The moment we reached our temporary home, my familiars were all-
“I have high expectations for dinner.”
“I’m expecting something good!”
“Aruji~ Dinner will be extra, extra yummy, right~”
For some reason, the expectations for tonight’s dinner is really high, naa…
I waved them off with a simple ‘Yes, yes, I understand,’ and headed towards the kitchen. Now, what should I make?
[6] Let’s make all the things!
[6] I’m all fired up now!
Ah, but first, let’s have a little taste of everything so that I know what I’m working with. I sliced off a bit of the Kraken, Sea Serpent and Aspidochelone and placed them under the grill. [6] Uhoo, the smell is wonderful. Grilling with a tiny bit of salt is the best, although I didn’t even use salt this time since the seafood is so fresh~
Three minutes under a hot grill is good enough. I took out my tray and did the taste test.
Kraken: Hmm, hmm, yes, it tasted kind of similar to a regular squid. [2] Oh, but it’s chewier and the flavour is stronger somehow… Oh, oh, now that I think of it, Kraken isn’t a giant squid after all. It’s a giant cuttlefish! That’s right, though both squid and cuttlefish look alike, cuttlefish actually improved with longer cooking [8]!
Sea Serpent: Uhm… as expected. [3] It’s a giant sea snake after all and has the similar chicken-ish tastes I get from land Serpents. I guess I’ll just treat it like chicken… let’s have some fried Sea Serpent!
[6] Aspidochelone: is a fish. I don’t know what I had been expecting, but it really is just a fish. A very lovely and nice fish though I don’t quite dare to eat it raw… so let’s cook it with some sweet and sour sauce.
Alright, I’ve decided! [5]
Grilled Kraken! [1] Ah, I don’t have a fish grill, but this frying pan should do the trick. Since I love squid and cuttlefish, let’s make Kraken Stir-Fry too along with some colourful vegetables.
Shopping! Time to shop for ingredients ~
Fufufu, let’s see, I still have some barbecue sauce I can use for the Grilled Kraken. I have salt, of course, but a stir fry must have fresh garlic and ginger, so let’s get those. For the vegetables, let’s splurge and get some asparagus and a few types of paprika in different colours.
I have all the ingredients for Karaage since I make it very often, so let’s look for seasonings for the sweet and sour fish dish. I plan to fry the Aspidochelone and pour a sweet and sour sauce over it. Since my familiars don’t eat enough vegetables, let’s get carrots, enoki mushrooms, bamboo shoots and some red and green peppers. I also bought a bottle of ketchup since I like to use a couple tablespoons of it when making a sweet and sour sauce.
Now then, let’s get started~
First, I chopped the Sea Serpent meat to bite-size pieces and soak them in both a soy sauce and a salt brine bath for Soy Sauce Karaage and Salted Karaage.
While those guys are soaking up flavours, I moved on to the next dish. Grilled Kraken!
[6] I’ve decided to make my own grilling sauce when I spotted the fresh ginger. I mean, ginger paste from a tube is fine and all, but nothing beats freshly grated ginger. [1] The sauce base is made from the basic sake, mirin, soy sauce and grated ginger mixture.
I cut the Kraken into strips and heated up my frying pan. The strips of Kraken turned white against the hot oil nearly immediately. While it’s still sizzling and spitting angrily, I quickly pour on the sauce, causing the pan to splutter and bubble. A quick toss to coat the Kraken in the sauce and it’s done! This would be great with a little mayonnaise later.
Oh no, I forgot to buy mayonnaise!
Oh well, I’ll just buy some later, I thought as I divided up the Grilled Kraken onto four different dishes and put them away in my [Item Box].
[6] For the next Kraken dish, I cut a wide and flat piece of the block and cut a grid pattern on it before slicing it up into bite-size strips just like before. For some reason, stir-fried squids and cuttlefish have to be served like this to be delicious.
