I Transmigrated Into A Fantasy World To Farm And Build Houses!-Chapter 213: Steamed Rice Cake and Pounded Sticky Rice Cake
"I’m much better now; you don’t need to worry." Evan’s voice drifted over, clear as jade.
The two Ox-Head people had been here for a few days, naturally getting to know Evan. Knowing he was someone Eric picked up and also knew magic, they weren’t curious about anything. Moreover, this person wasn’t awake often; most of the time he was meditating in a corner near the fireplace.
Today was the first time they heard Evan speak. The Ox-Head tribe didn’t harbor animosity and hatred towards humans like other beastmen; after all, they frequently traded with humans.
It was just that they also lacked curiosity about humans, so they looked away.
Conversely, the Horned Goat people had great goodwill towards Evan. If not for him, several of their tribesmen wouldn’t have survived until Eric and the others returned.
Seeing Evan was fine, Eric also felt relieved and continued busying himself with the work at hand.
The clay pot rice gradually emitted the aroma of rice and sausages. Leo, playing in the tribe, smelled it and knew immediately it was his family’s cooking. Heaven knew how long the kid had craved the strings of sausages hanging in the warehouse; if Eric hadn’t repeatedly forbidden eating them raw, he would have stolen a bite long ago.
"Knew I couldn’t escape your sharp nose." Seeing Leo running back on all fours like the wind, Eric laughed: "Rice is almost ready. Knowing you want to eat sausages, I put a lot. Go call Uncle Thomas and Aunt Luci to come eat."
As for Max and Michael, no need to call; smelling the rice upon returning, they would automatically come over. Uncle Thomas and Aunt Luci were elders; sometimes it wasn’t convenient for them to actively come to leech meals, so he asked Leo to call them.
Leo ran off like the wind again, his tail happily wagging into a fan shape.
Eric moved several ceramic jars out of the warehouse. Tomorrow the Ox-Head tribe would return; Chief Tu had helped them a lot, so he had to bring some gifts back.
But what to bring, he had thought for days before deciding to make some plain steamed rice cakes [bánh đúc] and pounded sticky rice cakes [bánh giầy]. These two types of cakes could be kept for a long time, were convenient to eat, and the making process wasn’t too complex.
But making them was a bit troublesome. [Bánh đúc] needed non-glutinous rice flour, while [bánh giầy] needed steamed sticky rice pounded into a smooth paste; especially [bánh giầy], ordinary people would find it very exhausting to make.
Eric had once experienced it in a craft village during a trip. Originally seeing the simple method online, who knew after just a few pounds his arms were sore; after experiencing it once, he couldn’t even lift his arms the next day.
The Ox-Head tribe had strength surpassing ordinary people; it would be a waste not to use it. Eric told Balu to grind rice flour, mischievously taking out a lot of glutinous rice for him to grind.
That way, Eric would have a lot of time without needing to grind himself, just feeling a bit guilty.
Kiet wasn’t idle either; Eric had steamed sticky rice in the clay pot, waiting for it to cook so Kiet could pound [bánh giầy].
The pot of goat stew started emitting a fragrant aroma; Eric added the sliced potatoes to cook together.
The pot of boiled intestines from earlier was also done; Eric fished them out and cleared the stove.
Small intestines were cut into small sections, stomach sliced into thin strips, other organs sliced, adding sliced chili, garlic, and scallions as seasonings. He stir-fried them quickly in the cast-iron pan, brought it to the table, and placed a few fireballs on both sides of the basin to keep it warm.
Evan followed behind him: "Is there anything else needing to be done? I can help too."
Eric looked awkwardly at Evan’s physique, similar to his own, thought for a moment, and told the other to be responsible for shelling peanuts.
It wasn’t that he had prejudice against Evan, mainly because the tasks he needed to do next and Evan’s demeanor didn’t quite match...
Eric found it hard to imagine Evan pounding [bánh giầy]; just thinking about it felt like a waste of heavenly gifts.
Balu, the reddish-brown Ox-Head guy, was leisurely grinding rice flour on the other side. The stone mill Eric used was the one made initially, a size smaller than the cafeteria’s, looking like a toy in the Ox-Head person’s hands. Balu turned the wooden handle easily; snow-white rice flour fell into the cloth bag below.
Eric looked at the rice flour. Actually, he had only seen the process online; in reality, he only ate the finished product. Heard that [bánh đúc] in some places was made with non-glutinous rice flour, while others added tapioca starch for elasticity.
Thinking of these things, he took out several bags of non-glutinous rice for Balu to grind separately. Non-glutinous rice flour was the same; if not finished, Eric could keep it to make other delicious dishes later.
The sticky rice was almost cooked. Eric ran to Luban’s house to borrow a large pestle. This pestle was a daily utensil of the Dwarves, the handle not very long, so he tied a rough wooden stick to it to extend it.
Kiet was idle nearby with nothing to do, wanting to replace Balu grinding flour but was brutally chased away every time.
He saw the young chief running out like the wind, then running back carrying a large pestle used for forging by the Dwarves. Curiosity urged him to run over:
"Young Chief, do you need this for cooking too?"
"Not for me to use, it’s for you." Eric grinned, handing the extended pestle to Kiet, who just happened to run over.
The pestle, heavy in Kiet’s hand, felt light as nothing. Kiet looked it up and down; after all, it just looked like an ordinary large Dwarf pestle, so he looked at Eric with questioning eyes.
The sticky rice in the pot was cooked. Eric found the largest stone mortar, poured the sticky rice in; the rice just out of the pot was steaming hot.
Eric had wiped the pestle clean when he brought it back. At this moment, he took the pestle from Kiet’s hand, pounded the mortar of sticky rice a few times, then handed it back to Kiet:
"Just keep pounding like this, until the sticky rice is pounded very smooth and sticky, then we can proceed to the next step."
Of course, there wasn’t just this one mortar of sticky rice. When other pots finished cooking, Eric only left a few small fireballs under the clay pots to keep them warm.
Eric recalled that pounding [bánh giầy] was very laborious work. Later, store-bought ones were basically machine-made, definitely not tasting as good as handmade ones, with the advantage of saving effort. Moreover, in his hometown, hand-pounded [bánh giầy] couldn’t be bought even if one wanted to.
Kiet excitedly swung the large pestle to pound the sticky rice mass in the mortar. Although he didn’t know what dish this was making, the Snow Wolf tribe’s young chief was so smart, the dish he asked to make must be delicious.
Moreover, honestly, the unfinished sticky rice in the mortar already smelled more fragrant and sweet than the rice they cooked themselves; before, when they ate glutinous rice, the husks weren’t milled as clean as this.
Initially, Eric stood by to watch, a bit worried in his heart that Kiet would smash both the sticky rice and the stone mortar.
Fortunately, after watching for a while, what he imagined didn’t happen. It seemed the Ox-Head tribe, although stronger than the Snow Wolf people, was much more reliable than Sam.
He walked aside with peace of mind, using a spatula to stir the pot of goat stew with potatoes a few times. The potatoes grown by the Ox-Head tribe were mealy and soft; not long after being put in the pot, the edges of the potatoes had melted.
Eric then extinguished most of the fireballs, leaving only two small ones to keep it warm.
...
Author’s note:
I don’t know how to insert images into the story Chapter, you can type "bánh đúc" and "bánh giầy" to see images on google!
