CH 131

Polished Rice – i novels

()x11-14 minutes

With the help of Bell and the others, we happily harvested the rice. Soon, we’ll be able to eat shiny new rice.

“Master, how do we eat this rice? Is it delicious?”

Marco asked with great interest. Well, I wonder? I’ve heard that even on Earth, some foreigners dislike the smell of rice, but how about the beastmen in this different world? Well, I understand that raising expectations can be dangerous.

“Hmm, it’s not particularly delicious or anything. It’s like bread for Marco, so it’s a sad food for me since I don’t have it. I know some recipes, so I think Marco and the others will probably like them.”

Sara stared at me intently when she heard about cooking, so I nodded in response. I guess she wants to help me with the cooking.

“I see, I don’t really get it, but I’m looking forward to it!”

It seems my explanation wasn’t very clear. Well, let’s do our best not to disappoint their expectations. For me, white rice is fine, but what should I feed the children? The first impression is important, so it’s better to make something with flavor that’s easy to eat.

But before thinking about that, we need to get the rice into an edible state. Let’s do the final push. Conveniently, the rice is hanging in three clusters. That makes it easy to separate.

One cluster will be left as it is to dry naturally. Another will be dried quickly by Silphy using hot air. The last one will have its moisture removed by Dyne directly. However, the problem is whether my taste buds can distinguish the difference in rice that has been dried in these ways. It seems a bit challenging.

Well, let’s do what we can. If I can’t tell the difference, I’ll just choose the easiest method. I called Silphy and Dyne and asked for their help.

Removing the moisture from the rice with Dyne wasn’t a problem, but Silphy’s question of “How hot should the hot air be?” troubled me. If it’s too hot, it might be dangerous, so I asked her to make it slightly warm based on her own judgment and let it dry slowly. I’m a little worried if this random approach is okay.

Next, I need to remove the husks and polish the rice to make it white. I’ll ask Silphy to do that. If I explain it, she should be able to do it using the power of wind.

…I’m getting hungry. I wanted to have freshly cooked white rice for lunch, but it seems like it will take a while. I’ll have a regular meal for lunch and save the white rice for dinner.

I prepared lunch for the children. Sara and the others seemed quite hungry from planting and harvesting rice, as they ate more than usual. I also prepared sandwiches as a snack, but it seems it wasn’t enough.

They eat a lot and exercise a lot, so maybe they’ll grow bigger and bigger from now on.

After finishing lunch and without anyone helping, I let Bell and the others go out to play and Sara and the others go for training. I have to do my best to ensure we can have a proper meal with white rice in the evening.

While waiting for the rice to dry, there is something I need to do… Right! Rice needs to be cooked to be eaten. I don’t have a rice cooker, so I have to cook it myself.

I’ve never cooked rice in a pot before. The method I know is using a traditional rice cooker. Can I use the same method? I take out a pot, but the lid is unreliable, and I don’t feel confident that it will cook well. It’s quite a predicament.

“Nomos, there’s something I want you to make for me. Can you do it?”

“Hmm? Oh, sure. What do you want me to make?”

Since it’s difficult to explain verbally, I’ll draw a diagram to explain. Cooking rice in a traditional pot seems challenging, so I’ll ask to have a rice cooking container made. I’ve done it a few times with a mess kit during barbecues and camping, so it should work somehow.

I conveyed as much detailed information as possible and had three rice cooking containers made, faithfully reproducing the lids and inner lids as utensils. Since we have many people to feed, one container wouldn’t be enough. I provided a pot where I had stored leftover cooked food as the material for the containers. The next time I go to the Labyrinth City, I should buy cooking utensils and pots.

“Yuta-chan, the rice is dry now!”

I heard the long-awaited voice. We’re finally in the final stage, just a little more until we have rice. I hurriedly thanked Dyne and checked the condition of the rice. Well, it’s my first time seeing rice in this state attached to the ears of wheat, so I don’t really know what to look for. Let’s assume everything is fine. The next step is to remove the grains from the ears.

“Um, Silphy, can you use the power of wind to separate the grains from the ears? And then, could you remove the husks and polish the rice?”

If that doesn’t work, I’ll have to ask Nomos to make a rice huller, which would be a bit troublesome.

“Well, I can separate the grains from the ears without a problem, but how do I polish the rice?”

It seems a rice huller isn’t necessary. As for polishing… can it be done? Let me explain for now.

“Probably, if you create a vortex of wind and rub the grains together, they should be polished. Can you do it?”

“Oh, if that’s all, I can do it.”

It can be done.

“Thank you.”

I’ve conveyed my request, so now it’s up to Silphy. I’m a bit excited to see how it will turn out. As I watch, countless tiny whirlwinds are born and approach the ears of wheat.

Oh, it’s like a Dyson vacuum cleaner. When the whirlwinds touch the ears of wheat, a strong wind sucks out the grains. The sucked-out grains rotate fiercely within the whirlwinds, blowing away the husks at the same time.

Hmm? Is it because of the difference in weight or fine debris like stems and chaff? It forms three layers: chaff, husks, and brown rice. They seem to have sorted it out already. It’s amazing that they can do this much with my vague explanation.

