"Thank you all for your concern. I’ll protect myself well. Besides, it’s not as serious as you’re making it out to be. The recipes are all on my homepage, so you can learn from them too."
Gan Lan took out the ingredients for making the char siu sauce. "We’ll make the char siu sauce first. You can all learn how to do it; we’ll need it later for the char siu bao."
She heated oil in a pan, then tossed in chopped scallion whites, minced onion, and garlic, stir-frying them until fragrant. She poured in an appropriate amount of soy sauce, oyster sauce, white sugar, water, fish sauce, and red yeast rice powder, simmering the mixture until thick. Finally, she added a cornstarch slurry to thicken it further, strained out the solid aromatics like the scallion whites, and plated it. The char siu sauce was complete.
BBQ-Flavored Nutrient Solution: [This sauce smells amazing! I wonder if there will be char siu sauce-flavored nutrient solutions in the future. Suddenly, I’m kind of looking forward to it. What should I do?]
Love Huanhuan the Most: [To the person above, I want to ask, does the BBQ-flavored nutrient solution taste good?]
She diced the semi-fatty meat that the robots had already washed clean. Adding a tiny bit of oil to the pan, she tossed in the diced meat and stir-fried it until dry. She then added ginger and garlic, stir-frying over high heat to render the fat out of the meat before pouring in cooking wine, soy sauce, oyster sauce, and the freshly made char siu sauce. Water was added until it submerged the pork. She brought it to a boil over high heat, then reduced it to a simmer and covered the pot to let it braise for about thirty minutes. In a clean bowl, she mixed cornstarch, white sugar, and water, setting the slurry aside for later use.
At this time, the aroma of egg tarts began to permeate the air. Gan Lan hurried over to take out the baked tarts and put a new batch into the oven to continue baking.
"Our egg tarts are ready. Everyone, hurry up and try them," Gan Lan said with a smile as she sat by the table and picked one up.
The freshly baked egg tarts were a gorgeous golden yellow. The layers of crispy pastry crust were clearly visible, encasing the perfectly set yellow custard. She took a bite. The crust was delightfully flaky, while the custard melted instantly in her mouth. It was sweet and rich, and upon careful savoring, it left a faint, lingering milky aroma on the palate. After finishing one, Gan Lan told her two apprentices to take a break and come taste the egg tarts.
Love Ugly Shellfish, Love Kale: [This egg tart is so good! I’ve run out of adjectives. Paired with a cup of milk tea, this is truly a delicacy of the mortal realm!]
If You Love Me: [Boohoo, this newcomer has truly been captivated by the food here. I can’t leave anymore! How is every dish the streamer makes so delicious?!]
My Life is Too Hard: [I want to hide the streamer away so she can make delicious food for me every day! I could truly die without regrets then...]
Feiran: [In your dreams? Not even in your dreams!]
Blooming Beauty, Moonlit Grace: [Exactly! Not even in your dreams! What are you thinking? Our junior can only belong to everyone!]
Gan Lan stood up and brushed off the pastry crumbs from her clothes. "Today’s second delicacy is done," she said in satisfaction. "Next up is the char siu bao."
The char siu filling, which had been braising for over half an hour, was ready. She poured in the cornstarch slurry to thicken it, then transferred the dense mixture to a plate and placed it in the high-tech refrigerator to chill.
Taking out the fermented dough, she flattened it and kneaded it repeatedly until it formed a smooth ball. She rolled it into a long strip, cut it into evenly sized small dough portions, rolled them into round balls, and flattened them before wrapping them around the now-chilled char siu filling. She pinched the dough into a triangular shape, gathered the three corners together, and sealed the opening. The wrapped buns were placed into a steamer. She covered the pot with a lid to let them undergo a second fermentation.
After teaching her two quiet apprentices how to wrap the buns, Gan Lan let them get hands-on experience. As for her, she was going to start making the siu mai.
Sky Blue: [This filling is pretty tasty, even though the oil has congealed... But why do I still feel it’s exceptionally delicious? I feel like I’m beyond saving T.T]
BBQ Bibimbap: [You’re not the only one who thinks it’s good! I secretly tried it earlier when the streamer just finished stir-frying. Holy crap! It smells amazing! Absolutely fantastic!]
Gan Lan said helplessly, "These are just semi-finished products. Can’t you guys eat the shrimp dumplings and egg tarts first?"
Hot Pot Balls: [But the semi-finished product is already this delicious. The finished dish will definitely be super tasty too! I miss the soup dumplings. Those truly captured my heart.]
