Chapter 034
Beeihae Shinnshiow
About fifteen minutes after Shinnshiow sat in the living room, he heard the bathroom door open. Yinqyueh had finished bathing. Three or four seconds later, Shinnshiow listened to the sound of the door opening. The girl went back into Shannchyuan's room. Less than five minutes later, Yinqyueh had already appeared in the living room.
"Who was the call from?" Yinqyueh opened her mouth with a very bright face.
Why does this girl look so happy?
"Probably just the wrong number. Nobody's talking from the other end."
The girl's face changed. "It wasn't a wrong number."
"We can't draw any conclusions from that phone call."
"Does something like this happen often?"
Shinnshiow shook his head.
"Then what should we do now?" Yinqyueh asked.
"Don't worry too much about it. Maybe this is just a prank."
Yinqyueh still looked doubtful.
"Are you ready?" Shinnshiow smiled. He promptly shifted the conversation to something else.
The girl nodded. "Let's start cooking now."
Shinnshiow got up from the sofa and immediately walked towards the kitchen. Yinqyueh followed him while humming. Shinnshiow didn't know what song the girl was singing.
Arriving in the kitchen, Shinnshiow opened the refrigerator. He looked at the ingredients in the fridge. Quickly, he took the frozen condiments out of the refrigerator. He then took a giant wok. Shinnshiow placed the large skillet on the stove. After turning on the stove, he began to grease the wok's surface with butter.
"Wow! That's a huge wok." Yinqyueh exclaimed in admiration.
"There are six of us in all. So we have to use a big wok."
Yinqyueh nodded. "What are we going to cook this morning?"
"I don't know yet," answered Shinnshiow.
"You don't know yet?"
"I'll see what ingredients we still have. I should have gone shopping yesterday."
"About the frozen condiment that Shiowge just took out of the fridge. Isn't that the condiment for making fried rice?" Yinqyueh asked.
Shinnshiow smiled. "Right, this is indeed the seasoning for making fried rice. But I haven't decided what kind of fried rice yet."
"Then let's just cook simple fried rice. The important thing is that we have food to eat," Yinqyueh said. She didn't sound disappointed at all.
"You can fry the spices or not?" Shinnshiow asked.
"Of course, I can," Yinqyueh said.
Shinnshiow then set the stove to let out a big fire. "Then, please fry this seasoning first. Don't put the seasoning in the pan before the wok is really hot. When frying, take care not to reduce the heat. Be careful. The seasoning must be dry, but not to scorch."
"Okay! I'll try!"
"Don't fry all the seasonings. Use only about sixty percent."
"Sixty percent? All right!"
Shinnshiow then opened a drawer there. He took a pair of cloth masks and a pair of face shields. He gave a cloth mask and a face shield to Yinqyueh. "Before adding the spices, you must wear a mask and a face shield."
"Is this stove dangerous?"
"Of course not. However, there is a lot of spice in this spice mix. When this spice mixture has entered the pan, there will be a lot of spice particles flying up because of the heat. I'm afraid you'll sneeze if you directly inhale the particles of this spice-laden spice. In addition, because I had previously put it in the freezer, this seasoning mixture contains a very high water content. If we stir-fry, it will explode. If it hits the face, it will be uncomfortable." While answering Yinqyueh's question, Shinnshiow put a cloth mask and a face shield on his own face.
Yinqyueh seemed to understand Shinnshiow's point. She must have also realized that the long-sleeved shirt she was wearing was also to protect her hands from the explosion of water vapor or oil ejected from the wok. Yinqyueh then added a little butter to the wok. After the pan was already hot enough, Yinqyueh immediately put the frozen spices into the pan. Exactly as Shinnshiow said. There were big explosions. Luckily, Yinqyueh was ready.
"What kind of food restrictions do you have?" Shinnshiow suddenly asked that question. He just remembered that he should have asked that long before they started cooking.
"Hah?"
"Are there certain foods you shouldn't eat?" Shinnshiow corrected the words in his sentence. He realized, for some people, such a thing was something sensitive.
Yinqyueh frowned upon hearing Shinnshiow's unexpected question. But in an instant, she nodded. She seemed to understand what Shinnshiow meant. In contrast to the people in the city where they are currently located, who tend to be very liberal when it comes to food, most of the people in Yeuandong enforce restrictions on certain types of food.
"I think the food I am allowed to eat is the same as people in Yeuandong usually eat. Of course, there are certain types of food that I am not allowed to eat. Some of those types of food are foods that people in Yeuandong usually avoid. So, the food that I may or may not eat is the same as what uncles and brothers here may or may not eat."
