Chapter 196: Breakfast Congee Water
With the Class Eight Grade One students and the kitchen AI helping prepare the ingredients together, the preliminary preparation work for the five dishes didn’t take much effort at all, which greatly shortened the time needed for cooking.
Xiang Chuan originally thought it would take at least forty or fifty minutes to finish these dishes, but the result was accomplished in less than half an hour.
After personally tasting the saltiness, she handed over the remaining mass production processes to the kitchen AI, but still took time to let the three A Bite of China Club members actually operate the stir-frying of the dishes.
Mainly, pepper scrambled eggs and stir-fried tomatoes and cucumbers have no technical content in their processes, which was perfect for her to use for practical training for Ouyang Yating and the others.
Even if too much seasoning is added, there’s no need to panic, since these dishes are meant to be eaten with congee anyway.
When drinking congee, how can it work without a few heavy-flavored side dishes?
Xiang Chuan thought so after tasting the pepper scrambled eggs fried by Ainuo, while chugging water frantically on the side.
At that moment, the large pot simmering the congee announced that time was up.
Xiang Chuan walked over, and Manager Wu and the Class Eight Grade One students who had finished handling the ingredients also crowded over together.
To prevent the students moving around the kitchen from accidentally dropping some unprepared ingredients into the congee, Ainuo specifically had the kitchen AI use a pot lid that only exposed the center part to cover the entire pot, with the kitchen AI’s robotic arm operating the stirring spoon extending from the center part, which had been continuously stirring the gradually thickening white congee in the pot.
“Open the pot lid.”
Xiang Chuan ordered.
It’s done!
Everyone’s eyes lit up, staring unblinkingly at the scene inside the glass.
After about thirty minutes of careful simmering on low heat, the white congee had entered a state of slight boiling and rolling, with the rice grains gradually dispersing in the congee water, which made Manager Wu and the students feel very novel, but to Xiang Chuan, the state of the white rice in the pot meant: this first pot of white congee was a great success.
The kitchen AI’s robotic arm opened the pot lid, and a richer aroma of congee water than yesterday’s white rice wafted out.
This aroma was very novel to modern people who had just tasted their first bowl of white rice yesterday, whether Manager Wu or the Class Eight Grade One students crowding behind Xiang Chuan, all stretched their necks to get a good smell of this wonderful fragrance.
Xiang Chuan, accustomed to the scene, picked up a spoon. The congee water in the pot hadn’t fully settled to the bottom due to the kitchen AI’s constant stirring up to that point; she gently scooped up a spoonful of white congee and served it into a bowl.
The steaming hot white congee glistened with a warm luster in the spoon, appearing like a meticulously carved artwork in everyone’s eyes.
“Come, Yating, Ainuo, Liang Gong, come taste the first bite of this white congee.”
Xiang Chuan turned around and beckoned to the three nearby who had stretched their necks.
“Generally speaking, shouldn’t the maker taste it first?”
Ainuo muttered, but still obediently gathered by Xiang Chuan’s side along with Ouyang Yating and Liang Gong.
The three looked at the white congee with eyes full of curiosity and expectation.
“Don’t worry, this thing won’t go wrong unless it’s undercooked.”
At worst, the white congee turns into thin rice soup. Xiang Chuan quietly added in her heart.
The freshly cooked white congee was still very scalding, so Xiang Chuan had the kitchen AI bring three small bowls, pouring the white congee from the large bowl into the three small bowls respectively, and handed them over.
Ouyang Yating held the small bowl; the scalding congee water was isolated by the excellent heat insulation of the modern bowl and dish, so even touching the outer wall felt no warmth, but when she brought her nose close to smell, she sensed how scalding the congee water simmered for half an hour was.
She took a deep breath, and the faint pure rice fragrance seemed to drill straight into her heart, giving her a good first impression of this mysterious food she hadn’t yet tasted.
Ouyang Yating picked up the spoon and scooped a mouthful, slowly putting it into her mouth.
The warmth of the rice congee spread on the tip of her tongue, the delicate and soft texture like clouds melting in the mouth; under the kitchen AI’s thirty minutes of constant stirring and low-heat simmering, the newly harvested rice had all dispersed in the congee water, with the rice’s sweet fragrance infused into the congee water, every grain releasing its most authentic flavor.
She closed her eyes and savored it carefully, her mind beginning to compare the white congee in her mouth with the white rice eaten at noon yesterday.
