The preparation of ingredients was slightly slower than setting up the pot, but it didn't keep the diners waiting for too long. Soon, meticulously prepared ingredients were brought over by the Qin sisters and placed on the rack next to the dining table in the order the diners had ordered, making it convenient for them to help themselves.
Yue Lengxin reached out and picked up a delicate dish, examining it carefully.
It was an ingredient placed in a glass dish, resembling a white paste with a slight transparency, revealing it was made from a variety of ingredients mixed together. The paste was arranged by Qi Han to resemble a leaf, giving it a cute appearance.
This was...
Yue Lengxin felt a sense of familiarity. She seemed to have seen this ingredient on the menu just now. She quickly flipped open the menu and found the relevant introduction about this ingredient.
Shrimp paste: Made from, Qingjin Shrimp, the specialty of Bluewave City, the shells are removed and pounded thousands of times before being molded with ingredients such as egg white, giving the shrimp meat a crispy texture.
Method of consumption: Use a small spoon to plate the shrimp paste into small balls about two fingers wide, place them in the pot, and once they float, quickly retrieve and consume them. Leaving them in the pot for too long will affect the texture.
So that's it. Yue Lengxin looked at the shrimp paste again, and the faint green color inside was indeed the unique green markings of Qingjin Shrimp meat.
She picked up the small dish and, following the instructions on the menu, carefully separated the shrimp paste with a small spoon, turning it into small balls about two fingers wide in the plate. Then, Yue Lengxin carefully placed them into the spicy hot pot in front of her.
After a few minutes, a smile appeared on her face. The shrimp paste had roundly floated to the surface, with a faint red soup on top.
Once cooked, the shrimp paste was no longer the slightly greenish white color but had turned into a light shrimp-red color. Yue Lengxin didn't want to delay too long, fearing that leaving it in the pot for too long would affect its texture. She quickly used a slotted spoon to retrieve each shrimp paste ball, placing them into her own, Fu Ya's, and Yun Xi's dipping dishes.
"Come, taste how the shrimp paste turned out," Yue Lengxin said with a sense of accomplishment. After all, she had cooked it herself.
"Mmm, thank you, senior sister!" x2
Facing the polite thanks from her two junior sisters, Yue Lengxin smiled and used chopsticks to pick up one of the shrimp paste balls from her dipping dish, letting it soak in the sauce before taking a bite.
Yue Lengxin had prepared her dipping sauce herself, referring to the formula for the oil dish. She used less sesame oil and added more of her favorite beef sauce, so it didn't feel greasy.
After a slight chew, the chewy and tender texture of the shrimp paste in her mouth surprised Yue Lengxin. The delicious taste of the sauce mixed with various condiments complemented the crispy and spicy flavor from the hot pot, along with the natural sweetness of the shrimp paste itself. As she chewed, the three flavors gradually melded together, creating an unparalleled feast for the taste buds.
Delicious!
Yue Lengxin finished the remaining half of the shrimp paste in one bite, continuing to savor the delightful taste. Her eyes narrowed in satisfaction.
Perhaps because both the preparation of the dipping sauce and the cooking of the shrimp paste were personally done by Yue Lengxin, as she enjoyed this delicious shrimp paste, she not only found it exceptionally tasty but also felt a sense of accomplishment in her heart.
"Perhaps this is what makes hot pot so special," Yue Lengxin suddenly realized.
These Qingjin Shrimps were a specialty of Bluewave City, it's a somewhat cherished ingredient. Their quantity wasn't particularly abundant, and in terms of status, they were roughly equivalent to Blue Star's hairy crabs.
A serving of shrimp paste wasn't expensive, perhaps because the raw materials were just ordinary sea shrimps. Such ingredients, with a systematized professional breeding process, wouldn't incur excessively high costs. Hence, they were sold for just two silver coins per serving. A serving of shrimp paste could yield approximately ten shrimp paste balls, each about two fingers wide, making it quite substantial and offering good value for money.
Yue Lengxin kept four for herself and gave the rest to her two junior sisters. Soon, her dipping dish was empty again.
Suppressing the desire for another serving of shrimp paste, Yue Lengxin quickly shifted her gaze to another type of ingredient.
It was a large plate of finely shredded ice, piled up like a mountain, with slices of dark brown, slightly rough-surfaced ingredients neatly arranged on the side of the mountain. At the very top of the ice mountain, there was even a cute ice sculpture of a little cow.
This was...
Yue Lengxin flipped through the menu and quickly found the corresponding introduction and usage guide for the ingredient.
Beef tripe: Originating from the hundred-year-old spirit beast, the Azure Moon Bull, it is taken from the stomach of the Azure Moon Bull. It has the effects of nourishing the spleen and stomach, replenishing qi and blood, nourishing deficiency, benefiting essence, relieving thirst, and dizziness due to wind. It has a crisp and resilient texture suitable for hot pot.
Method of consumption: Pick up a piece of beef tripe and place it into the boiling pot. Move the beef tripe up and down in the pot with chopsticks fifteen times, then it is ready to eat.
Huh?
What a strange way of eating.
"Do I really have to move it fifteen times? Can it be more or less?" A big question mark popped up in Yue Lengxin's mind at this moment.
However, for her first time trying it, she chose to follow the instructions on the menu.
After placing a piece of beef tripe into the pot, Yue Lengxin silently counted to fifteen, as per the menu instructions, then placed the slightly curled beef tripe into her dipping dish.
The natives of the Douluo Continent rarely ate offal, and Yue Lengxin had never eaten it before. But after trying the bursting fat intestine at Qi Han's Small Shop, she didn't feel any qualms about eating beef tripe now. Therefore, without any psychological burden, she dipped the beef tripe in her dipping dish and skillfully rolled up a piece with her chopsticks, sending it into her mouth.
After a slight chew, Yue Lengxin's eyes lit up.
The beef tripe itself didn't have much flavor. The only thing that amazed her was the crisp and resilient unique texture. Combined with the taste of the dipping sauce and the spicy hot pot base, just these two flavors alone were already excellent.
After finishing one piece of beef tripe, Yue Lengxin pursed her lips and picked up a second piece, sending it into the hot pot.
The crispy beef tripe was really delicious!
There was a generous amount of beef tripe on the plate, with dozens of slices. Under Yue Lengxin's enthusiastic recommendation, Yun Xi and Fu Ya also tried this unique food.
Yun Xi had also tried the bursting fat intestine at Qi Han's Small Shop, and Fu Ya, needless to say, had no aversion to beef stomachs. After experiencing the crisp and unique texture, the two girls quickly became captivated by the beef tripe as well.
"Senior sister, you should try this," Yue Lengxin said.
Not only was Yue Lengxin trying various ingredients, but the other two girls were also doing the same. Following Yue Lengxin's lead, the three of them selected their preferred ingredients and shared them with each other. For a moment, the atmosphere at the small table became even more harmonious.
This was something that was hard to achieve with ordinary food because previously at Qi Han's shop, everyone ate separately, and there was rarely such sharing behavior.
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