"Not necessarily," Shinnshiow said seriously. He realized that for some people, such rules are essential. It could not be contested. "Our taboos here are not the same. For example, Dahge and Shyongge are exactly the same in terms of what they can and can't eat. But Yihge, Renge, and I differ from the two of them. Even the three of us differ from each other. So sometimes the food thing is a bit tricky for us here."
What Shinnshiow had just said was actually not unusual either. The Yeuandong region was indeed famous for its diversity of cultures and customs. So it was not a unique thing if there was such a difference between close friends. Even within a family, there were sometimes such differences.
"I didn't expect that the uncles and brothers here still hold so strongly to the traditions and culture of our place of origin." Yinqyueh chuckled.
"Actually, we are not people who are very obedient to such rules. But you know, in our hometown, things like this went into the bones. From birth, we are used to situations like that. So even though we are now far from our hometown, we have continued to stick with this habit. It's very difficult to let go. And yes, we really don't want to let go of those things."
This is a highly complex matter. There's no way I can explain in just an hour or two.
Yinqyueh nodded. "Things like that are not simple things. It all comes down to each person's personal choice. We must respect everyone's rights."
"Right!" Shinnshiow smiled. "Then what about you?"
"Yeah, I still hold on to such things, too. Although I have to admit, sometimes I have to break some rules. I live in a strange way. Move from one place to another. From one family to another. So sometimes I run into situations where I have little choice."
"So, what kind of food are you not allowed to eat?" Shinnshiow was still asking about it. "You haven't answered clearly before."
"I think I'm the same as Uncle Shannchyuan and Uncle Yihshyong," Yinqyueh said firmly.
Shinnshiow guessed Shannchyuan must have told Yinqyueh about his family background. Maybe the background and culture of the Yinqyueh's family were similar to that of the Shannchyuan's family. Shinnshiow felt he had asked enough. He didn't want to make Yinqyueh feel uncomfortable. So he went back to talking about what they were doing.
"I see. Then how about this time we cook young lamb fried rice with a side dish of turkey eggs and a sauce made from boiled green mussels?" Shinnshiow chirped.
Yinqyueh was wide-eyed at Shinnshiow's proposal. Amazingly, her face looked so funny. She seemed delighted to hear that.
"Lamb fried rice is Uncle Shannchyuan's favorite. So it's only natural that there is a stock of lamb in this house. But turkey eggs and green mussel sauce are costly. Aren't the uncles and brothers here trying to be frugal?"
Shinnshiow laughed at Yinqyueh's words. Indeed, at times like that, they had to be frugal. For other things, they had been frugal, but it seemed a bit difficult in terms of food. The five residents here were people who really liked the food. So they didn't feel sorry at all if they had to spend more money to get the food they wanted.
"Don't worry. We've calculated everything. We get many of the food ingredients we have here at a relatively low price. You won't believe me when I say that Yihge and Renge are superb at finding places selling excellent quality groceries at a hefty discount. They know which markets are offering discounts this week for the groceries we need."
After that, they began to process the food ingredients. Yesterday afternoon, Shinnshiow had already cooked quite a bit of rice, so they still had an abundant supply of rice.
Shinnshiow took out the rice he had stored in the refrigerator last night. The rice was no longer soggy. It's dry and not too sticky.
"There's still a lot of leftover rice from yesterday afternoon, so we're not short on rice," said Shinnshiow.
"To make delicious fried rice. After the rice is cooked, how many hours do we have to wait before we can start frying?" Yinqyueh asked.
"In my opinion, at least we have to wait twelve hours. If it is still soggy and sticky, the fried rice will certainly not taste good. Because yesterday the leftover rice at lunch was still abundant, so in the afternoon, before I left, I had time to divide the rice into two parts. I immediately warmed it up because we were going to make the rice for dinner. I put some of the rice in the refrigerator because I was already planning to fry it this morning. It's just that yesterday I didn't think about what meat and additional ingredients I will mix into the fried rice."
"So we can't use freshly cooked rice?"
"If we really have to use freshly cooked rice, because there is no leftover rice, it's still okay. Even though the results aren't that great. But we still have to cool the rice first, so it doesn't stick."
Shinnshiow took the lamb chops out of the freezer.
"Did you cut the meat neatly?" Yinqyueh asked when she saw the meat that had been cut into cubes, even though it was frozen.
"Yes, I have prepared this a few days ago. So I have seasoned it at once. So we just have to mix it with other dishes."
"This delay method, will the result be good?"
"It's true that the results are not as delicious as the normal method. But it's much more practical. It's perfect for situations where we don't have much time."
Yinqyueh nodded. The girl seemed very enthusiastic to hear Shinnshiow's explanation.
Shinnshiow put the pieces of meat in the microwave. "Because time is limited, I use the microwave to thaw this frozen meat. If we use water, it can take a long time to finish."