The texture of white rice is more solid, with each grain maintaining its shape and a certain chewiness, allowing one to feel the elasticity of the rice grains when chewing, while white congee takes the rice’s characteristics to another extreme, with the grains blending together to create a soft and smooth experience in the mouth, like the essence of rice dancing lightly on the tip of the tongue.
In terms of taste, white rice has a simple and clear rice fragrance, while white congee, due to the simmering process, has a richer and thicker rice fragrance, also carrying a subtle clear sweetness unique to congee water.
Ainuo also took a taste, and he slightly raised his eyebrow, seemingly surprised by the texture of this white congee.
“The texture of this congee is very wonderful, like drinking soup made from rice.” he said.
Liang Gong, on the other hand, savored it with a face full of enjoyment; after swallowing the last mouthful of white congee from his small bowl, he said:
“The texture of congee is completely different from rice; rice requires chewing, while congee almost only needs swallowing.”
“That means this congee is a success.”
Xiang Chuan snapped her fingers and quickly had the kitchen AI help serve her own portion of congee.
After all, there was only this one pot of trial congee, and with the momentum of the Class Eight Grade One gluttons almost finishing two pots of rice at noon yesterday, this amount of congee wouldn’t be enough to go around.
She didn’t know if modern kitchens had ways to shorten congee simmering time, like using a pressure cooker or something?
Xiang Chuan thought of the roaster in her club’s back garden that was both retro and modern, and silently decided to leave this matter to the Department of Agriculture and her own dad to worry about.
With the tasting feedback from the three A Bite of China Club members and Xiang Chuan’s preemptive strike, this first pot of white congee was immediately snatched up fiercely by the starving Class Eight Grade One crowd and the equally ravenous young Manager Wu.
The aroma of white congee soon filled the entire canteen.
After the Class Eight Grade One crowd got their first bowl of white congee, they quickly handed over their current work to the kitchen AI, then each picked up a meal box, taking one portion each of sour and spicy crispy cucumber, spicy pickled shredded radish, pepper scrambled eggs, spicy stir-fried cabbage, and stir-fried tomatoes and cucumbers, and headed to their seats to enjoy breakfast.
This time, Manager Wu sat at the same dining table with labor committee member Fu Chengkai, Long Xiaoxian, and Qing Ke; the four who had long been starving started sending the first mouthful of congee into their mouths the instant they sat down.
Fu Chengkai first took a mouthful of congee; the warm rice congee swirled on the tip of his tongue, instantly awakening his dormant taste buds.
Immediately after, he picked up a chopstickful of sour and spicy crispy cucumber and put it in his mouth; the cucumber’s crispness and sour spiciness exploded in the mouth instantly. The sourness of the cucumber came from the white vinegar seasoning, a fresh yet rich sourness interwoven with the cucumber’s own clear sweetness, plus the slight spiciness from chili powder, instantly stimulating the taste buds and greatly increasing appetite.
Fu Chengkai didn’t forget the “one bite of rice, one bite of dish” lesson from noon yesterday; after savoring the crispy cucumber, he took another sip of congee.
The clear fragrance of the congee water carried away most of the sour spiciness in his mouth, allowing him to fully enjoy the next dish.
And the spicy pickled shredded radish, made with the same technique, brought Fu Chengkai another taste experience.
The refreshing crispness of the shredded radish fused even more deeply with the sour spiciness, and the unique clear fragrance of Chinese radish stood out even more under the accent of sour and spicy.
Whichever one it was, they were all perfect with congee.
Long Xiaoxian and Qing Ke were no less eager; they too enjoyed this breakfast one bite of congee and one bite of side dish.
The mildness of the white congee formed a stark contrast with the sour spiciness or sour sweetness of the side dishes, yet they perfectly blended together in the mouth.
Before long, the side dishes weren’t even finished, but the congee was already at the bottom.
The crowd looked toward the kitchen with burning gazes, but at this point, the kitchen AI had just put the washed rice into the pot.
Although with the successful previous pot of congee, the kitchen AI only needed to proportion the water and rice ratio, adjust the heat temperature, and it could make white congee in a larger pot, but for the texture of the white congee, it still had to wait at least half an hour.
The Class Eight Grade One crowd, who hadn’t had enough after one bowl of congee, were now all hugging their bowls and crowding at the serving window, gazing longingly at the kitchen AI’s robotic arm slowly operating the stirring rod in the kitchen.
Class Eight Grade One crowd: Congee ah~ come quick ah~
Xiang Chuan: It’s just one bowl of congee, is it really necessary?
