Chapter 593 –Sauced Ground Meat & Vegetables on Rice[1]
Author: Eguchi Ren
Translated by Gumihou
Edited by Gumihou >_<
“”Aruji~~ Sui is hungry~~””
“”Ou, now that Sui mentions it, I’m hungry too~!””
We had just put the Green Dragon into my [Item Box] when Sui suddenly bounced around my feet, pleading to be fed. [2] Normally, Fer would be the first to complain about wanting food, but I guess after my threat, he became a little less vocal.
“Phun, after moving around facing such a strong opponent, I’m hungrier than usual. Feed us.”
… or not.
“Master, I am hungry too. Please make us some food.”
I sighed. Since everyone had just rushed about chasing down the Green Dragon, I expected everyone would be hungry. Though really, I don’t think any of you had moved about more than usual.
Still, if my internal clock was right, which had been fairly accurate lately by the way, it should be close to lunchtime now. Since I needed to feed them anyway, it should be fine to prepare the food now.
“Yes, yes, let me have a look… you know, [3] since you guys decided to get those High Elves in, I now have more mouths to feed. Having more mouths to feed means having to prepare more food. Well, have you seen me prepare food lately? Huh? Well, let me tell you now, all the prepared food is gone, so you’ll have to wait while I make something from scratch.”
“Nuu, so noisy, just hurry up- erk–!”
“What Fer means is that, we appreciate Master’s effort and are happy to wait. Right, Fer?”
Grandpa Gon had just nudged (shoulder checked) Fer before he could say something stupid. Yes, I must admit that having Grandpa Gon around is a good thing.
“Mu, sure, whatever.”
I was about to tease Fer a little more when his belly let out a loud growl. I stared at him in disbelief. Being a furry creature, it was hard to tell if he was blushing. I smirked and was about to say something pithy about someone’s lack of manners when other stomachs started growling as well.
It was kind of surreal.
After giving them another look, I rummaged through my [Item Box] and started pulling out things. A container of minced Dungeon Pork, some minced Dungeon Beef, a sack of carrots, some green peppers…
“Hmm, ground meat, carrots and green peppers, eh? Should I make a curry? No, that would be a waste of Alban’s vegetables. How about a simple ground meat and vegetable stir-fry? That would be pretty quick and easy, but is that boring? If I add extra starch and dashi broth, it would become a nice sauced dish that could go pretty well on rice…”
Slurp.
Ahah, I just made my mouth water…
“Yes, let’s go with that. Oh, and to make it more interesting, let’s add some bamboo shoots too. I haven’t actually seen any bamboo-like plants in this world, but that’s ok. I have the [Net Super]! Hohoho!”
I bought a few vacuumed packets of par-boiled bamboo shoots. Thanks to science and modern packaging development, it is possible to enjoy out-of-season goods like bamboo shoots. Not to mention, now that I have transmigrated into this other world, I can easily buy things like bamboo shoots whenever I like.
After the cardboard box appeared, I got to cooking.
First, chop the carrots, green peppers and bamboo shoots into 1cm wide slices. Next, heat up a little bit of sesame oil on a frying pan and panfry a mix of Dungeon Pork and Beef until the colour changes.
Naturally, I used a lot of ground meat. Several pans of ground meat, in fact.
Once the meat has crisped up a little, add the sliced vegetables and stir-fry gently for about a minute, taking care not to overcook it at this point.
After that, add a mixture of water, granulated dashi-stock, soy sauce, grated ginger and sugar for the sauce. Bring the whole thing to a boil. It was kind of like making non-spicy Mabo Tofu, without the tofu, of course.
Once the water has reduced a little, dissolve the potato starch in water and pour the slurry into the pan to thicken the broth into a sauce-like consistency. Of course, the more starch you use, the stickier and thicker the sauce.
After that, all I had to do was spoon the Sauced Ground Meat & Vegetables over rice and transform it into an Ankake Don.
“And it’s done!”
Growl—
Grrr—-
“Eh?” I turned around to see… my familiars standing in a row behind me, their bellies growling in some kind of weird symphony…
“… Well, everyone, lunch is ready! Today, we’ll be having Sauced Ground Meat with Vegetables over Rice!”
Fer grumbled, “Vegetables? Why would you include that vile thing?”
“What are you talking about? Vegetables are good for you! Moreover, it’s all finely chopped, so you’ll hardly even taste it. I should also say that vegetables are the main reason why this dish is so delicious!”
“… …”
Fer looked unhappy but he ate the food nevertheless as usual, and even asked for seconds. At this point, I think he just complains for the sake of complaining.
““I don’t know what Fer is muttering about, there are lots of meat here,”” said Dora-chan as he licked his sauce covered lips.
“Indeed, this is very delicious. Thank you for the food, Master.”
As always, Grandpa Gon is very good at praising my cooking.
“Thank you, everyone, I put in twice as much ground meat, so I’m glad you like it.”
“”Aruji~ this is yummy and, and, creamy~? Un, but Sui wants to eat a bi~ig piece of meat today~””
“A big piece of meat? You mean like a steak?” I asked.