"How about the taste? Is it really different?" Yinqyueh seemed to be getting more and more curious. Shinnshiow could clearly see that while asking, the girl was paying close attention to everything Shinnshiow was doing.
"When it comes to lamb like this, there's actually not that much difference in taste quality. It's just that later we shouldn't cook it too long because the heat from the microwave has already made the meat a bit cooked."
"In that case, if we defrost the meat a little longer in the microwave, then the meat will become more cooked?"
Shinnshiow shook his head. "There's a special trick to thawing meat in the microwave. You shouldn't put the meat in the microwave for too long. The meat will become tough."
"Wow! This is very interesting." Yinqyueh's face brightened.
Shinnshiow looked at the spices Yinqyueh was frying. "This looks quite ripe and dry. Now lower the heat first."
Yinqyueh turned down the flame that came out of the stove. The girl was quite agile. Shinnshiow watched while occasionally glancing at the microwave. After the flame was completely small, Shinnshiow poured the rice into the pan. He then took control of the wok from Yinqyueh's hands.
"Now, you look at that microwave. Sixty seconds from now, please take the meat out." Shinnshiow gave a hint to Yinqyueh.
Shinnshiow started to fry the rice on the griddle. He moved the spatula in such a way that the rice and seasonings were thoroughly mixed. After a while, Shinnshiow turned off the stove.
"Why did Shiowge turn off the stove? Yinqyueh's face was confused.
"We will fry the meat using another tool."
"Then, we don't mix these meats into the fried rice?"
"I don't mix it now because the meat won't mix with the rice evenly. I mean, some people will get fried rice with a lot of meat, and some people will get fried rice with less meat. So we'll mix it up later when we share fried rice per serving."
Shinnshiow took another wok, which was much smaller. After thinking for a while, he put the wok back again. He took a frying pan and placed the frying pan on the stove next to the stove he had previously used. Shinnshiow then turned on the stove and greased the pan with butter. "You can fry this meat, can't you?"
"Don't worry!" Yinqyueh answered confidently.
"Don't make the flame too big this time," said Shinnshiow.
"Okay!"
After Yinqyueh put the lamb into the frying pan, Shinnshiow also added the rest of the seasoning. He only put half of the remaining spices. Then he told Yinqyueh to stir the meat and spices until they were evenly mixed.
Shinnshiow watched Yinqyueh, who was frying the lamb. Yinqyueh seemed to have quite a talent for cooking. Shannchyuan would be thrilled to know about it. Or maybe Shannchyuan, for some reason, had realized Yinqyueh's potential in that field.
Yinqyueh moved the lamb from the skillet onto a wide flat plate. After he finished frying the diced lamb, he looked thrilled. Shinnshiow was also happy.
This girl is far more talented than Shyongge in the culinary field.
"Then how about the turkey eggs and the green clam sauce?"
"Now, let's start frying the eggs."
After saying that, Shinnshiow took out seven eggs from the fridge. One by one, he broke the eggs. Carefully, he put the yolks and whites into a bowl. The basin was large enough to hold seven turkey eggs. Shinnshiow took the remaining spices and put them all into the basin. Besides the fried rice seasoning, he also added several kinds of spices in the form of powder. He then mixes the egg and seasoning contents slowly and carefully. The eggs would expand if he stirred too fast, so they were not suitable for frying with rice.
Shinnshiow started to light the fire on the stove they had just used for frying the mutton. This time he uses a rectangular pan. This pan was flat at the bottom and deep on each side. Shinnshiow poured the egg liquid into the rectangular pan and began to fry. Deftly, he fried the egg in the same way he made an omelet. However, when the omelet was still half-cooked, Shinnshiow put the lamb fried rice and green clam sauce on top of the half-cooked omelet. Then, with hand movements such as turning the contents of the frying pan, the fried rice, lamb, and green clam sauce were wrapped in an omelet.
"This isn't fried rice," Yinqyueh said after realizing what Shinnshiow was doing. "It's more accurately called a 'Stuffed Omelet' or something."
Shinnshiow just laughed. "Here we call it 'Egg Wrap Fried Rice.'" He repeated what he did for a total of twelve servings. There were actually thirteen, but the thirteenth portion was tiny, barely half the size of the others. The thirteenth portion was made from the leftovers of eggs, rice, and meat.
"That's a lot," Yinqyueh said.
"One person gets two servings!"
"So, when can we start eating?"
"As soon as Dahge and the others go up!"
"What if they're still down there a long time?" From the tone of her voice, Yinqyueh seemed impatient to taste the deliciousness of Shinnshiow's fried rice.
"Then let's just eat this small portion first." Shinnshiow pointed to the thirteenth portion of fried rice.
They both laughed.
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