Chapter 195: Congee With Side Dishes
The congee is already on the stove; next is making side dishes to go with the congee.
Xiang Chuan looked at the abundance of ingredients in the kitchen and began pondering what to make.
What are the classic 21st Century side dishes for congee? After some brainstorming, only Ujiang zha cai and fermented bean curd came to her mind.
The former isn’t impossible to make, but it definitely won’t be ready in time; as for the latter… tofu is precious right now.
When in doubt, go to the vegetable market—since there’s no vegetable market in the modern era, check the ingredient list in the warehouse.
Xiang Chuan opened the warehouse inventory list, skimmed through it quickly, and gradually got some ideas in her mind.
“Don’t just stand there watching; come over and help quickly!”
Xiang Chuan quickly assigned the tasks as she spoke.
Upon hearing there was work to do, everyone in Class Eight Grade One was eager to get started.
The ingredients were soon brought over by the kitchen AI.
Xiang Chuan picked up a cucumber and started slicing it.
As she sliced, she instructed Ouyang Yating and Liang Gong nearby: “Slice the cucumber thinner; that’ll make the texture better.”
Thanks to the excellent assist function of the compressed laser cutter for modern people, Xiang Chuan could slice the cucumber evenly thin, each piece revealing a fresh green color.
Xiang Chuan picked up a slice of cucumber and examined it carefully.
She thought: If I get a bit more practiced, I could slice this cucumber as thin as paper.
“How should we handle this cucumber?” Ouyang Yating asked, her eyes fixed tightly on the cucumber slices in Xiang Chuan’s hand, as if afraid to miss any detail.
“Sprinkle some salt first… or never mind. Divide the sliced cucumber slices into two portions—one sprinkle with salt, the other set aside for now; I’ll stir-fry it later.”
After slicing one cucumber, Xiang Chuan added an appropriate amount of salt and stirred evenly.
The rest was to let the cucumber slices marinate for 10 minutes.
Taking advantage of this time, she began directing others to prepare ingredients.
Liang Gong picked up a Chinese cabbage, and just as he was about to raise his knife, Xiang Chuan quickly stopped him.
“Wait, Liang Gong, don’t rush—this thing needs to be peeled.”
“Huh?” The people around all voiced their doubts at once.
“Does Chinese cabbage have skin?”
Chou Manman and Nancy, who were helping prepare other ingredients nearby, couldn’t help but look at the cabbage in their hands, wondering: Does this thing have skin too?
“Both Chinese cabbage and carrot have skin… anyway, peel it first!”
As she spoke, Xiang Chuan picked up a Chinese cabbage and demonstrated while instructing.
“The radish skin isn’t very thick; use the laser cutter to peel it just like I usually peel apple peel.”
Oh—! Should’ve said so earlier!
Everyone in Class Eight Grade One nodded and began peeling diligently.
They hadn’t seen Xiang Chuan peel radish skin before, but she had peeled apple peel plenty of times in A Bite of China Club, and everyone had watched her peel an entire unbroken strip from a whole apple, which deeply stimulated Ainuo and Ouyang Yating—they practiced peeling apples for days afterward.
During that time, even the cakes at A Bite of China Club Small Restaurant were apple cream-filled, though they were quite tasty.
This kind of task requiring basic knife skills could only be done well by the four members of A Bite of China Club using technique without the compressed laser cutter assist function; fortunately, great modern technology assisted the operation, preventing Class Eight Grade One from peeling the radish skin thicker than French fries.
Xiang Chuan: Without this modern technology as a safety net, I wouldn’t let these kitchen novices from Class Eight Grade One, who only knew how to eat before, help out.
Following Xiang Chuan’s instructions, peeled Chinese cabbages gradually piled up.
Xiang Chuan casually picked up a peeled radish, skillfully trimmed the ends, sliced the Chinese cabbage into pieces, then stacked the slices and cut them into shreds.
As she cut, she instructed Liang Gong nearby:
“Cut the shredded radish finer; that’ll make it absorb flavor better.”
After cutting the shredded radish, she put it in a bowl, added salt as well, but this time not for marinating, but to draw out water.
Once the shredded Chinese cabbage softened under the salt, Xiang Chuan squeezed the moisture out of the shredded radish in the bowl, transferred it to a large bowl, and added sugar, white vinegar, and chili powder in sequence.
With the seasonings ready, it was just missing the final touch.
Xiang Chuan turned on the heating plate, put a pot on it, and added a few spoonfuls of cooking oil.
“Are you going to stir-fry the shredded radish?”
Class President Lu Daiqing leaned over from the side.
“You could, but no need. Stir-frying shredded radish can wait for next time.”
Xiang Chuan replied casually.
She held her hand over the pot, felt the temperature was just right, immediately turned off the heat and removed the pot, then poured hot oil over the large bowl.
The aroma sparked from the collision of hot oil with fresh vegetables and seasonings instantly spread throughout the entire kitchen.
The classmates who had been focused on their tasks all turned to look toward Xiang Chuan, while those who had been watching her operations were stunned one by one.
Class President Lu Daiqing voiced the doubt on behalf of the bewildered crowd:
“Isn’t oil for stir-frying dishes?”
Xiang Chuan looked at him like he was an idiot:
“Didn’t you spread oil on the noodle cake when making egg pancakes for the school anniversary? In ancient times, starving humans could even drink oil straight; only picky people from ancient times would think to heat oil before using it for cooking.”
Class Eight Grade One everyone, whose cognition of cooking oil had been refreshed, and Manager Wu watching from the periphery, were all shocked into silence by this impactful scene and Xiang Chuan’s words.
Xiang Chuan: Wait, sesame oil doesn’t need heating… whatever, no one here knows about sesame oil anyway.
Next came two stir-fried dishes that looked more normal to modern people.
Xiang Chuan beat the eggs, added salt and pepper powder, stirred evenly, then as usual heated the pot with oil.
When the oil was hot enough, she poured the egg mixture into the hot oil, stir-fried quickly until the eggs coagulated, then sprinkled on chili powder.
A plate of pepper scrambled eggs thus made its dazzling debut.
If plain white rice pairs perfectly with sweet-and-sour stir-fried tomatoes and eggs, then the lighter congee water pairs perfectly with the more flavorful pepper scrambled eggs.
After simply rinsing the pot, Xiang Chuan heated it with oil again, added the cabbage torn by Chou Manman and others, and the moisture in the cabbage collided with the hot oil, creating a sizzle that startled Ainuo, who was watching nearby, into stepping back a few steps; Xiang Chuan mockingly eyed him.
After the cabbage softened from stir-frying, she added salt, sugar, chili powder, and pepper powder, stir-fried a bit more, and a portion of spicy stir-fried cabbage was officially ready.
After the two stir-fried dishes were done, the marinated cucumber slices had also finished drawing out water.
Xiang Chuan squeezed the moisture from the marinated cucumber, added sugar, white vinegar, and chili powder, then poured hot oil over it just like before.
With the previous experience, the surrounding classmates weren’t too surprised this time.
Of course, Xiang Chuan didn’t forget the other half of the cucumber slices.
She heated the pot with oil, added tomatoes and thinly sliced cucumber, sprinkled salt evenly, and soon stir-fried tomatoes and cucumbers was officially ready.
Sour and spicy crispy cucumber, spicy pickled shredded radish, pepper scrambled eggs, spicy stir-fried cabbage, plus an impromptu stir-fried tomatoes and cucumbers—that was all the dishes for breakfast today.
Xiang Chuan: You ate so much fried rice last night; today, eat your veggies obediently!
