Reiko took the still motionless golem in her arms, and Jin and the others got into the car.
The drive to the guest house takes 15 minutes. There was still plenty of time.
Jin was in the kitchen of the guest house.
"Um, Mr. Jin, what are you doing?
the head chef of the guest house asked in a slightly frightened voice.
"Well, I was thinking of making some sweets or tea cakes or something like that. Do you have cooking oil?
"Yes, I do. We have sesame oil, soybean oil, sunflower oil, etc. ......"
Oh, sesame oil and sunflower oil are the same thing. Then, round soybean oil." "Soybean oil.
In other words, soybean oil. It is a common salad oil and tempura oil. Jin chose this oil because it is light in color and has few peculiarities.
The oil is placed in a tempura pan and heated on the stove.
In the meantime, Jin had Kagamimochi (mirror-shaped rice cake) prepared. Of course, it was hardened by the sun.
"What are you going to do with them? It doesn't taste so good even if you bake it anymore. ...... Don't tell me you're going to fry it in oil!"
This cooking method is easy to imagine, considering its association with the tempura oil on the stove top. But Hitoshi says,
"I don't just fry them, I do this before ......"
and handed the hardened Kagamimochi to Reiko.
"Reiko, break it into pieces like I told you."
"Yes, sir."
The hardened Kagamimochi were no better than clay dumplings in front of Reiko. In the blink of an eye, they were crushed and shattered.
"That's about right."
She crushed them down to about one centimeter squares.
Then we fry them in oil.
I could tell from the sound of the oil that it was roughly the right temperature, but I asked Reiko to check it just to be sure.
Reiko, who can also cook, has information on the temperature of the food, so she can tell the temperature of the oil by touching the pot.
The head chef's eyes widen when he sees Reiko's palm flat against the body of the pot.
"Father, it's about 170 degrees Celsius.
"Good, just right."
Jin scattered the crushed Kagamimochi in the oil.
There was a distinctive deep-frying sound, and the rice cakes began to fry. When the mochi puffed up and the surface turned golden brown, they were scooped up with a net-like ladle called kasugaage.
The fish is placed on a plate lined with two sheets of wooden paper to remove the oil, and sprinkled with salt while it is still hot.
"Wow, this is an interesting dish!
The head chef, who was watching the whole process, was impressed.
"It's called 'kakimochi,'" he said. The secret is to soak up the excess oil and to eat it as soon as possible after cooking.
Jin explained the precautions as he put the hot, freshly made kakimochi into his mouth.
"Hahaha, it should not be oily, and it absorbs moisture, right?"
The head chef also answered as he put an oyster rice cake in his mouth.
As expected of the head chef, he seems to have grasped the reason for Jin's comment.
This is delicious! I didn't know about this cooking method.
When Jin asked her about it, she told him that she had never heard of kakimochi, even though fried ones existed, so he decided to try it.
Of course, this was partly because he had seen kagamimochi in the tokonoma (alcove).
"I think the flavor will change if you change the oil.
"I see! Thank you, Mr. Jin!
Thus, Mitsuho now has a recipe for rice crackers.
"Brother Jin, this is delicious!
When he brought the kakimochi to the guest house room, Erza, who had been waiting for it, immediately put it in her mouth.
"The slightly salty, oily flavor and the crunchy texture are irresistible.
She picked up a handful and popped it into her mouth.
"If you eat too much, you won't be able to finish your lunch."