Gourmet: From a Stall in Northern Europe-Chapter 134 - 116: Breakfast in the Rain, Shrimp and Pork Potstickers (Part 2)

"Hey, good morning you two. Still doing business on a rainy day?"

They were all regular customers, so there was no need to hide Lu Xiaohei's seafood stall business from them. He was even considering whether, if business picked up in the future, he could have the boss deliver goods directly.

"Says the boss who's also open for business."

"Well, I don't have a choice."

Magna chuckled bitterly, "We have a large inventory, unlike other places that have a small amount and just sell out. If my stock doesn't sell and is frozen for two or three days, the price has to be discounted."

"Like last night's thunderstorm, the fishing boats couldn't head out, so the stalls naturally didn't operate due to no stock. These here are last evening's catch that didn't sell."

Magna owned two medium-sized fishing boats, with one batch in the morning and another in the evening, making it the biggest seafood business in the entire market.

Though it's considered stock, it was caught less than 12 hours ago and is still very fresh.

If you come later and other restaurants have already bought them, getting fresh seafood won't be easy.

"Yeah, the weather isn't great today. I guess there won't be much business at the stall either. I'll just buy a bit less to try. I'll take two boxes of black tiger shrimp and a box of scallops."

The breakfast challenge task required selling over five hundred fried dumplings. A normal person can easily eat five or six or even more without getting too full, so dozens of customers would suffice to meet the quantity. The only challenge was maintaining a satisfaction rating of over ninety percent.

Considering the previous days' seafood business boom, he decided to adapt to local circumstances and make seafood-stuffed fried dumplings.

After leaving the seafood market, he went to a 24-hour supermarket to buy some ground pork, carrots, celery, green onions, and flour.

Naturally, shrimp with chives would be a great pairing, but those grown in the coastal alkaline soil don't taste good and lack sweetness. So he opted for a safer, more basic pairing.

Back at the hotel parking lot, he loaded the ingredients onto the food cart and informed Elise to set up at the restaurant entrance.

The hotel was just over two hundred meters away from the restaurant, easily visible across a main road, which made it very convenient.

Once the food cart stopped, he began the simple dough-making process.

Fried dumplings are essentially like boiled dumplings; the dough can be made the same way as for dumpling wrappers.

Mix 500 grams of flour, 200 grams of potato starch, and 3 grams of salt. The potato starch is to increase the dough's elasticity, making it less likely to tear.

One egg white is optional; it also enhances elasticity, though some might find it makes the dough too stiff, so adjust to your own taste.

Add 250 grams of water gradually until the dough is smooth and formed.

He wasn't sure how many dumplings this exchanged recipe would make, so to be safe, he made extra dough.

Even if not all is used, dumpling wrappers can be repurposed in many ways, so there's no waste.

The dough needs to rest three times. After the initial mixing, it will be hard, so cover it with plastic wrap and let it rest for ten minutes to soften.

Knead for two to three minutes, rest for another fifteen minutes, then knead again.

The third rest should be over twenty minutes.

The longer the resting time, the better the dumpling skin's elasticity. Consequently, it will be chewier, so this recipe asks for very thin wrappers for the best taste, just slightly translucent.

While waiting for the dough to rest, he seasoned the meat filling and shrimp.

Soak green onions, ginger, Sichuan pepper, and star anise in water to make a green onion and ginger water to replace cooking wine for removing any odor.

Mix a small amount of this onion ginger water, light soy sauce, starch, sea salt, egg white, chicken essence, and oyster sauce into the pork filling in one direction until it becomes sticky. Then, add chopped scallops, diced carrot, diced celery, and chopped green onions and mix everything together simply.

For the black tiger shrimp, remove heads, shells, and veins, then marinate with green onion gingerr water, sea salt, crushed black pepper, and ginger slices for over twenty minutes.

The smaller the vegetable dices, the better, but scallop meat should be chunkier, cut into fourths so diners can clearly taste them.

The scallop's yellow and fringe can be chopped to enhance the seafood flavor and mask the slight bitterness of the scallop roe.

While Lucas helped with the black tiger shrimp, Lin Chen began rolling out the wrappers. 𝙛𝓻𝒆𝒆𝒘𝙚𝓫𝙣𝙤𝒗𝙚𝓵.𝙘𝙤𝙢

Every holiday, as a Great Xia person, he had to make dumplings at home, so although his dough-rolling skills weren't as good as a professional, they were sufficient.

Roll the dough into long strips, cut them into small sections, sprinkle them with flour, and roll them into balls before pressing them flat with the palm.

Holding the edge with the left hand, the right hand rolls with a pin back and forth. The dough quickly flattens from the center outwards.

Unlike baozi, dumpling wrappers need uniform thickness. Edges can be thinner if pleating, but for fried dumplings, less hassle is better.

To save time, he planned to make open-ended dumplings, pinching just the left and right sides.

The challenge required making the dumplings on the spot, which was somewhat troublesome, making him a bit nervous, fearing to keep customers waiting.

Once the wrappers were piled like a small mountain and he couldn't tell how many he'd made, Lucas also completed the tough shrimp-peeling task, his fingers trembling slightly.

"More money, this job needs more money! I feel like I peeled all the shrimp I've ever eaten in one go!"

"Sure, no problem. Opening oyster shells gets a hundred euros a box; peeling shrimp is easier, I'll give you eighty, one hundred sixty for two boxes, no bargaining."

"Wow, you're really adding money? That's great!"

Hearing he'll be paid, Lucas immediately broke into a sycophantic grin, "Call me next time, boss! I'm great at peeling shrimp!"

"Speaking of, where's Lu Xiaohei?"

"..." Lucas's expression stiffened.

Apparently, he stayed over with the wealthy lady last night and hasn't returned since vaccinating.

Thinking of this, he casually sent a message to Jiang Shuqi.

[I'm making shrimp fried dumplings at the restaurant entrance]

After endlessly rolling wrappers, his hands started cramping.

Now, with all the black tiger shrimp marinated, he could take a twenty-minute break.

Since just eating fried dumplings might make you thirsty, they bought ready-made boxed sweet soy milk, a popular item in foreign supermarkets, with large bottles available for convenience.

Not that he didn't want to make fresh soy milk, but time was limited, and there was no soy milk machine in the car, using a blender was too cumbersome, so they opted for ready-made.

"Tap, tap, tap..."

In the drizzle came the clear sound of footsteps. Both looked up to see familiar hotel uniforms.

"Hey chef, I'm here~!"

Elise, without even changing clothes, came running over with a little umbrella.

With energetic steps, water splashed everywhere, exuding lively youthfulness.

Not far behind her, several figures holding umbrellas started appearing one after another.

"I was supposed to get off work at 8, but I was worried I'd miss out, so I sneaked out early. I even printed little flyers last night and slipped them under guests' doors."

Flyers under hotel room doors??

Lucas and Lin Chen exchanged a peculiar glance.

Thankfully, this was abroad. Domestically, though...

Anyone who's stayed in hotels knows not to pick up those little flyers slipped under your door.

At best, you part with some cash, at worst, you're invited for "tea," and in serious cases, you could say goodbye to this wretched world early.

"You came just in time; we're ready to start the first batch of dumplings."

Though the shrimp hadn't marinated long enough, it didn't affect usage; there were a few buffer minutes between wrapping and cooking.

Placing a wrapper in the palm, he smeared water around it, placed a scoop of meat filling in the center, and laid two shrimp on top.

Pinching two corners on each side to seal, with shrimp backs exposed.

In just seven or eight seconds, a plump shrimp dumpling was ready.

He added a little canola oil to a flat skillet, then placed the dumplings around the edges of the pan.