During that time, I had tasked Akane with procuring the vegetables.
「Akane, could you get the veggies we’ll use for the hotpot?」
「Leave it to me. I’ll buy them right away.」
「Lulu will come with nya.」
Akane and Lulu-chan left to get the ingredients.
The Sanctuary now has a monetary economy as well, so it’s become possible to buy all sorts of things.
The fish that Fluna-san recommended was so big it could be called already be called a monster, so I gave up on using a knife and processed it using a larger knife meant for dismantling.
「T-these bones are hard.」
「Yes. Despite how large it is, I guarantee that it tastes refined and is incredibly flavorful.」
I’ll fillet them for the time being.
「I was going to use these bones to make stock, but…… I wonder if these will turn out okay.」
「You can make stock from bones?」
「Yeah, I was going to grill it and then use it for dashi. But these bones are bigger and harder than I thought………」
A fish of this size can’t be eaten in one sitting, so I took from different parts as I filleted it.
「I suppose this much is fine?」
「That seems like it would fill us up.」
I stowed away the fillets into my Item Box for the time being, then I quickly washed the bones in hot water and grilled them to give it a nice char.
Now to make the dashi. I placed water into a large stock pot, then let the kombu soak in it. I then placed the grilled bones and heated them together.
I skimmed off the scum from the dashi, removed the bones and kombu before it boiled, then checked for the taste.
「Okay, it isn’t fishy anymore so this is done.」
「This kombu dashi has a pleasant flavor of fish. It’s delicious.」
If Fluna-san, a mermaid, says it’s delicious, then it’s probably okay.
I added a bit of soy sauce and sake to the dashi and increased the heat.
As I headed to the kitchen with the stock pot filed with dashi, Akane and Lulu-chan came back with a lot of vegetables.
It was then that Maria and Sala, a maid, came to help.
「We’ll prepare the vegetables, so Takumi, could you prepare the mochi, udon, and rice?」
「Eh, it’s not just mochi? We’re also having udon and rice as a porridge?」
「We may as well, having just one isn’t enough, so it’d be more enjoyable having multiple ways to eat it, right?」
「You do have a point.」
What Akane said was reasonable, so I left the veggie prep to them, and took charge of cooking the rice and making udon.
「I’ll cut corners with the udon.」
I prepared the wheat, water, and salt.
Kneading and rest would have taken time, so I made udon in an instant using magic.
I skipped the rolling and cutting processes and the thin udon was ready.
I boiled the udon once and stored it.
「Takumi, do we have some portable cooking stoves?」
「I think Leave can bring some out of you ask her.」
Large platters piled high with vegetables were carried by Maria and Sala to the dining room.
Fluna-san had gotten the fillets from me and arranged them on platters.
Akane then came back.
「Wow, that’s fish looks delicious.」
「Right? It’s the white fish that Fluna-san recommended. It looked like a monstrous grouper though.」
「If it’s grouper then I’ll have high expectations.’ Ah, Fluna-san, let me help you with those.」
Akane and Fluna-san carried the large platters lined with fish fillets and shellfish.
I also broughtplates of thinly sliced noshimochi to the dining room where there were three donabe(clay pots), and platters of vegetables, fish, and shellfish, as well as individual plates. New ɴᴏᴠᴇʟ ᴄhapters are published on novel•fire.net
I retrieved the stock pot and poured dashi into the three donabe.
「I will light the fire now.」
A maid ignited the portable stoves.
The maid, Maria, and Fluna-san placed vegetables, fish fillets, and shellfish into it.
「Coming, there’s no rush.」
Urged by Akane, I placed the plate of thinly sliced mochi on the table.
Maria and Akane placed the ingredients into the hotpot.
I’m no hotpot master, so I don’t know when to place the ingredients in.
The dashi and ingredients simmering together was starting to waft a wonderful aroma.
「Ooh~ It smells delicious nya~」
Lulu-chan could wait no longer and looked like she was about to start drooling.
「Lulu, this part should be good now.」
Akane handed a portion over to Lulu-chan.
We all then started taking the ingredients that we liked and ate.
「……yes, this method of eating is also quite nice.」
It seems hotpot was well received by everyone.
We continued to eat, and after throwing in the mochi, it was about time to finish when Akane spoke up.
「To finish, we have udon and rice porridge. Let’s have the two pots on the side with rice and the middle one will have udon.」
「……we’re really eating well.」
Just like what was said, rice was placed in two of the donabes, an one was filled with udon. We whisked eggs into the three hotpots, then topped with green onion. Chopped nori was sprinkled on top of the rice porridge, and it was complete.
I thought we’d have a lot left over, but the three donabes were completely empty.
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