Chapter 196
Regrettable Beauty Once Again
“”We bought so many~””
“That we did, didn’t we~”
It was still bright when we finished shopping, so we were strolling around the town .
“Please give me food!”
Then, we encountered Vivian who abruptly requested food .
“… Oy, Vivian . Is this the only opening line you have?”
“Ah! Have you completed the Yellow Millet dish?”
“Oy!”
I did promise her the last time to let her eat a meal made out of the Yellow Millet . I did, but… that’s not it!
“Ah! Takumi-san, this is Red Wheat that grows in a certain area, it’s actually treated the same way White Wheat is… Takumi-san, aren’t you interested?”
Red Wheat? By treated as White Wheat, does she mean it’s used as fodder for domestic animals?
N~ I wonder what it is~?
“Is it red, since it’s called Red Wheat?”
“I would say that the grains itself are more whitish then White Wheat? It’s called Red Wheat because of the skin? Husk? around it, I think? It’s bright red, after all~”
Heeh~ the husk is red, huh~ n? That reminds me, I have no idea what color the White Wheat husk is, or how it is grown . I used the logic I know when it comes to rice out of my own convenience, but… that’s not necessarily true, right~
Rather, I feel like it’s definitely different! I mean, I only polished the White Wheat I got clean! When it comes to fodder for domestic animals, they surely wouldn’t remove the husks like that!
“Vivian, I have never seen a White Wheat plantation, do you perhaps know what part of the plant the white grains grow at?”
“Yes, I know~ Err… it’s a plant that grows a little higher than my knee-height and~ the top part has several circular sacks growing on it~ umm, the white grains come from those sacks~”
… N~ Did I hear something similar? No, but wait——
“Does each sack have a grain? And is the Red Wheat the same?”
“Gee~ you have so many questions~ I would like to eat right about now, though~ I have no choice but to reply, but please do increase my meal in return, okay~ To answer your question, each sack is the size of a coin and every sack contains about twenty grains~ And, the Red Wheat is really only different in color~”
Ahh~ it was a bit different, just as I thought .
Still, it’s something similar to rice, huh~ something similar… hey——surely not!
“Vivian, do you have that Red Wheat on you? Let me see it for a bit . ”
“Yesyes~ this is it~”
Vivian handed me a leather bag with reasonable weight and inside were grains that resembled rice, just as Vivian said . But this is… glutinous rice!?
“”What is it~?””
Allen and Elena peeked into the leather bag too .
“I think it’s glutinous rice~”
“”Glutinous~?””
“Yeah . I should be able to make something springier than with rice . ”
If this really is glutinous rice, then I could make… isobe mochi (soy sauce, nori mochi), daikon oroshi (grated daikon radish), with anko… beans——would I be able to do roasted soybean flour by powdering beans? Looks like I would be able to do lots! Ah, rice dumplings in sweet soy sauce might be good too!
“I want to eat that! Takumi-san, please make it at once!”
“Allen wants to eat too~!”
“Elena too~!”
Vivian immediately wanted to taste glutinous rice, Allen and Elena took the opportunity to jump on board with her .
“Allen, Elena, you guys just had lunch, no?”
“”Snack~!””
They have just eaten with Grandpa, but the two apparently have space for a snack .
“Well then, where do we have you make it~”
“… You decided for me, oy . ”
“It’s decided~ I mean, the children said they want to eat as well, you know? You shouldn’t be able to ignore that, Takumi-san!”
… I certainly can’t ignore that, but being told that by Vivian makes me annoyed .
“”Wanna eat springy~… can’t~?””
“… Kuh . ”
Allen and Elena’s puppy eyes are too effective on me .
“… I can only try whether I really can make mochi out of this . Let’s give it a try . ”
“”Yaay~!””
“Ohh! You instantly sunk, Takumi-san!”
“Be quiet, Vivian! You don’t want to taste it Vivian, do you?”
“Ah, sorry . I will keep quiet! And so, I will eat!”
Shutting the bantering Vivian up, we moved to the inn she stayed at just like the last time .
“First of all, this should be fine . ”
Glutinous rice should be washed and left soaking in water for a while, but I settled that with Aging . It should be fine to cook it normally in the rice cooker .
While the rice cooker was working, I prepared ingredients and sauces that go well with mochi .
“Salty or sweet, which do you prefer?”
It’s not like I could use all seasonings, so when I asked which do they prefer——
“”Sweet~””
“Both!”
Allen and Elena who chose sweet at first immediately corrected themselves after hearing Vivian’s choice .
N~ Is this going to have a bad influence on the children? Or is something like this not a big problem? What a complicated thing .
“… Let’s make something salty-sweet then . ”
I mixed the same amount of sugar and soy sauce in water .
“”It’s cooked~””
“Shall we pound it then?”
“”Pound~?””
“That’s right . It becomes springy after ponding . ”
The rice just finished cooking, so we have to pound it while it’s piping hot .
“”Pound♪ pound♪””
Pounding while matching Allen and Elena’s voice, the stickiness came out in no time .
I expected it to take strength and time until it gets sticky, but it became sticky easier than I thought .
“It’s same as glutinous rice up until now . ”
“It looked like White Wheat, but it’s completely different, isn’t it~ and so? Are we going to wait for this to rise?”
“No, just make it into round, bite-sizes and sauce them up . ”
“If it’s making it round, then even I can do it . Now, now! Let’s make it quickly and eat!”
We finished quickly with four of us making balls, but… Vivian’s round mochi were quite large . But well, Vivian is going to eat those, so oh well . This Red Wheat was brought by Vivian in the first place .
“”Is done~””
“It’s done~”
“Alright! Let’s give it a try then!”
… I feel that Vivian got reduced to children’s equal, but I decided to sample the mochi .
“Oh~”
I was relieved by the texture I was expecting .
It’s mochi . Undoubtedly, mochi . As I thought, the Red Wheat really was glutinous rice .
“””N~~~”””
The three who tasted mochi for the first time let out their voices in delight . Seeing them like that, they must quite like it .
“Takumi-san, it’s delicious!”
“I am glad to hear that . And so, Vivian . Where did you get this Red Wheat from?”
“it’s a secret . ”
“Oy?”
I would like to get my hands on this Red Wheat by all means, but when I asked, Vivian refused to tell me .
“Well~ I really can’t tell you that . But, but! I have secured plenty of Red Wheat in case something like this happened, so please let me off with that!”
“……”
I got quite curious about the secrecy, but all’s good as long as I can get my hands on it .
“Got it . Then, I won’t ask further, but will you sell me the rest? How much?”
“No way . Not selling . ”
“Oy!”
“I can accept only bartering! Therefore, please give me lots of food!”
I hung my head at the Vivian-like reply, but I prepared plenty of Yellow Millet food for her and got lots of Red Wheat in exchange .