“”Yes~ yes~ like a thick juicy steak~~””
“Ohoho, if Sui-tan wants to, we could have dragon steak tomorrow from the Green Dragon everyone hunted today~”
“”Yay~! Dragon meaty~~””
“”Ou! When it comes to dragon meat, it has to be steak! A nice juicy piece of steak I could just sink my teeth in~!”” Dora-chan’s eyes were shining as he daydreamed about eating steak. I noticed that he was also gulping down his Sauced Ground Meat & Vegetables Over Rice very quickly.
“Umu, with the High Elf dismantler, we could have the dragon quite soon. Maybe even by tomorrow,” said Fer in a satisfied voice.
“That’s right, there is more than one dismantler in this world after all, we don’t have to look for that insanity,” said Grandpa Gon with some feeling.
“”Brrr, that’s right,”” Dora-chan agreed.
“Oi, stop talking about that elf,” Fer muttered.
““Oh yeah, well, I look forward to tomorrow’s meal. We’ll be having dragon meat right? Dragon meat?””
“When it comes dragon meat, it’s delicious as steaks,” I said thoughtfully. “I don’t even have to add any extra seasoning, good salt and freshly cracked black pepper is plenty.”
“”Yay~~!!””
“Umu, steak is it? Fufu, I want a nice thick one in regular flavour, and the next one in that sauce I like.”
“Oh? Do you mean the Soy-Steak Sauce or the Garlic Butter Steak Sauce?” I said, already considering my line-up of steak sauces.
“The first one you gave me, that first time.”
“First time… ah, that should be soy-sauce based one,” I said, suddenly overwhelmed with nostalgia. That was back when Fer and I travelled together and entered a city for the first time. I had to house him at the barn…
“Dragon steaks… sounds delicious~” said Grandpa Gon dreamily.
“”Steaks, eh? I think steaks are great, but a good Dragon Roast would be excellent, me thinks!”” said Dora-chan as he nodded firmly over his folded arms, looking like a proper gourmet.
Oho, that’s right. If Green Dragon meat is anything like beef, a roast would be very nice.
“What are you talking about, Dora-chan? Dragon meat is best experienced as steaks.”
“”Now you’re talking nonsense, Dragon Steaks may be great, but imagine stuffing a slice of Dragon Roast into your mouth as a chaser? Priceless!””
“Umu, I stand corrected. You’re right, that would be the perfect combination.”
“Have I had roasts before?” Mused Grandpa Gon, “Never mind, I’m sure so long as it passes through Master’s hands it will be nothing less than absolutely delicious.
“Oi, have you all decided?” I asked snarkily.
“Umu, we have. We shall have the Green Dragon Steaks and Green Dragon Roasts.”
“… I was totally being sarcastic, but whatever. Steaks and roasts, eh? I can do that.”
“”Hey, hey! After steaks and roasts, how about Dragon Cutlet? Think about it — Deep fried dragon, slurp.””
“Fried? Do you think Dragon would be good fried?” Grandpa Gon frowned deeply.
“Master made us Gigantic Minotaur Cutlets before if the meat is similar…”
“Have I had Gigantic Minotaur Cutlets…?”
“Anyway, since we have the Green Dragon, let’s have it in many kinds of ways.”
“Goodness, that would be incredible indeed. If I had taken down the Green Dragon earlier, all I could taste would be raw meat. Which, though delicious, could not be compared to the many varieties of deliciousness that Master could provide. The assorted aroma and texture alone is beyond anything I have ever experienced.”
““Woah, that was such an incredible description, Grandpa Gon! I feel the same!””
“Humph, as expected of the person I have chosen to be my master,” said Fer with a proud flip of his head.
“Wow… geez…” I said, not entirely sure how to react. This was the first time I heard them praising me directly, instead of just yelling ‘delicous, delicious’ in my face.
“”Many, many yummy dragon~~?”” said Sui.
“”Yup! Yup! Lots of different deliciousness!””
“”Wow~ wow~””
“Well, looks like everyone is really looking forward to future meals, huh?” I said, feeling half exasperated and half proud of myself. “Goodness, I guess you guys can’t live without my excellent cooking, hmm?”
However, my familiars were too busy chomping down on their Sauced Ground Meat & Vegetables on Rice meals while fantasising over Dragon meat to answer me.
[Gumihou: Made some small adjustments]
[1] The tricky bit is the ‘あんかけ’ or ‘ankake’ part of the translation. Ankake generally means ‘broth thickened with starch into a sauce-like consistency’. A lot of Chinese dishes actually utilise this ‘ankake’ method, but Japanese-style Chinese dishes have more sauce than mainstream Chinese dishes
https://www.kyounoryouri.jp/recipe/44343_%E5%8D%B5%E3%81%82%E3%82%93%E3%81%8B%E3%81%91%E3%81%94%E9%A3%AF.html
https://www.ellielikes.cooking/ankake-tofu/
[2] Adjust per previous changes
[3] Since there’s an episode where ready food ran out, backed it up with ‘more mouths to feed’
[4] Deleted the following:
“Hmm, fried food? Dora, it sure looks delicious. Up until now, people have often thought of dragons as steak, but it would be fun to eat them in other ways as well. Dragon cutlet is good.”
“So, Fer and the others have never eaten fried dragon before?”
This came totally out of the left field. Also, if Fer never had fried dragon, none of you would ever have fried dragon, that’s for sure, so the dialogue appears to go nowhere…
Replaced this joke with Grandpa Gon’s ‘have I tried xx?’