CH 445.1

Cristea’s cooking class.

“Well then, I’m going to teach you how to cook rice. I will show you how it’s done first.”

I took out a bag of rice, a bowl, and several earthenware pots from my inventory.

“First, I will show you how to polish the rice… before cooking the rice, you need to rinse off the bran and other debris in with the water, and soak it… erm, let the rice absorb the water and then cook it in the earthenware pot.”

I measured the rice as I explained.

“You can also use a spatula or a stick to remove the excess rice and level the surface. Repeat this process for several cups… Remember how many cups you scooped. I’m going to use three cups here.”

I really want to measure the rice properly, but I don’t have a measuring container… But that doesn’t mean I can’t cook without it.

“I’m going to put the measured rice into a bowl and wash it. You have to be nimble from here, so please watch carefully.”

I carried the bowl of rice to the sink and touched the magic stone on the faucet to release the water.

In this world, water is produced by pouring just a little magical power into the magic stone sealed with a water magic circle on the faucet. If you pour magical power into the fire stone next to it, it will turn into hot water, which is very convenient.

“The first thing to remember when washing rice is that dry rice absorbs water very easily, so as soon as you add water to the rice, pour it out and throw it away. This is to prevent the rice from absorbing too much dirty water.”

I then drained off the water with one hand.

“I’m going to polish the rice from now on, like this… I’m stirring the rice lightly with my fingers.”

After stirring the rice about 20 times, I added water, stir gently from the bottom, and discard the cloudy water again.

“You repeat this process a few times, and when the clearness of the polished water is reduced to the point where you can see the rice, it’s done.”

In my previous life, rice milling technology had improved, and it was no longer necessary to polish rice so thoroughly. There was even no-wash rice that could be used without any polishing whatsoever.

I liked freshly milled rice because it tasted better, so I wanted to buy a rice polishing machine… Remembering the delicious freshly cooked rice of my previous life, I put the rice in the colander.

“The polishing is now done. Next is…”

“Are we cooking it at last?”

Sei who was watching quietly had a ‘I was waiting for this!’ look on his face.

“No, we let the rice sit in the water.”

“What, still not done yet… it takes a lot of work, doesn’t it?”

Nono, Sei-san.

You are visibly disappointed, but making good rice takes a lot of time and effort.

But then you eat it in an instant…?

“It’s delicious!” When everyone eats delightfully and says this, that’s what makes one work so hard.

In my case, I’m working hard because I want to eat good food, too!

“Pour in the same amount or twenty percent more water than the amount of rice you measured. This is why I told you to remember the number of cups of rice you have used.”

I used the same cup I used to measure the rice and poured the water into the bowl.

“This is how you let the rice absorb water. In summer, it takes a shorter amount of time, and in winter, it takes longer.”

I recommend 30 minutes or more in summer and an hour or more in winter.

“It takes a long time even before cooking it…”

“Let’s make miso soup in the meanwhile. Erm, this amount of rice won’t be enough for everyone, so we should prepare another pot…”

“I will do it.”

“I will do it too!”

“Then, I will leave it to you Kurogane and Mashiro.”

I left the rice polishing to them, and took out kombu, katsuobushi (dried bonito flakes), and miso from my inventory.

“Wipe the surface of the kombu with a cloth lightly. Put the water and kombu in a pot and let it sit for a while. Then, for the katsuobushi…”

I took out my katsuobushi shaver and showed him how to shave the flakes.

“Katsuobushi is made like this. I will need a lot of it, so can someone do it for me?”

“I will do it.”

Sei came forward, so I handed the katsuobushi to him.

“Put the katsuobushi on the shaver like this…”

I took Sei’s hand and slid the katsuobushi into the shaver. Swoosh, swoosh, swoosh…

The shavings were made with a light sound.

Yeah, he’s doing well.