Chapter 146: Crab Fried Rice

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Seasonings?

Rice?!!

This really is a complete kitchen starter kit!

Ye Da had been worrying that even the cleverest cook could not make a meal without rice, but the treasure chest had unexpectedly come through for him.

“Wonderful!”

Overjoyed, Ye Da hurried toward the bronze treasure chest.

He remembered that there seemed to be a few other things inside. He might as well take everything out, then use the bronze chest to store his seasonings.

From now on, it would be Ye Da’s portable kitchen!

[D-rank Mage Robe: Casting time reduced by 3 seconds when worn]

[D-rank Butcher’s Knife: Inflicts tetanus; Attack +30]

[D-rank Toughhide Bracers: Physical Defense +15]

[Fast-Growing Soybeans ×200]

Three pieces of equipment and a small bag of soybean seeds.

All of this equipment had been upgraded by a lucky critical hit. Originally, they had only been F-rank, but all of them had risen to D-rank.

At the time, Ye Da had been in such a hurry to save Chu Ping that he had not carefully inspected what equipment the chest had yielded.

Although he had no immediate use for the gear, he could give it to the settlers!

Improving the settlers’ abilities was equivalent to improving the strength of their entire group, so it could hardly be considered a waste.

Besides…

Ye Da remembered that he had once obtained a pair of E-rank boots from a treasure chest.

They could give those to the settlers as well.

“Take this robe and these bracers.” Ye Da handed Zhang Ya the two pieces of equipment suited to her. Then he picked up the remaining butcher’s knife, half a meter long. “I’m not giving you this one. It’s not suitable for a mage, so I’ll save it for Chu Ping.”

“Thank you.”

Zhang Ya replied, then suddenly seemed to remember something. She rose and walked over to a nearby shelf, taking several items down.

“Oh, right. I stole your treasure chest before and got a few things from it. See if any of them are useful.”

“No rush. We can look at them after we eat.” Ye Da brought out a large chunk of crab meat. “Help me wash the crab meat, chilies, ginger, scallions, and garlic. I’ll handle the rest. Otherwise, when will we ever finish cooking? I’m starving!”

“Oh…”

At that, Zhang Ya silently set down the final piece of the seven-piece black-iron set—the black-iron leggings.

“All right.”

Although Ye Da’s wok could cook enough fried rice for ten people, he planned to make only three servings for now. Stir-frying too much rice at once would leave it undercooked and ruin the texture.

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So he began by cooking the rice, using the method for making porridge.

The rice would turn rather wet when prepared this way.

But Ye Da had discovered that the rice produced in the Mist World was unusually chewy. Steaming it directly made it too hard, while boiling it and then draining the water gave it exactly the right texture.

While the rice cooked, Ye Da took out three crocodile eggs and kept only the yolks.

He poured the whites straight into the wolf cubs’ bowls. Those two bottomless pits would eat anything.

Recently, Ye Da ate the fresh food while they ate the leftovers.

Usually, the leftovers were not enough to fill them, so he had to throw them some extra meat as well. Since he had caught plenty of crab meat today, he naturally did not begrudge them a little.

Each wolf received a large chunk of crab meat the size of a brick, along with the egg whites.

As for the crab roe…

Forget it.

Ye Da could not bear to give them any.

After all, crab roe was a true delicacy. It could be used in fried rice, crab meat dumplings, crab-roe tofu, and countless other dishes.

Besides, it was simply too delicious. Ye Da could not bring himself to let those two gluttons eat it!

He first beat the egg yolks until smooth, then set them aside. Once the rice was cooked, he would pour the yolks over it and mix them thoroughly, making sure every grain was coated in egg. That way, the fried rice would turn an enticing golden color.

While waiting for the rice to finish, Zhang Ya washed the chilies, ginger, scallions, and garlic. Ye Da began mincing the ginger, then diced the red chilies and scallions before heating oil in the wok.

To give the rice a richer aroma, he added lard as well.

While waiting for the lard to heat, Ye Da quickly sliced the crab meat into thin strips, roughly the size of shredded potatoes. The meat of these giant crabs was especially firm, so cutting it too thick would make it tiring to chew.

But he could not slice it too thin, either. Otherwise, it would lose its crab flavor, and all the moisture would escape, leaving the meat dry and unpleasant.

Once all the preparations were complete, Ye Da dipped his fingertip into a drop of water and flicked it into the wok.

“Crackle, crackle!”

The oil immediately erupted with a series of sharp pops. This was the legendary test of dropping cold water into hot oil—and it was incredibly loud!

Watching him, Zhang Ya asked in confusion, “Why did you sprinkle water into the oil?”

“To test the temperature.”

Ye Da explained, “Oil and water have different boiling points. Water boils at exactly one hundred degrees, but oil boils at a much higher temperature. Unless you have a professional thermometer, it’s impossible to judge precisely.”

“All you have to do is sprinkle a few drops of water into the wok. If it crackles like that, the oil is hot enough for cooking.”

“I understand. Thank you.”

Zhang Ya watched his every move intently, doing her best to learn by imitation.

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Zhang Ya could not cook. In the past, she had relied on takeout or the company cafeteria for all three meals every day. But now that she had come to the Mist World, anything she wanted to eat had to be prepared by her own hands.

These past few days, she had truly learned what it meant to go hungry. Sometimes she was lucky enough to find a little food, but after preparing it herself, she often no longer wanted to eat it.

Even when hunger forced her to take a bite, the taste was simply…

Impossible to describe.

So while she had the chance, Zhang Ya hurried to learn from Ye Da. She was afraid that if he suddenly left one day, she would have to return to those unbearable days.

“Whoosh!”

After testing the oil, Ye Da poured the prepared crab meat directly into the wok, added an equal amount of crab roe, and stir-fried until the crab fat seeped out. Then he added minced ginger, oyster sauce, light soy sauce, and other seasonings, tossing everything until evenly mixed.

As the crab roe coated the snowy-white meat and dyed it a brilliant golden color, Ye Da transferred all the ingredients into a bowl beside him for later use.

By the time the ingredients were finished, the rice was ready as well.

Ye Da scooped the rice out and was just about to drain it when Zhang Ya somehow produced a winnowing basket—a large, hole-filled tray woven from bamboo. It was perfect for draining the water.

After draining, the rice had to be cooled in cold water. This would make it chewier and give it a springy, elastic texture.

The water was then drained away again, and the rice was placed in a flat-bottomed pan to dry-fry.

Once the rice was nearly dry, he added the egg yolks and stir-fried until everything turned golden. Finally, he mixed in the prepared crab ingredients.

The crab fried rice was essentially complete!

“Gurgle!”

The fried rice had not even left the pan when Ye Da heard Zhang Ya swallow hard beside him.

Yet every time he turned to look, the woman quickly turned her head away, pretending she had not been watching.

In truth, her thoughts had already flown into the crab fried rice…

She practically wanted to bury herself in it and never come out!

“It’s not ready yet,” Ye Da said with a smile. “I still need to make some crab meatballs. Otherwise, eating only fried rice would be far too plain!”

“Oh.”

Zhang Ya answered calmly enough, but inside, she was practically frantic with anticipation.

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