Chapter 250

First, I slowly took out the ingredients from my bag and laid them out, then pondered deeply.

Originally, the dish I planned to make today was soy sauce bulgogi or soy sauce bulgogi hot pot.

So, the ingredients I prepared were beef, soy sauce, mushrooms, carrots, onions, and the like.

Now, as the weather was gradually turning into early autumn, it was getting quite chilly, and inside the ruins, which felt like a cave surrounded by ore, a warm meat dish seemed like a perfect fit.

Thus, if I followed the original plan, I could have just prepared the bulgogi without a second thought…

However, after the battle with the guardian golem, Karina and Aila, who were not seriously injured but still hurt, might find it difficult to eat a strong, sweet, and salty meat dish.

For patients with upset stomachs, a mild and easily digestible dish is needed, and soy sauce bulgogi is the exact opposite of that.

But going back to Astram at this point to get other ingredients isn’t very realistic either.

So, I need to make a dish that even patients can eat with the ingredients I have on hand…

What dish should I make with these ingredients…

Then, my gaze fell upon the pure white rice.

It was something I recently acquired through a deal with Coconut Company.

Not the long-grain rice commonly used in the Kingdom of Eustia, but the short-grain rice mainly consumed in regions like Korea, Japan, and China.

Coconut Company was more resourceful than I thought, dealing not only with tropical crops like coconuts and seafood like shrimp but even short-grain rice from the eastern continent.

Especially since the trade routes stabilized recently, such items have increased, and now, when I go to the market, I head straight to Coconut Company first.

It’s safe to say that not getting a VIP pass to Silverheart Company isn’t a loss at all.

Anyway, what caught my eye was the short-grain rice.

Personally, with memories from my past life, I’ve been obsessed with recreating Eastern cuisine like Korean food, but the party members’ reactions to Eastern dishes have been lukewarm.

So, I planned to pair the bulgogi, which had a good response during our travels, with white rice to open their eyes to the taste of white rice…

Who would have thought that the joyful plan of cooking together and sharing a meal would turn into such a mess.

Thinking about it, the fact that Karina and Aila were injured hits me again.

It’s a bitter pill to swallow.

But there’s a silver lining.

The white rice I brought with me is an incredibly helpful ingredient right now.

With that in mind, I checked the quantity of the ingredients again.

Thanks to my meticulousness of always carrying enough ingredients, it seemed there was no shortage.

For bulgogi, it’s originally beef, carrots, onions, and mushrooms.

And the rice I brought to introduce the taste of rice.

And all these ingredients are also used in the dish I’m about to make.

Yes.

Porridge is the way to go for patients.

Having decided on the dish, I immediately started putting my thoughts into action.

First, I rinsed the rice with water two or three times, then soaked it in water.

Whether making porridge or rice, soaking the rice beforehand makes a big difference in texture, so if there’s time, it’s good to soak the rice for about 30 minutes before cooking.

And while that’s happening, I should prepare the ingredients for the porridge.

Since it needs to be easy to digest, I finely chopped the carrots, onions, beef, and mushrooms so they could be swallowed without chewing and wouldn’t burden the stomach.

Then, I greased a pot with cooking oil and added the finely chopped meat and vegetables.

Even though the vegetables and meat don’t need to be stir-fried separately when making porridge, as they can be cooked together with the rice later, most ingredients develop more flavor when stir-fried directly or in oil rather than steamed.

Also, when stir-frying vegetables and meat together, each ingredient cooks at a different rate, so they should be stir-fried in order considering their characteristics, but since all the ingredients are finely chopped now, the cooking time is very short for each, so adding them all together doesn’t make much difference.

Since the meat and vegetables are finely chopped, they can burn in an instant if I look away, so once they’re somewhat stir-fried, I quickly set them aside.

Then, I added the soaked rice, drained, to the pot and stir-fried it.

This way, the rice absorbs the cooking oil left in the pot, giving it a richer flavor.

Moreover, since it’s not just any cooking oil but the oil used to stir-fry the meat and vegetables, the rice subtly absorbs their flavors.

This is the difference between making porridge from cooked rice and making porridge from raw rice.

