Chapter 64
Ch 64 -- My Personal Cooking Style, Quick and Dirty
So, time to make dinner . The problem is, what? I've only got Rock Bird meat right now so it will have to be something in the chicken line .
Recipes, hmmm I'll go with an old favourite of mine, Szechaun chicken in spicy sauce . Fer will complain if that's all there is so I'll do some stir-fry as well, fried chicken and green peppers . I don't hate peppers like some people do, I like the sharp taste they have . I'll tweak the amounts so there's more meat than normal to keep Fer happy .
First up, shopping at the Net Super . Let's see, tomatoes, cucumber, green peppers and some red and yellow peppers too . They add colour to the dish . I put in my order, not forgetting to buy the most important side-dish, premium beer . I deserved some beer to toast the successful solving of my Guild ranking problem .
Excellent, now to get started with the Szechuan chicken . First I boiled Rock Bird breast in wine and salted water . While the meat was cooling down I sliced the tomatoes and cut the cucumbers into thin strips . I shredded the meat with my fingers then laid lots of it down on a bed of tomato slices and cucumber strips topped off with sesame seed dressing . I cut back on the spiciness since I expected a certain someone to complain otherwise but a simple sesame seed dressing should be fine . I like it anyway . . . If you want it hotter you can add chili oil with the sesame seed dressing .
On to the stir-fry, chicken with green peppers . I prodded some Rock Bird meat with a fork to open it up a bit then cut it into bite-sized pieces before marinating it in a ziploc bag with soy sauce and sake . I chopped up the peppers to size while the meat absorbed the flavourings .
Once the meat was properly scorched both sides in a hot oiled pan I took it off the heat and added the peppers . Once they softened I added the seasoning, some oyster sauce from a tube then fired it up again and started tossing the contents in the pan until it was ready .
I use a lot of oyster sauce for soups as well as stir-fry and I always keep some on hand . The tubes of ready-made sauce are really convenient and I've been buying them ever since they started appearing on the shop shelves .
I turned out the chicken and green peppers stir-fry onto a dish .
"It's ready," I announced to the waiting audience behind me .
"It's not just meat, is it?" Fer sniffed suspiciously .
"Let's eat it, it's delicious-""What's th- . . . *chomp* . . . *chomp**chomp**chomp* . . . " Fer settled down to some serious eating .
Sui's telepathic declaration that "It's delicious, Aruji-" was enough proof for me that the dish was a success . Sui's so cute . . .
I started on my own helping of Szechaun chicken and green pepper chicken stir-fry accompanied by a beer . The beer was first, of course .
"Psssh," the can foamed a little as I opened it . "Glug glug glug . . . " as it went down my throat .
"Fuuu, a beer is just the right thing right now . " I filled my mouth with Szechaun chicken . Munch munch, yep it's delicious as Sui said . The sesame seed topping has a refreshing taste . I followed it with another mouthful of beer . Nice . Next, some stir-fried chicken, well stir-fried Rock Bird and green peppers which have a nice crisp texture as I expected . The seasonings worked really well and they're so simple, I just add them to the cooking . All praise to the Japanese food industry! I toasted them with another mouthful of beer . It's delicious . Oh, I forgot to cook rice but I suppose bread will do in a pinch . Lessee, can I put the Szechuan chicken between two slices of bread? Hmmm, munch . "Oh, that works fine . " I worried that the bread would get soggy from the tomatoes but if I eat it quick there's no problem . Hurry hurry . . . and some more premium beer . My enjoyment of my Szechaun chicken and stir-fry and green peppers and premium beer combo was interrupted by a loud voice .
"Hey, seconds here . "
"Sui too-"
Yeah yeah . I've gotten used to their gluttonous demands but I wasn't going to be rushed so I continued enjoying my dinner and my beer while I made seconds for Fer and Sui .
"So? Was it good?" I enquired afterwards .
"It was so-so . " grumped Fer . It couldn't have been that bad really, he finished off everything I put in front of him . "Sui thinks it was delicious-" Ahhh, Sui's so honest . And cute .
"Well, I should get a lot more meat tomorrow so I'll grill some Orc King steak next time . "
"If you're grilling steak do it like you usually do . " Yeah yeah . Fer really likes steak, especially with soy sauce . Me I'd prefer to cook some curry instead but doing it in an inn, the smell is a bit strong . . . I guess it'll be a while before I can eat curry again . While I was daydreaming about curry I noticed Fer was stretching and yawning . Eating so much had made him sleepy .
"Move over and I'll put down a futon for you . " I ordered, poking him in the side .
"Yeah, do that . " Fer settled down as soon as I had laid down a futon in his stall .
"Right, we're going back to our room . " Fer wagged his tail in reply, his eyes already closed . He was totally out of it . Shall we go back to our room then, Sui-chan?