Abnormal Gourmet Chronicle-Chapter 769 - 390: Shaking

Qin Huai could probably guess that he wouldn’t be seeing the unskilled Master Zheng today.

It’s okay, if he can’t learn the Four Happiness Rolls today, he can learn them tomorrow, and if he doesn’t see Master Zheng tomorrow, he can learn them the day after. Qin Huai expected to stay at Huang’s Kitchen for a month; the monk can run, but not the temple, Master Zheng would eventually come to Huang’s Kitchen.

The immediate priority was to make a batch of lotus root powder balls.

Qin Huai shook the iron canister in his hand again, feeling the grip was fine, though the canister was slightly light, possibly because it was thin. However, being light had its benefits, making it more convenient to roll the balls.

"The noodles are over there; if you want to eat, you can cook them yourself." Qin Huai pointed to the already rolled noodles on the culinary table and shook the iron canister in his hand again, feeling there was something wrong with his holding posture, made a slight adjustment, and twisted his wrist.

Zheng Siyuan had no interest in watching hand-rolled noodles; his full attention was on Qin Huai’s hands as he stared at the iron canister Qin Huai was shaking in the air for about a minute, asking, "Are you going to make those... rolled lotus root powder balls?"

"Yes." Qin Huai nodded, not surprised that Zheng Siyuan knew this method.

The recipe was from Master Jing, so it was normal for Zheng Siyuan, as Master Jing’s apprentice’s disciple, to be familiar with various techniques.

"Why did you suddenly want to make lotus root powder balls? Didn’t you say on the high-speed train that you wanted to learn the Four Happiness Rolls?" Zheng Siyuan asked.

"Luoluo was nagging to eat them." Qin Huai indicated that if unsure what to do, blame Qin Luo, "She watched a palace drama a while ago, where the imperial consort especially loved eating lotus root powder balls, holding a bowl and chatting while eating every day."

"I thought making lotus root powder balls isn’t difficult, surely simpler than Double Crab Buns. Since I’m going to stay in Gusu for quite a while longer before I can return, by then Luoluo will surely cause a fuss. If I learn to make the lotus root powder balls, the child can be a little happier when I go back."

Faced with Qin Huai’s nearly flawless reasoning, Zheng Siyuan did not doubt and chose to believe, no longer staring at Qin Huai’s hand on the iron canister and turned to cook the noodles.

The broth was made by Huang Jia, always simmering on the stove, perfect for making Chicken Soup Noodles.

Zheng Siyuan silently cooked the noodles, cooking Qin Huai’s portion as well before noticing that Qin Huai hadn’t eaten breakfast.

Qin Huai began rolling the lotus root powder balls.

He mimicked what he saw in the video tutorial, placing the small rolled balls into the iron canister, sprinkling a suitable amount of lotus root powder, the amount of powder had to be as little as possible, as too much would make the balls too large. 𝚏𝐫𝚎𝗲𝕨𝐞𝐛𝕟𝚘𝐯𝚎𝗹.𝕔𝐨𝗺

Qin Huai shook the iron canister, exerting force with his wrist, making the balls inside the canister roll.

At the moment of shaking, Qin Huai knew this task definitely required skill. The ease with which Jinglixiang shook it in the video tutorial, able to chat with Zheng Da and Huang Shengli while shaking the bamboo canister, contrasted with Qin Huai’s awkwardness at the moment.

It’s not that he couldn’t shake well, just felt clumsy, the canister light one moment, heavy the next, and the balls inside swaying; he could tell by feeling alone that the balls weren’t evenly shaken.

Can’t worry about that now, after the first shaking, Qin Huai dipped the balls into boiling water for a blanch.

second, 2...

Not even two seconds were needed, Qin Huai quickly fished the balls out, the timing was just right.

Then rolled a second time, controlled the lotus root powder amount, and continued shaking.

Blanch.

Shake.

After repeating thrice, a not-so-successful lotus root powder ball was born.

As for why it wasn’t very successful but not a flop, it was because Qin Huai felt the lotus root powder ball was not too badly failed; after three blanches, the color was similar to that in the video tutorial, but the shape differed significantly.

In the video tutorial, the lotus root powder balls were plump and small, with size variations but each individually looking pretty.

The lotus root powder balls Qin Huai shook...

Were slightly deformed.

Round, but not completely round, somewhere between round and oval. Each blanc and shake actually shaped the balls, and Qin Huai didn’t feel much deformation after the first, but with each marginal deviation, the cumulative effect after three times became apparent.

Looking at the first shaken lotus root powder ball, Qin Huai thought it was just a slight design mishap, not a big issue, and continued shaking.

The subsequent few were slightly better, primarily because Qin Huai found a knack for rolling the balls, indicating that there was indeed a skill, balancing the lotus root powder amount and mastering the shaking amplitude and force precisely.

Qin Huai even felt it was somewhat like the finesse used in kneading dough.

Qin Huai kept shaking more balls, feeling that towards the end he wasn’t rolling balls anymore, likely shaking milk tea, thinking he could interview to shake milk tea in Ouyang’s Xiao Ou Handmade Lemon Tea Store if he kept on shaking.

Sometimes, when Qin Huai went to Ouyang’s store to buy milk tea, he saw the staff glancing and shaking half-heartedly, replicating vaguely what he thought his current status was.

It was quite dull.

No wonder Master Jing did it casually; who would imagine such a core snack procedure could be so monotonous, which Qin Huai hadn’t foreseen.

Zheng Siyuan, who had been silently cooking noodles without speaking, asked as the noodles were served, "Eat now or later?"

Qin Huai glanced at the number of rolled balls and saw there were already more than twenty, with each one petite and tiny, serving only six per bowl seemed more like a small dessert portion.

Since it was his first time making lotus root powder balls, Qin Huai was very cautious with the lotus root powder, controlling the amount minimally each time, which resulted in the balls being slightly smaller than the ones Master Jing made in the video tutorial.