novelraw Chapter 209: Fresh Fish Ball Soup
Chapter 209: Fresh Fish Ball Soup
Surprised, Jiang Qiuqiu clicked on his profile picture, and the full reply appeared before her.
—Are you tired from slamming the meatballs? How about I send you a realistic assistant robot? That way you won’t have to work so hard.
...
’Send a robot.’
Jiang Qiuqiu quickly replied that it wasn’t necessary, then lifted her hand and forcefully slammed the fish paste. "This motion only looks difficult. When you do it yourself, you’ll find it’s actually pretty interesting."
As she spoke, she quickly began slamming the fish paste again.
[Huh, is Juju always this cute? It feels like she’s using more force than before. Is she trying to prove to us that she can do it! ^_^]
About ten minutes later, the meat paste in the bowl gradually thickened. "Once it reaches this consistency, it’s ready."
"Next is rolling the balls. We can prepare a large basin of cold water. To make the water even colder, we can add a few ice cubes."
The ice cubes quickly lowered the water’s temperature. Meatballs that set in cold water will be chewier.
To prevent sticking, Jiang Qiuqiu dipped her hands in the ice water, and then it was time to form the balls. "This step requires some skill."
"Just like when we made the Bibi Beast meatballs, we’ll start by taking out a spoon."
As usual, Jiang Qiuqiu demonstrated twice in slow motion. She plunged her left hand into the bowl, grabbing a handful of meat paste. Leaving a small opening at the web of her thumb, she gave a gentle squeeze, and a cute little sphere emerged. Then, with a light flick of the spoon in her right hand, a plump, white fish ball dropped into the cold water.
The motion didn’t look very difficult.
So, Jiang Qiuqiu only demonstrated twice before speeding up.
Both hands moved with ease. A light scoop with her left, an effortless squeeze, a flick of the spoon with her right, and a fish ball would land steadily in the basin.
To make 80 servings, she needed to prepare at least four hundred fish balls. She controlled the size of each one, her movements as smooth as flowing water. In less than 20 minutes, the entire tray of meat paste had been transformed into soft, fragrant, white fish balls.
"Next, we’ll put the wok on the stove and turn on the heat—"
Blue tongues of flame instantly shot up, licking the bottom of the wok.
The heat rose. The pot was quite large, so Jiang Qiuqiu turned the burner to high. The high temperature made steam rise from the water, and the fish balls began to tumble in the roiling pot.
"At this point, we can prepare another basin of ice water and set it aside."
"Once the water boils, the fish balls are cooked. We don’t want to boil them for too long. Use a slotted spoon to scoop them out and place them directly into the ice water—"
The scalding hot fish balls plunged into the cold water. Their slightly loose skins instantly tightened. As their temperature plummeted, a faint white steam rose from the cold water basin.
[They’re so round and cute!]
After a minute or two, the fish balls were fully set. Jiang Qiuqiu picked up a plain fish ball with her chopsticks.
It looked completely unremarkable. The camera bot focused its lens on the fish ball. Jiang Qiuqiu applied a little pressure with her chopsticks; the fish ball slowly flattened, but as soon as she relaxed her grip, it immediately ’bounced’ back into shape.
"Once they’re like this, our plain fish balls are ready."
"However, they aren’t ready to eat just yet."
With that, Jiang Qiuqiu turned on three burners in front of her at once, setting out two woks and a frying pan.
[Doing all three at once? Why are the pots different!]
"Because we’re making fish balls three ways."
She filtered the broth used to cook the fish balls and poured it into the large wok. The broth was milky white with a faint fishy aroma. Then, she scooped a ladleful of fish balls from the cold water basin, added them to the wok, and set it to simmer on medium heat. "While the fresh fish ball soup is cooking, we can get started on the tomato fish ball soup."