Preparation Work
After having tea with Her Majesty the Queen and finishing lunch at the royal capital mansion, I returned home to Lampail via the teleportation gate and headed straight for the kitchen.
Because, you see, glutinous rice needs to be soaked in water for at least six hours as a preliminary step, and making anko from azuki beans is quite a bit of work too.
But when it comes to delicious food, no amount of time is too much—such was my gluttonous grandma self from my past life. That’s who I am—Joan!!
Delicious food is justice!!
“Excuse meeee~~!”
(What’s with that shout?)
Pearl chimed in as I opened the kitchen door.
There stood Ken, Arthur, and Anny, all with dumbfounded expressions.
“““What’s with that shout?”””
They all gave me the same response as Pearl.
“Ah, don’t worry about it. It was just on a whim.”
“Well, it is Joan… So? Did you find it in the capital?”
Ken asked.
“Yup. At that spice shop.”
“Huh? That spice shop had it?”
Anny had assumed, like me, that the shop only sold spices.
“Yep. Turns out it’s run by Mr. Taiki’s relatives.”
“““Ohhh~”””
“So, time for prep work.”
“Not sure how that follows, but… what are you making?”
“Kusamochi.”
“““Kusamochi?”””
I took out mugwort from storage.
“Is that… grass?”
Arthur looked curiously at the mugwort.
“Huh? You don’t know mugwort?”
“I’ve heard of it, but… I didn’t know it was edible.”
“Yep. You mix this mugwort into the mochi.”
““Ohhh~””
“Huh? Is it just me who doesn’t know what mochi is?”
“Oh, right, Ken hasn’t tried it. I got some before from Phantasmo. Seeing is believing, after all… here. Isobe-yaki.”
I pulled out some isobe-yaki from storage and handed it to Ken.
“… Oh, thanks… Also, you really do have everything in that thing, huh? Let’s see… hmm? This is… good. The flavor of the soy sauce and the roasted part of this mochi? It’s toasty and tasty. But it has a bit of a sea-like taste—what’s this black paper-like stuff?”
“Ah, that. It’s called nori, dried seaweed. That’s probably what you’re tasting.”
“I see… Yeah, that was good. So, you’re putting this mugwort into that?”
“Exactly. But the prep work takes a lot of time. Even if we start today, we won’t be able to eat it until tomorrow.”
“It takes that long? Sounds like a lot.”
“But it’s delicious, you know?”
“Hahaha, then I guess we’d better put in the effort.”
As I was talking with Ken, Anny slowly raised her hand.
“Umm, it’s not about mochi, but—what did you mean earlier when you said ‘seeing is believing’?”
“Oh, I guess people don’t say that here? It means that hearing something a hundred times isn’t as good as seeing it once. In other words, instead of just hearing about something over and over, actually seeing it with your own eyes is more reliable and easier to understand.”
“””I see~ That makes sense.”””
“It's kind of like your cooking, Joan. Back at the mansion in the royal capital, we often heard about it, but we didn’t really understand what kind of food it was until we actually tried it and realized how good it was.”
“That comparison is perfect, Head Chef!”
“All right, let’s get started! First, rinse the glutinous rice like regular rice and soak it in water. As for the adzuki beans, put them in a pot with plenty of water and bring it to a boil over medium heat. Once it starts boiling, continue simmering for about five minutes on medium, then turn off the heat. After that, drain them using a strainer, rinse them with water, and let them drain.”
“““Got it.”””
“How long do we need to soak the glutinous rice?”
“Hmm, from now… probably until tomorrow morning.”
“““What? That long?”””
“Yep. That long.”
Some time passed…
“I've drained the adzuki beans~”
“Thanks, Anny. Okay, put them back in the pot, add enough water to cover them, and boil on high heat. Once it boils, reduce to medium, put the lid on, and keep simmering for about 40 minutes, adding water as needed until they become tender.”
“Whoa… this takes a lot of time too, huh?”
“The more time it takes, the tastier it’ll be.”
“Well, guess we’ve got no choice then.”
Some more time passed…
“Next, throw out the current boiling water, add sugar, and cook on medium heat, gently stirring so you don't crush the beans. When the liquid is mostly gone and it gets thick and sticky, add salt and mix… then spread it out on a tray… and once it cools, it’s done!”
“““Ooooh~”””
“But…”
“““But?”””
“I’d like to taste it fresh!”
“““Oooohhh!!!”””
“Hot… mmm, delicious! This is it!!”
“Delicious. That perfect touch of sweetness is really nice.”
“So good! But what is this? It feels nostalgic somehow.”
“It’s so tasty! I personally wouldn’t mind if it were even sweeter~.”
“When you cook adzuki beans like this with sugar, it becomes what’s called an—sweet bean paste. You can put it inside mochi or pour it on top… Ah!!”
“““Hmm?”””
How could I forget—
A quick and easy way to enjoy anko…
“Charara chatcharan! Here, buttered toast!”
“What’s that ‘charara’ thing?”
“Oh, that’s what Joan says when she pulls something out. But it’s been a while since I heard that.”
“Yeah, she hasn’t said it lately~”
“Anyway, never mind that—just try this with the anko on top.”
I handed the three of them slices of baguette with buttered toast.
Crunch! ““So good!!”” “Delicious!!”
“Right~? The salty butter and sweet anko make for a perfect marriage of flavors. …Yup, no doubt about it!!”
“I never thought Eastern adzuki beans would pair so well with bread.”
“If you stuff it into a butter roll and bake it, it becomes anpan—a sweet red bean bun.”
“““That’s gotta be delicious!!”””
“By the way, if you stuff bread with curry and deep-fry it, you get curry bread.”
“Whoaaa~ That sounds dangerous!”
“Ahh~ I wanna eat that!!”
We promised to hold a bread festival with all sorts of savory buns the next time my brothers were around, and I headed back to my room.
After Joan left the kitchen…
“Come to think of it, maybe that ‘seeing is believing’ phrase applies to Joan herself?”
“What do you mean, Sous Chef?”
“I mean, you can’t trust the rumors around town. After her Judgment, at first people mocked her for being a Null attribute, but no one says that anymore, right? That’s because they’ve interacted with Joan, tasted her food, heard her ideas about local production for local consumption, and the town’s gotten better thanks to it. These days, not only does no one make fun of her, but some even revere her.”
“Who’s revering her?”
“Sweet potato farmers, restaurants, confectioners, diners, the orphanage… I could go on.”
“Ahh, I see. Still, that’s a whole lot of food-related folks.”
““Because it’s Joan.””
What do you think about this chapter?