If you make porridge from cooked rice, the rice, having already been cooked once, doesn’t absorb the flavors of the vegetables and meat in the porridge well, resulting in a separate taste. But if you make porridge from raw rice, each grain absorbs the flavors of the vegetables, meat, and other ingredients.

Once the rice is slightly translucent from stir-frying, I immediately add cold water and the pre-stir-fried meat and vegetables.

The method of making porridge from rice isn’t much different from cooking rice.

Usually, when cooking rice, you add water until it reaches just below the back of your hand when placed on the rice, but for porridge, you need about twice that amount.

If I added water at the normal rice-cooking level, it would turn into beef mushroom nutritional rice instead of beef mushroom nutritional porridge.

After adjusting the water level and adding everything to the pot, all that’s left is to adjust the heat and wait for it to become porridge.

I immediately used the fire stone I had prepared to light a fire under the pot.

Then, I kept stirring to prevent the rice from sticking to the pot and waited for the water to reduce.

When the porridge was about halfway done, and the water had reduced by half, I opened the pot’s lid, added the pre-chopped mushrooms, and stirred the rice, waiting for the porridge to finish.

After some more time for the water to reduce, and the rice thickened to the right consistency, it was done.

Tonight’s dinner:

Beef Mushroom Nutritional Porridge, suitable for patients.

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“Alright, dinner’s ready. Gather around.”

At Kurt’s words, his companions stopped what they were doing and gathered around the pot one by one.

“Mr. Kurt, Seiri and Daria said that Karina’s injury isn’t as bad as thought, and with proper rest, she’ll recover soon.”

“Is that so? That’s a relief.”

Mari, who approached with a cheerful voice, reported Karina’s condition to Kurt, seemingly in good spirits since Karina’s condition was better than expected. Then, shifting her focus to the meal, she brightly asked Kurt,

“So, what’s for dinner today?”

“Porridge. Specifically, beef mushroom porridge.”

“…Huh? Porridge?”

But Mari couldn’t hide her dismay at Kurt’s answer.

“Yeah. Any problem?”

“Ah, no. It’s just that tonight’s dinner…”

“I originally planned to make bulgogi, but bulgogi is a bit heavy for patients. So, I changed the menu to porridge, which is easier to digest.”

“Ah, I see…”

Kurt handed Mari a bowl of porridge as he spoke, and Mari, having heard his explanation, had no choice but to accept the bowl, albeit awkwardly.

In fact, before setting off for the ruins of the ancient empire, Mari had anticipated the dinner menu after seeing Kurt preparing the ingredients.

As the party member who had traveled with Kurt the longest, Mari could roughly guess what dish Kurt would make just by looking at the ingredients he prepared.

And in her view, the dish Kurt was most likely to make for dinner tonight was bulgogi.

Bulgogi.

It was a dish Kurt had been obsessed with ever since he bought soy sauce at the market with great determination.

At first, Mari was repelled by the idea of cooking with soy sauce, which had a strong and unfamiliar aroma, but by the time Kurt’s soy sauce craze ended, she had completely fallen in love with soy sauce bulgogi, even feeling disappointed when he didn’t make it anymore.

So, seeing the ingredients Kurt had prepared, she secretly looked forward to eating bulgogi again after a long time, her heart fluttering.

In fact, before encountering the guardian golem, she had even hummed a tune to herself, thinking about having bulgogi for dinner tonight…

Of course, given the current situation where Karina and Aila are injured, she doesn’t object to the idea of having a nutritious meal that even the injured can easily digest.

In fact, if asked, she would wholeheartedly agree.

Her concern for Karina was so great that she hadn’t even thought about how she would manage her meals, so she was even touched by Kurt’s thoughtfulness in considering such details for the patients.

But…

But still…

It’s a disappointment that arises from an instinctual level, unrelated to her will or reason.

Just as a stomach set on eating pizza should receive pizza,

And a stomach set on eating chicken should receive chicken.

The stomach that had been looking forward to bulgogi for hours now receiving plain white porridge is…

‘No! How can I feel disappointed when Mr. Kurt made patient food for Karina and Aila? It’s not right to Mr. Kurt, Karina, or Aila!’

“Wow… I see.”

Thus, despite her thoughts, Mari weakly accepted the porridge Kurt handed her, unaware of her own actions.