The Spirit of Gourmet

Chapter 382 Intangible Cultural Heritage Food: Tea Fruit
After listening to everyone's explanation, Cao Dongdong finally understood what had happened after he entered the kitchen.

For a moment, an expression of interest appeared on his face.

"Qin Lang, how about we have a contest?"

"What are we competing in?" Qin Lang asked, suppressing a laugh and feigning ignorance, as he looked at Cao Dongdong's smug expression.

"Of course, we'll compare which is more delicious, the dish you're making or the glutinous rice and orchid dish I made," Cao Dongdong chuckled.

"Dongdong, you're getting braver and braver," Zhao Qian teased from the side. "You actually dare to compete with Qin Lang, that freak, in cooking."

Zuo Ge and Fatima, each holding a fragrant orchid, nodded in agreement upon hearing this.

"I'm very confident in the fragrant orchids I've prepared this time," Cao Dongdong said, arms crossed, raising an eyebrow. "What do you think?"

"Alright, let's have a competition then," Qin Lang said with a smile. "If I lose, I'll teach you to make two new desserts."

“But if you lose…” Qin Lang paused slightly, “you can wash my socks for a month.”

"Hiss~" Cao Dongdong gasped, "What a vicious bet, but..."

"It's a bet!"

Qin Lang smiled slightly, turned around and walked outside. He quickly picked several bunches of the freshest night-blooming cereus flowers and went into the kitchen.

"Gurgle!" Egg Baby showed an excited expression.

Although Cao Dongdong is a friend, there's no way I'll hold back in a food competition!
It believed that with Qin Lang's intervention, they would definitely win the bet!
"Of course." Qin Lang smiled. "This time, what I'm going to do is simple in a way, but very difficult to do well."

As he spoke, he rummaged through the available ingredients and found a large bag of white kidney beans, which he then poured into warm water to soak.

"Spicy, speed up by 1500 minutes."

"Chapter?" Lala looked surprised upon hearing this.

It has already prepared itself to be used later, and may not even be needed during the entire cooking process.

This is the first time that Eggbao's Freshness Enhancer has already been used before the Freshness Enhancer has even been used.

Excitedly, Lala rushed over and, without thinking twice, started raking the white kidney beans soaking in the water.

"Gurgle?" Egg Baby looked on curiously and couldn't help but ask.

"Today we're going to make a special kind of food called tea fruit," Qin Lang introduced with a smile. "Although it's a kind of food, there are countless ways to make it, depending on its shape and color."

Countless ways to do it?!

Egg Baby's eyes lit up, and he became even more excited.

Even Lala, who was still trying to speed up, became even more motivated after hearing these words.

Seeing the reactions of the two food spirits, Qin Lang couldn't help but chuckle.

In terms of preparation alone, tea cakes are much simpler than flaky pastries that require puff pastry. However, in its previous life, it was an intangible cultural heritage food, famous for its exquisite and diverse shapes and its elegant and slightly sweet taste.

More importantly, tea cakes are a perfect match for the current food scene.

The purpose of tea cakes is to be eaten as a accompaniment to tea.

The unique orchid tea made with night-blooming jasmine, paired with a variety of tea fruits, is simply a feast for the eyes and the palate.

The accelerated soaking process of 1500 minutes was completed quickly, and the white kidney beans in the basin were noticeably rounder than before. With a gentle rub, the skin and flesh of the white kidney beans could be easily separated.

Peel all the white kidney beans, add water to the pot to cover them, and then turn on the heat.

After the water boils, skim off the foam on the surface. Then let the water boil again and skim off the foam again. Repeat this process while gently pressing the white kidney beans in the pot.

Once the white kidney beans have been stewed into a paste, the water is filtered out with cheesecloth, and then they are stir-fried in a pot until they become sandy. This is the main ingredient used to make tea cakes: red bean paste.

After completing this step, mix glutinous rice flour, white sugar, and water in a 1:2:2 ratio to make "ball fertilizer," which is used to increase the stickiness of the fruit.

After boiling the gluten balls in water, mix them with red bean paste and stir well. Add a small amount of maltose, and finally blend the night-blooming jasmine into a paste and add it to the mixture.

It's worth mentioning that the final step of adding night-blooming jasmine syrup is not in the authentic tea fruit recipe, but Qin Lang added it to make the tea fruit and orchid tea more compatible, achieving a "1+1>2" effect.

After mixing the fruit peels thoroughly, like kneading dough until the surface is smooth and free of lumps, Qin Lang set them aside to rest. Then, he found various ingredients such as purple cabbage, carrots, tomatoes, and spinach.

To make tea cakes exquisite, rich colors are essential, and these colors are all achieved through various natural coloring agents, namely vegetable juices with different colors.

After juicing and blending, Qin Lang filtered out the juice and set it aside. Then, he pinched the fruit peel into small pieces and colored each piece with a different coloring agent.

Then comes the process of making tea cakes.

Wrap the original-colored fruit peel with the light pink fruit peel, roll it into a ball, and then gently press it with your fingers to shape it into a rough outline. Add a little light green fruit peel as embellishment, and use pressing, dotting, and carving techniques to carve clear patterns and petals on the surface of the fruit.

An exquisitely crafted orchid-shaped tea fruit appeared in his hand.

"Gulu!"

"Chapter!"

Danbao and Lala, who witnessed this scene, exclaimed in surprise.

Even though they watched Qin Lang complete it step by step, they still felt like they were in a dream.

Could it be that my family's spirit chef possesses magic?
"This tea cake is now complete," Qin Lang said with a smile. "However, we still need to make many more tea cakes."

He looked at the prepared fruit peels, made a quick estimate, and then smiled and said, "Conservatively speaking, I can make a hundred."

"Then let's make a hundred different kinds of tea cakes."

"Let's call it..."

"One Hundred Types of Tea and Sweets".
-
"It's taking a bit too long."

In the living room, Cao Dongdong put down his teacup, got up and paced back and forth restlessly, his face full of tension.

As everyone knows, the longer Qin Lang cooks, the more amazing the food he makes becomes.

Could it be that Qin Lang is going to use some hidden secret trick to make me wash socks for a month this time?
No way? !

"Stop swaying around, you're making me dizzy," Zhao Qian couldn't help but complain. "Qin Lang hasn't even made a move yet, are you going to chicken out?"

"Who...who chickened out?" Cao Dongdong retorted stubbornly. "I'm worried that if Qin Lang loses to me, he won't be able to come up with two new desserts."

Upon hearing this, Zhao Qian, Zuo Ge, and Fatima exchanged glances, and the three of them simultaneously curled their lips.

Cao Dongdong is really stubborn!

When Qin Lang comes out later, he will definitely teach him a painful lesson.

As the three were pondering this, a noise suddenly came from the kitchen.

Qin Lang pushed the food cart and walked out of the kitchen step by step.

When he arrived in front of everyone, he smiled mysteriously and opened the roof of the food cart, revealing a hidden surprise inside.

"Please enjoy this hundred kinds of tea and sweets."

(End of this chapter)