Next, I finely chop lots of garlic and ginger, peeled the lower bit of the asparagus and chopped it into 5 cm pieces. For the paprika, I cut them into halves, take out the seeds and cut them into strips that were about the same size as the Kraken.
Now, time to stir fry!
I slicked up the pan with a dash of oil and sizzled up the chopped garlic and ginger. When the aromatics began to give out a good smell, I poured in the asparagus and paprika. Once the vegetables have softened, I set it aside, clean the pan and oil it up again. Time to stir-fry the Kraken.
Again, once the oil was hot, I put in a generous handful of garlic and ginger. This time, when the pan began to emit fragrance, I pour in the sliced Kraken. Once the Kraken started to change from translucent to white, I threw in the pre-cooked vegetables. This is the best way to make stir-fries because it prevents overcooking or undercooking many different ingredients.
Once the ingredients have a little time to get to know each other, I seasoned it with a little salt, pepper, sake and used chicken broth to deglaze the pan and let it simmer for a little while. As a final touch, I dissolved some potato starch with water to thicken the sauce a little.
Ahh, the Kraken Stir-Fry looks really gorgeous with its white, green, red and yellow colours against a light brown sauce! Again, this was divided up into four different plates and put away in my [Item Box].
I’ve decided to fry the Karaage last since it would taste better the longer it stays in its marinade, so let’s do the sweet and sour Sweet Vinegar Aspidochelone next.
Largish pieces of Aspidochelone fillet about the size of my hand was cut and seasoned with salt and pepper. Then I coat it with a thin layer of potato starch. In a shallow frying pan, I fried the fillets until it’s a nice light golden brown. I put four pieces on two plates, two pieces on one and one piece for myself, before piling the rest onto a different bowl.
Once all the fillets were fried, I poured out the excess oil from the frying pan and got started on the vegetables. The first to go into the pan was sliced onions. Once the onions had taken on a translucent colour, I added the sliced carrots, peppers and bamboo shoots and stir-fried everything until it has softened before putting in the enoki mushrooms.
For the vinegar sauce, I had prepared everything in a bowl. Water, soy sauce, vinegar, mirin, sugar and ketchup were duly mixed in a bowl and poured into the pan after the enoki mushrooms. A little adjustment of flavour with salt and sugar. Later, I thickened the sauce with potato starch. This cooking style is very Chinese influenced as it uses ankake sauce made with sugar, ketchup and vinegar. Well, I say Chinese style, but it’s more like Japanised Chinese cooking.
Once the sauce is done, I dole it out over the fried Aspidochelone.
Ah, it looked like I made too much vegetable stir fry. Never mind, I’ll just store it away with the frying pan. I can make use of it later.
Finally, the Karaage. Everyone loves Karaage, so I made a lot. I got so used to frying Karaage that handling three hot pots full of hissing and bubbling Karaage was nothing now. Very soon, heaping portions of Karaage was done and all were placed on huge plates, waiting to be eaten.
“Alright, it’s done. Now, who’s hungry?!”
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“Sorry for the wait~”
“Ooh, it’s finally here. Our stomachs are rumbling so much that we’re thinking of coming over to look for you,”
“Really! What took you so long!?”
“Sui’s tummy is grumbling too~”
“Sorry, sorry, but I did make a lot of food,” [3] with that I revealed today’s line-up. “Tada! Grilled Kraken, Stir-fried Kraken with Vegetables, Fried Aspidochelone with Sweet Vinegar Sauce, and finally, Sea Serpent Karaage!”
“Why must we have vegetables? Humph. But it still looks delicious, I guess,” Fer muttered, but still ended up eating every single bit of vegetable I put on his plate.
“Oooh, everything looks so good! Where should I start? Slurp,” Dora-chan was drooling.
“Everything looks really yummy~”
“Hold it!”
“Mugu… what?” Fer already chewing a mouthful of Grilled Kraken.
