Chapter 178: Red Rice Roll

Translator: Atlas Studios  Editor: Atlas Studios

“Superb.”

After Xu Zhexian finished tasting it, he was deeply impressed by his son. He did not expect that the seemingly ordinary flat food would become so delicious after passing through Xu Le’s hands!

Xu Le’s original intention for choosing these two dishes was because they were troublesome to make. He had already secretly planned the time. As soon as the small pear soup was stewed, he would immediately start preparing the last dish.

He first made the skin of the red rice roll. The only difference between it and ordinary rice roll was that it was mixed with red rice flour. There was also red rice flour that had been used to make the light conch slices in the previous round. Xu Le directly used sticky rice flour, potato starch, corn starch, and wheat starch to mix it with red rice flour to produce a dark red color.

Then, he stirred the oil and water in a certain ratio and sifted them until they were fine.

Lu Yuxi came up and said, “The rice roll I ate previously were all for breakfast. You can add eggs, ham, or pork stuffing in the white rolls. After it’s steamed and cut, you can pour sauce on it. You can choose the side dishes like chili oil, green chili peppers, pickled vegetables, and green beans.”

As she helped with the sieve, she said, “Do we have to fry it up again?”

“Yes, we still have to use liquid nitrogen to cool it down.”

“Ah? Then won’t it become iced?”

Lu Yuxi was very surprised when she heard this method. She secretly looked forward to the taste of the finished product.

After the rice pulp was done, he covered the steamer with a layer of gauze and waited for it to boil.

After pouring in the rice pulp, it could be steamed for two minutes. A large bump appeared in the middle of the dark red rice noodles. When it came off, it was as thin as a cicada’s wing.

“It looks quite simple.” Li Qing was eager to try. “I’ll do the rest.”

“Okay, just make it as thin as possible.”

Xu Le knew that it was not difficult to make the rice roll. After leaving it to them, he began the second step of this dish—yellow silk skin.

After mixing rice flour, glutinous rice flour, sweet potato starch, and a little turmeric powder evenly, he added an egg white and a little salt, sugar, and oil.

After all the raw materials were prepared, he poured in 80 degrees celsius hot water and kneaded it into a yellow rice ball.

As he rolled the rice balls, he kept adding warm water to them until they were thick enough to hang between his fingers.

He turned on the heat for the cold pot and held the raw material bowl with one hand. With the other hand, he stuck the rice paste on his fingers and quickly dripped it vertically into the pot, forming some patterns in the pot.

This step seemed simple, but in reality, he had to hold his breath and complete it in one go.

The judges could not help but exclaim when they saw the yellow silk skin forming.

“He made it with his own hands? He succeeded in one go? This is too…”

“The finished products sold online are all made with machines. The failure rate is too high.”

“Even a chef who makes morning breakfast needs to build two to three years of experience before he can produce the yellow silk skin. But I can guaranteee that no one can produce such a perfect skin like him. It hasn’t broken at all.”

After practicing two or three times, Li Qing could already make the rice roll. He was especially proud of himself. Seeing Xu Le making the yellow silk skin, he immediately said, “Go and mix the stuffing. I’ll help you make it.”

“Can you do it?”

Xu Le was skeptical.

“Why not? Don’t worry about my culinary skills.”

As Li Qing spoke, he imitated his actions. He dipped his fingertips in the rice paste and turned his wrist to draw a few rounds.

The rice paste had been dripping all the way from the bowl to the pot. Even though it had taken shape in the pot, when it was poured out, there was still a plate of dregs that had landed on the bottom. It was a tragic sight.

Li Qing was speechless for a moment. He couldn’t help but say, “It’s just a mistake.”

Although he was trying to make up for it, he knew his limits and stopped trying. He began to focus on spreading the rice roll out.

Xu Le divided the prawns that Lu Yuxi had peeled into two portions. One half was chopped into shrimp paste, and the other half was diced. He placed them into a bowl and mixed them evenly. This way, the fillings that were made contained grainy texture and tasted more layered.

The white and tender cuttlefish meat was cut into strips before being chopped into paste and placed into a bowl.

Finally, he put in a suitable amount of minced pork, salt, chicken essence, pepper, and sugar and stirred.

The tender garlic chives were cut into pieces and added to the filling made of cuttlefish, prawns, and pork. After stirring evenly, a circle of sesame oil was poured in.

Now it was time for the final plating.

The yellow silk skin that had been made just now was dry and crispy. There was no way to roll the stuffing directly. It needed to be covered on both sides with wet kitchen paper first. After soaking it soft, it would become more resilient.

Then, he overlapped the two silk skins and added a layer of meat filling in the middle. He carefully rolled them up.

He turned on the heat and waited for the oil to reach about 200 degrees. After frying the meat roll for a minute, he could scoop it up and cut it in half.

The fried meat roll was golden and crispy on the outside, and the meat inside was tender and fragrant. He placed it in the red rice roll while it was hot and wrapped it tightly. He brushed the skin with peanut oil, squeezed some peanut sauce, and sprinkled white sesame seeds.

The fried meat roll’s outer shell was crispy and fragrant, and it was wrapped in a circle of soft and beautiful red rice roll. Li Qing took a piece and put it into his mouth. The thin, soft, and rice-scented meat roll was taken in one bite. Under the crispy skin, there was a faint gravy filling. It was exceptionally delicious and rich in texture.

“Don’t be anxious. It’s not done yet.”

Xu Le reminded him. Li Qing gave him a thumbs up and said, “It’s really not bad. The three layers taste completely different. Every layer is delicious…”

He trailed off, his mouth twitching.

This was because he saw Xu Le pour the liquid nitrogen into the chili oil and it quickly smoked. Under the stimulation of the chemical reaction, it solidified into powder. Then, Xu Le sprinkled a spoonful of it on the rice roll.

The moment the liquid nitrogen of -196°C came into contact with the chili oil, white smoke immediately rose. The hot surface of the rice roll immediately produced mist that rose.

“Rice roll with chili powder? Is this still edible?”

This was the first time Li Qing had seen such a strange combination. He pouted and said, “I feel that the taste in the previous step was already perfect. Although it looks cool after the liquid nitrogen, who would serve spicy rice rolls?”

He did not understand this combination and was shocked. Xu Le said, “Won’t you know if it’s good or not after taking a bite?”

Lu Yuxi drooled as she looked at it. She immediately picked up a piece and tasted it. The sound was crispy, and the oily rice skin was slightly spicy. The filling inside was filled with a sweet fragrance that was both chewy and crispy. Under the magical taste, the fragrance jumped up and down in her mouth.

Lu Yuxi narrowed her eyes and smiled. “Awesome, I announce that you have already become a culinary god in my heart!”

Xu Le’s hand paused, and a sincere smile appeared on his lips. “Mmm, I know many more dishes.”

The two of them had a casual conversation, but no one took it to heart.

Shen Hui, who was sitting in the audience, was extremely anxious. Her back was constantly covered in cold sweat. Finally, after Xu Le filtered out the ingredients in the small pear soup and poured it into the cup with ice, the red rice roll was sent down. This was the last dish.

Chen Yeqi’s hand was trembling as he held the walkie-talkie. In the end, he sighed and said, “We still couldn’t make it.”

In the last half of the finals, the Master Chef introduced a pot of chicken soup with wontons and hibiscus crabs. The last dish was red rice roll.