticky rice was supposed to be stuffed into the holes of the lotus root, but how large must the lotus root be to fit all this sticky rice?

Lin Yuan personally scooped out a small bowl of sticky rice and said, "I’ll make one for you, and one for Lin Wei and the others. This amount of sticky rice is enough. Okay, send this big basin back to the master chefs. Dong Tian still needs to do business!"

Xu Muqing pouted and reluctantly uttered an "Oh," but couldn’t help turning back to ask before she left the door, "Is this little bit really enough? Do I not need to scoop out another bowl?"

Lin Yuan, holding a small knife and busily peeling the lotus root, replied without looking up, "It’s enough, it’s enough, hurry up and send it back!"

Xu Muqing shrugged her shoulders and had no choice but to carry the basin back again.

When she returned to the small kitchen, Lin Yuan had already peeled the lotus root and was carefully stuffing the sticky rice inside with chopsticks!

Looking at the lotus root on the table, which had its head cut off and only its round, plump white body left, Xu Muqing was delighted.

Lin Yuan, puzzled by her reaction, noticed this silly girl rolling up her sleeves to compare her arm to the piece of lotus root, and even excitedly lifted her head to ask, "Yuanyuan, look! Is my arm as thick and white as the lotus root?"

Lin Yuan: ...

To prevent the sticky rice from leaking out of the holes during cooking, it was necessary not to stuff too much sticky rice inside the lotus root. However, Xu Muqing, who loved the soft, sticky bounce of sticky rice, insisted on adding more.

Having no choice, Lin Yuan complied with the "guest’s" request, stuffing the remaining sticky rice into the lotus root, then covered it with the newly cut head of the lotus root and secured it with bamboo skewers.

Once both lotus roots were prepared this way, they were ready to be cooked.

Sugar lotus, sugar lotus—how can it be called sugar lotus without sugar? Therefore, large pieces of rock sugar had to be added to the pot. To turn the sugar lotus into a brilliant red color, some brown sugar was also added. It had to be brought to a boil over high heat then stewed on low heat for an hour and a half. During the stewing, it was necessary to occasionally turn them over to evenly color the lotus roots.

Hearing that it would take an hour and a half to stew, Xu Muqing couldn’t wait any longer.

As it was almost time for lunch, to keep Xu Muqing’s mouth busy, Lin Yuan killed a fish to cook for lunch.

Lin Yuan let Xu Muqing pick a fish she liked from the big tank in the yard, then began to prepare the ingredients for cooking the fish. The little girl liked spicy food, so she planned to make a boiled fish dish and had already chopped the chili peppers in advance.

But just as she had finished slicing the green onions and ginger, Xu Muqing ran in with a flat fish, crying out excitedly as she ran, "Yuanyuan, Yuanyuan, look at this fish! It’s flat, like it’s been stepped on!"

Lin Yuan, speechless, replied wearily, "It’s not stepped on; that’s a flatfish, also known as a Wuchang fish."