Feiran: [How many times has your heart been captured already?]
Sky Blue: [My heart has been captured by our junior countless times! Boohoo, what are we going to do when she goes to the competition? How am I going to survive those difficult days ahead?!]
Binbin: [If you can’t survive... should we just bury you on the spot?]
"The competition will be live-streamed when the time comes. You can all go watch it," Gan Lan consoled them.
She soaked the prepared dried lotus leaves in hot water until they softened. "These are the materials we’ll be using for the lotus leaf sticky rice chicken later."
She took good-quality glutinous rice, seasoned it with a pinch of salt and a few drops of oil, mixed it well, and added just enough water to cover the grains before steaming it until cooked.
"What we’re steaming now is the glutinous rice we’ll need for the sticky rice chicken." Gan Lan covered the pot with the lid. "Now, let’s make the filling for the siu mai."
"This is the chilled fat and lean pork. We add a little lye water and cornstarch into the bowl to marinate the shrimp and meat, mixing it with a bit of water to blend. This is the batch that has already been marinated," Gan Lan said to her two apprentices and the live stream audience while holding a large basin of marinated meat.
She washed it in clean water two more times. After letting it drain, she used a piece of advanced technology to absorb all the remaining moisture. There were simply too many similar high-tech gadgets in this world. Last time, she even discovered a small transparent sticker. Once attached to the meat, it would cleanly suck out all the residual blood, much like a leech.
She added an appropriate amount of salt, cornstarch, sugar, and pepper to the minced meat, stirring it together. Then, she added diced water chestnuts, diced shiitake mushrooms, pork fat, scallion oil, and lard, mixing everything thoroughly. Next, she cracked an egg into flour, stirred it evenly, and added water. She kneaded it into a dough and let it rest for ten minutes.
She gently rolled the dough out into thin, round wrappers, placed the filling in the center, and lightly flattened it. She garnished the top of each dumpling with a goji berry, then steamed them over boiling water for about ten minutes. Fortunately, the other three robots had returned. Along with her two apprentices, the original two robots, and herself, there were eight of them in total. Otherwise, she wouldn’t have dared to make so much food all by herself; she’d die of exhaustion before finishing.
"The siu mai are steaming now, so let’s move on to the filling for the sticky rice chicken." Gan Lan didn’t even look up as she took out the prepared Zhenzhen Chicken.
She deboned the chicken thighs, cut the meat into small chunks, and marinated it with oyster sauce, light soy sauce, cornstarch, oil, and salt. The rehydrated shiitake mushrooms were sliced into strips, along with red dates and ginger. These, along with goji berries, were added to the chicken and mixed evenly by hand.
She fluffed the steamed glutinous rice and let it cool. Snipping off the stems of the softened lotus leaves, she halved each leaf. She scooped a spoonful of rice into the center of a leaf, spread it thin, and placed the chicken and mushroom filling on top. She covered the filling with another layer of rice, dampening her hands with water to prevent sticking, and pressed the rice into a neat bundle. She folded up both ends of the lotus leaf and placed the wrapped sticky rice chicken into a steamer pot already filled with water. It just needed to be brought to a boil over high heat, then steamed over low heat for half an hour.
The kitchen was filled with the mouth-watering aromas of various foods, with the scent of siu mai being the most intense. The siu mai had finished steaming.
"The siu mai are ready!" Gan Lan announced to her live stream audience, carrying a plate of delicate dumplings.
The thin wrappers encased the partially exposed meat filling. The skins were a golden yellow, while the filling was crystal clear. A single goji berry garnished the top of each piece, enhancing their aesthetic appeal. Emitting a mesmerizing fragrance, they looked so appetizing that one couldn’t help but want to devour them in a single bite.
Pig Trotters Are the Best: [Ahhhh, my god, the food the streamer made today is so delicate! I’m absolutely in love! It’s not roughly beautiful like pig trotters; it’s so exquisitely refined that I can’t resist wanting to eat it!]
Flower Cakes Are True Love: [The siu mai look so gorgeous, how could you bear to eat them? Mmm... this texture! It’s silky and smooth, refreshing and not at all greasy. I feel so blessed today! I truly want to drown happily in this live stream!]
System Notification: [Congratulations to the streamer for receiving 99 Cosmic Starships from ’Handsome Mingyu’. Triggering network-wide broadcast.]
System Notification: [Congratulations to the streamer for receiving...]
The live stream was instantly flooded with a barrage of virtual gifts.