The other two protested too, but I smirked as I revealed my secret weapon. “Heheh, you can eat if you like. But let me tell you, adding this onto the Grilled Kraken will make it even more delicious!”
Though everyone looked reluctant, they sat back and waited for me to drizzle mayo onto their plates.
“Alright everyone, go ahead. Know that Grilled Squi- I mean, Grilled Kraken is nothing without mayonnaise!”
“Ooh, it certainly is much better with this white thing on top,”
I know right, Fer.
“This chewiness is incredible and the taste is suuuper addictive!”
The combination of chewy Kraken with soy sauce and mayo is magic.
“This is delicious~”
It seems like gourmet Sui-chan also took a liking to my Kraken dishes~
“As expected, deep-fried is the best.”
Oh, it looks like Fer had started on the Serpent Karaage. Well, I love fried food too, so can’t refute that.
The other dishes also received praises. Dora-chan seemed to adore all Kraken dishes whereas Sui seemed to love the Sweet Vinegar Fish. [5]
While my familiars are occupied, I should take this chance to taste my cooking. Hmm, the Grilled Kraken is delicious, the mayonnaise a nice accent against the taste of grilled flesh. It makes me want beer, naa!
Oof, the Sweet Vinegar Aspidochelone makes me crave rice!
I quickly open up [Net Super] and bought myself a bowl of cooked rice and a can of dry beer from Company A since it seemed like it would go well with Grilled Kraken.
“Second! More Kraken and deep-fried food.”
Ah, there’s Fer’s seconds. [5]
“Sui wants seconds too~ uh, Sui wants… everything~”
E-everything?
W-well, considering that Sui did most of the work today and took us out to sea as our ship, she must be extra hungry. Also, my little Sui is no longer little, she’s a Huge Slime… boo hoo…
“I’ve said this before, but I’m saying again. You guys ate too fast!” Dora-chan said with a look of fascinated horror. The one people usually made for competitive eaters.
I agree with Dora-chan. Though I had provided more food than usual, Fer and Sui still managed to eat everything quickly. I had only managed to take a single gulp of my beer before the first call for ‘seconds’.
Maa, while they’re occupied, I had better take this opportunity to have some of my Grilled Kraken and Sweet Vinegar Aspidochelone. As a Japanese, rice is justice! After taking a bite out of the Sweet Vinegar Aspidochelone I stuffed my mouth with the warm rice.
Bliss!
A mouthful of Grilled Kraken, followed by a swig of cold beer.
Aaaahhhh! This is the life!
Though it’s still meat, meat, meat, seafood is different!
“Fruits of the Sea are truly delicious, naa.”
“Umu, it’s great to have this now and then.”
“True, it’s been decades since I was last here, but I never even got close to the sea then!”
“Sui really likes the salty water~ Is that the sea? Everything is so yummy~” [5]
“Aah, coming here was really the right choice,” I said, tipping the last of the beer down my throat. “Tomorrow, we’ll be going to the morning market. They have food stalls there, so we can get our breakfast there too.”
“Ho? Are we talking about new kinds of food? I’m looking forward to it.”
“Food stalls operated by humans… I wonder what those are like, na? Sounds exciting!”
“Aruji~ can Sui eat lots and lots~?”
“Of course, of course,” hehe. Looks like everyone’s looking forward to it. I wonder what kind of things they sell there.
“A, aruji~ Sui wants more of this fish, please.”
Another ‘seconds’, Sui?
Ah, well. Eat up my cute and hard-working slime~
[Gumihou: Sui is extra hungry today~]
[1] Structural Change: Combine 2 paragraphs
[2] Structural Change: Combine 3 paragraphs
[3] Structural Change: Combine paragraph & dialogue
[4] Structural Change: Change passive sentence to dialogue
[5] Delete Repetitive or Pointless Information
[6] Additional Information for Aesthetic Purpose
[7] Add Dialogue Tag
[8] Squid, Cuttlefish & Octopus trivia!