Chapter 194: Cooking Congee
The second day of the visit activity.
The four members of A Bite of China Club and the crowd from Class Eight Grade One who had “secretly” heard some news all gathered punctually at five o’clock in the canteen’s kitchen.
Xiang Chuan actually had some trouble sleeping in new beds. When she was previously a fragile university student, every school year she had to keep moving dormitories due to the school’s bizarre regulations, and every time after moving, Xiang Chuan would inevitably have three or four days of insomnia.
At that time, she was forced to use the legendary sheep-counting hypnosis method that wasn’t very effective.
After many experiments, Xiang Chuan finally discovered: running laps downstairs was still the most effective.
If a person can’t sleep, it means they definitely have excess physical fitness, and once the physical fitness is mostly used up, they will definitely fall asleep.
Just like how Xiang Chuan fell asleep instantly last night after taking a shower and lying on the bed.
To be honest, Xiang Chuan really wanted to go back now and sleep some more. The dormitory environment provided to students by Production Escort Ship every year was very nice, and the bed was especially comfortable.
Xiang Chuan had been brainstorming all afternoon and evening yesterday, consuming quite a bit of bodily energy, and under the boost of the MAX comfort bed, her sleep quality was top-notch.
The reason she was dragged out of the quilt by Ouyang Yating and Chou Manman at four something in the morning was entirely because she said one extra sentence while chatting back in the dormitory yesterday:
“Eating so much fried rice tonight is a bit too greasy. Tomorrow, let’s cook some congee, something refreshing.”
Congee. The moment this unfamiliar noun appeared, it immediately caught the attention of Ouyang Yating, Chou Manman, and Nancy who were present.
Xiang Chuan didn’t realize the seriousness of the matter at the time and hastily explained the concept of congee to them before yawning and going to shower to prepare for bed.
Little did she know, this news had already been immediately sent to the class group chat by Chou Manman and Nancy, the only two designated intelligence personnel from Class Eight Grade One (A Bite of China Club limited).
The big white rice at noon and the colorful, aromatic, and flavorful fried rice at night had already completely made the Class Eight Grade One crowd submit to rice, and now Xiang Chuan said there was a new cooking method?!
And so the scene at the beginning appeared, with the entire Class Eight Grade One standing neatly in the kitchen.
Manager Wu had also received the news from Liang Gong last night. Upon hearing that Xiang Chuan was about to reveal a new rice cooking method, without a second word, at four-thirty in the morning upon getting up, he ran straight to the canteen entrance just to be the first to taste the freshly made congee.
It’s just congee, is it necessary!
Xiang Chuan covered her mouth and yawned, walking to the large pot for steaming and cooking rice, looking quite helplessly at the crowd full of expectation beside her.
She spoke up: “Let me remind you first, congee is similar to rice, and its taste isn’t as fragrant as last night’s fried rice. I said I wanted to eat congee yesterday just because I ate too much fried rice the night before and felt it was a bit too oily, wanting to cut through the grease…”
“You already said this last night, no need to repeat it.” Ouyang Yating patted her shoulder.
Class President Lu Daiqing laughed heartily: “If it’s similar to rice, isn’t that perfect? Moreover, in the morning, we don’t really want to eat anything too oily. We just heard you were making a new staple food, so we wanted to come and taste it right away.”
As soon as his words fell, the Class Eight Grade One crowd behind all nodded in unison, with such synchronization that they could form a group to pilot EVA.
It’s just congee, is it necessary!
Xiang Chuan complained fiercely in her heart.
But since they were already here, let’s think about the breakfast arrangements.
Xiang Chuan first handled the congee.
The steps for washing rice had already been recorded by the kitchen’s AI robot, so when Xiang Chuan got the rice, it was already in a washed state.
When she directed the kitchen AI to spread the rice evenly in the pot, she only then discovered that the lower half of today’s pot for cooking congee was actually made of transparent material, placed on the low heating platform, clearly showing the white rice spread evenly at the pot bottom by the kitchen AI.
Manager Wu was now practically pressed right up against it.
Fortunately, modern special heating methods make the sides of pots, pans, and utensils completely insulated. If this were in the 21st century, when the fire was lit later, it could burn Manager Wu’s hair.
Xiang Chuan muttered in her heart, casually opening the kitchen AI’s operation records, checking the weight of the rice and directly multiplying the water amount below by four.
Splash!
Purified water went into the pot, startling Manager Wu who was staring intently at the pot wall and the surrounding Class Eight Grade One crowd.
“Classmate Xiang Chuan, does this ‘congee’ need so much water? Won’t it just become soup?”
Manager Wu asked uneasily.
“The characteristic of congee is having a lot of soup, and this isn’t even that much. If you want it even thinner, you can add more, but then it probably won’t last until noon.”
Xiang Chuan stared intently at the water in the pot without lifting her head.
In fact, she had previously only cooked congee using a rice cooker and pressure cooker; this induction cooker-like form was her first time. However, she had once witnessed her roommate with negative cooking skills produce an unidentified sticky object using an induction cooker at a friend’s house, which made her greatly distrust cooking congee on an induction cooker.
Even though this wasn’t actually an induction cooker heating plate.
Xiang Chuan beckoned to Ainuo: “Ainuo, come here, help me input a few commands.”
Ainuo, who had been watching the spectacle on the side, looked surprised at Manager Wu squatting in front of the rice-cooking pot and incredulously pointed at himself.
Xiang Chuan, who had never considered asking Manager Wu for help, nodded: It’s you I’m calling, stop slacking off, come help.
Ainuo’s mouth twitched, but after all, what Xiang Chuan was doing right now was a proper club activity. As a club member who was watching and slacking off on the side, being called out by the club president, he ought to help both emotionally and rationally.
But this also meant he couldn’t continue observing + slacking off.
He reluctantly took the operation light screen handed over by Xiang Chuan and asked: “How to operate it?”
“First is the heat: set to high heat to boil, then switch to low heat… that is, start with the heat you normally use to boil water, and after boiling, switch to the heat you used when practicing fried eggs before.”
Xiang Chuan changed the topic.
Before the school anniversary, when practicing fried eggs with the three club members, she had always made them switch to low heat before operating.
Even so, quite a few black unidentified objects had still been produced from Ainuo’s hands.
But at least it engraved the concept of “controlling the heat” into the three’s DNA. Later, during the special training for the Class Eight Grade One crowd, Ouyang Yating and the others smoothly spread this concept into the Class Eight Grade One crowd’s DNA.
Modern people who have never cooked: Information increased in their DNA!
Ainuo naturally remembered the heat used for practicing fried eggs. He casually swiped a couple times to set it and casually asked: “Anything else?”
“Hmm… have the kitchen AI’s robotic arm stir the congee water in the pot after switching to low heat. Remember not to set the stirring intensity too high, or it’ll turn into rice paste and everyone will have to eat raw congee dry.”
The last few sentences were Xiang Chuan’s quiet mutterings.
Raw congee is best paired with seafood to taste good, but where to get affordable seafood right now?
Finally, still uneasy about the overly abstract operation intensity of the modern machine, she picked up the large ladle that had been washed nearby and demonstratively stirred in the pot for a bit. After Ainuo had the kitchen AI record the operation, the preparation work for cooking congee was considered complete.
Next was the part that required Xiang Chuan’s brainstorming—making side dishes to eat with the congee.