“After this, we just need to rub these grains together to polish them, right?”

Silphy, who has already sucked out all the grains, looks at me. The grains that have been sucked out are now in a state of brown rice, swimming in the spherical wind.

“Uh, yeah.”

“I understand. Since I can’t judge the polishing degree well, I’ll occasionally throw rice at you, Yuta, and you can judge based on that.”

“Got it.”

As I respond, the wind sphere containing the brown rice starts shrinking rapidly, and the grains rub against each other within the wind, gradually becoming polished.

After a short wait, the wind brought a single grain of rice in front of me. Since Silphy is looking at me, I guess I should confirm. I look at the rice, and it’s still slightly brown. The bran hasn’t been completely removed. I ask Silphy to continue polishing the rice.

After several confirmations, the rice in my familiar rice bag has been achieved. When I see those white grains, tears suddenly come to my eyes. I wipe away the tears and explain that I’m just happy or relieved. I’ve always been craving rice since coming to this world, so it was tough to resist. Every time, I wished I could have pork bowl with orc meat or something. But now, I don’t have to resist anymore, and that’s a huge relief.

“Is that so?”

It seems Silphy doesn’t quite understand and tilts her head. Well, she wouldn’t understand since she doesn’t have the need to eat.

“It’s like Silphy suddenly found out she can never drink alcohol again in a world without alcohol, and then unexpectedly discovered alcohol, so she can now drink as much as she wants. That kind of feeling, you know?”

“I see, that must be wonderful.”

Silphy nods in agreement. It seems she understands now. When explaining things to Great Spirits, alcohol becomes an important factor. Well, there’s no other substance to entice them with anyway.

If I work hard to develop Earth’s alcohol, the Great Spirits would be at my mercy… They’re already helping me a lot, and I’m a little afraid of what they might do if they exert even more power. It should be enough to show my gratitude by developing something they can drink.

“So, Yuta, forget about the rice for a moment, can I throw away the polished bran?”

By “bran,” she means the rice husks. It should be possible to make nuka-zuke pickles with them, but I’ve never made them before. I’ve heard that salt and chili pepper are used, but well, I’ll keep them and maybe try making them when I feel like it. They can also be used as fish bait, so keeping them won’t be wasted.

“No, keep the bran as well and put it in this bag. Please put the rice in this bag.”

I take out a cloth bag and ask Silphy to separate the rice and the bran. The rice alone fills three large cloth bags. I also have two bags filled with rice from the previous harvest, so I should be fine for a while. Heh, I need to start preparing for dinner soon. Although there’s still plenty of time until dinner, I can store everything in the magic bag. First, I’ll head home.

“Hey, Sara. I’m going to cook, so come here.”

As promised, I call Sara and start cooking. Oh, I shouldn’t forget to ask Bell and Rain for help too. I’ll leave lighting the fire and washing the ingredients to them; they’ll do a perfect job.

Together with Sara, Bell, and Rain, we start cooking the long-awaited meal. I’ve already decided that once the rice is ready, I’ll have dried fish with white rice, so no problem there. But what should I feed Bell and the others? Since white rice might be too challenging for them initially, I’m thinking of making a rice dish… options that come to mind are fried rice or omurice.

Since we don’t have eggs, omurice is out of the question. So if I were to make it, it would be fried rice or chicken rice. Having bright red rice as the first impression might create a strange impression, so I’ll go with fried rice.

I’d like to add eggs to the fried rice, but for now, let’s do without. Next time we go to the Labyrinth City, I’ll make sure to find some eggs.

“Bell, please light the charcoal in the grill and the firewood placed next to it. Rain, please wash the freshly harvested rice and vegetables thoroughly.”

“Roger!” “Kyuuu!”

Bell and Rain, who were excited to help, raise their right hand and right fin high, then start their tasks.

“Sara, once Rain finishes washing the vegetables, please finely chop the onions and slice the green onions. Cutting onions makes your eyes tear up, so ask Fukuchan to create a wind barrier in front of your face to make it easier to cut.”

“Understood. Fukuchan, please help me.”

Even in this fantasy world, cutting onions still makes your eyes tear up. There are methods like briefly microwaving them or cutting them while soaked in water to reduce tears, but in this fantasy world, there’s a surefire solution unique to this fantasy world.

With magic, the worries of allyl sulfide released from the onion are nothing. With the power of magic, I finely chop the onions… It would be quicker if Fukuchan or Bell turned the onions into powder for me. But this is part of Sara’s cooking training, so this method is fine for now. Let’s go with that.

“Kyukyu!”

“Oh, you’re done washing. The new rice and the vegetables are shining. Thank you, Rain.”

I gently stroke Rain’s head and cheek and thank her. Since there’s no more help needed, I tell her to go and play. After giving me and Bell a few strokes, she flies off with a “Kyukyukyu.” She’s still incredibly cute.

Now, in front of me, is the shiny new rice. It’s finally time to cook with the rice cooking container. Heh, I’ll even make delicious scorched rice.