Chapter 97

Chapter 97: Phoenix-Tail Prawns and Clear Broth Noodle Soup

Translator: Xiong Guoqi Editor: Meh

After being processed, all the prawns were laid out on the plate with their tails slightly tilted up . Yuan Zhou picked up an egg with his right hand and knocked on the bowl in his left hand .

“Ke Ke”

A clear and melodious sound

Instantly, the liquid of egg white was scattered evenly on each prawn without any splashing onto the tails . The yolk was nevertheless left pristine in the bowl, intact .

Although astonishing, this skill was still reasonable . After all, they had seen Yuan Zhou knock eggs with one hand for quite some time now . Such skill in tossing the egg white evenly with the strength of his wrist, however, was only just now seen for the very first time .

“Dong Dong”, Yuan Zhou turned around, stepped backward, and then opened the pot filled with sea salt with one hand while scooping up half a spoon with the other and then sprinkling the sea salt evenly on the prawn tails .

It required several minutes to pickle the prawn tails . During this gap, Yuan Zhou began to take out the side dishes for preliminary processing .

The side dish of Phoenix-Tail Prawns was peas, of which the first fresh harvest was used . The instructions: Peel off the peapod and take out the peas carefully without scratching their skin; after the peas are washed and dried, prepare a pot of clear water and pour them into the boiling water; after slight stirring, scoop them up quickly and put into the icy snow lotus-water .

Provided by the system, the snow lotus water was taken from the first snow on the snow lotus . It was completely pure and free from pollution, with a spark of the cold scent of snow lotus . When the snow melted into water and was left there until it was no longer so cold, it couldn’t be any better to soak the peas in .

The several minutes during which the peas were processed were just suitable to pickle the river prawns with .

Yuan Zhou took out a small pan and put it on the stove . When it was heated until it was slight smoking, he immediately poured some fat into the pan .

Upon touching the pan, the fat emitted a delicious fragrance, which smelled unlike the taste of any normal cooking oil . Without any underlying offensive smells, its scent was almost bland .

“Boss Yuan, your range hood is pretty nice . Instead of any greasy flavor, there’s even some rich fragrance . ” watching Yuan Zhou heating the edible oil, Wu Zhou heaved a sigh with emotion .

“It’s not the range hood that is good . It’s the cooking oil . ” Wu Hai said contemptuously .

“It doesn’t make any difference . ” Wu Zhou didn’t believe he was wrong at all . After all, there wasn’t any oily smell . Rather it should be that he had never smelt the scent of oil fumes at this restaurant before .

Having checked that the oil temperature was more or less good, Yuan Zhou picked up a prawn at once and covered the body with a thin layer of white starch . He then began to pour it into the heated oil in the pan .

Every fried prawn was in a half-moon-shape with the tail tilting upward . Placed on the plate like that, they were already partially resembling a phoenix tail . For the used heating oil, Yuan Zhou simply poured it into the rubbish bin after a single fry .

Afterwards, he changed to another wok and poured a little more cooking oil into it, letting it heat up . Then, he continued pouring the washed peas inside and stir-fried them for a little while before pouring another half a bowl of broth, several pieces of rock salt, a little rice wine and some sauces into the wok .

When the broth changed to a milky white color, he immediately tossed the river prawns in the wok to stir-fry .

“Hua Hua”

While stir-frying with one hand, he picked up a small bottle and scattered some clear oil evenly onto the prawns with the other . The time of stir-frying was quite short . Just in a little moment, Yuan Zhou scooped up the prawns into two white plates separately . Naturally, even scooping dishes up required skill .

Yuan Zhou nevertheless did it well . Leaving aside that 8 prawns were evenly on each plate, the prawn tails were placed in a circle neatly with the center left empty . Yuan Zhou took out a length of brown, one-finger-thickness and trunk-looking stuff and put it upright at the center of the plate .

Having picked up a lavender radish, he began to sculpt a flower . With radish chips periodically fluttering into the water sink below, exquisite phoenix tree flowers came into being in Yuan Zhou’s hands .

In a blink of an eye, Yuan Zhou decorated the phoenix tree flowers onto the trunk . Matched with several verdant vegetable leaves, it was like a blossoming phoenix willow tree . Circles of white prawns and red tails were laid out in the plate with a vivid phoenix tree in the center .

With the flames curling up, the dish appeared like a burning flame, as if a phoenix were resting in the phoenix tree and reborn in the fire .

“Phoenix-Tail Prawns, for you two gentlemen . ” Yuan Zhou carried the dishes out and handed them to Wu Hai and Zhao Yingjun .

“Boss Yuan, this dish has a really nice plating and presentation . ” taking his plate, Wu Hai turned around in a circle and commented in surprise .

“I want to savor the taste, yet I’m afraid of damaging such a delicate and pristine dish . ” looking at the beautiful and smooth piece of art, Zhao Yingjun didn’t know which prawn he should choose to eat first .

“Never mind that . If you don’t want to eat it, let me help you . ” sitting at the side, Wu Zhou watched the dish and couldn’t help drooling . He then said rudely .

“No need . I shall eat the first . ” while speaking, he picked up a prawn with the chopsticks .

When he went out to Jin’ling City for business travel, Zhao Yingjun had a love affair, starting from Phoenix-Tail Prawns and also ending up with Phoenix-Tail Prawns . Hence, he had a special feeling towards this dish . Otherwise, he would never order a dish costing more than 1000 RMB for just a single serving .

The prawn between the chopsticks was spotlessly white in the front . The closer to the tail one looked, the redder it became, like the vivid flames of a phoenix .

Stuffed into the mouth and given a bite, the prawn tasted incomparably tender and smooth . The most wonderful thing was that although it tasted exceptionally fresh and delicate, the prawn nevertheless carried a spark of faint fragrance, like the taste of an unknown flower .

When chewed carefully, the prawn meat merged various tastes, which didn’t deprive the prawns of their freshness, moreover strengthened that . The only thing missing was the underlying offensive smell .

“Not only does the shape look like a phoenix tail, but also the taste was as pure and fresh as phoenix tails . ” after gulping down a mouthful of the prawn, Zhao Yingjun sighed with infinite emotion .

“It’s absolutely delicious . You talk too much . Let me eat another one . ” while Zhao Yingjun was carefully savoring the prawn, Wu Zhou seized the chance to pick up another one and stuff it into his mouth .

“We made a deal that you can eat only one . ” the current manner of Zhao Yingjun was like that of Wu Zhou 15 minutes ago, incredibly annoyed and jealous .

“No, no . I ate too quickly just now and didn’t manage to get the taste . ” staring at the dish of Phoenix-Tail Prawns in front of him, Wu Zhou felt like being scratched in the heart by a cat . The scent curling up into his nose tempted him to eat the dish, like a little hook .

“You did that on purpose . So, no way you can eat more . ” Zhao Yingjun refused him decisively .

“You are so mean . ” the Clear Broth Noodle Soup that he ordered hadn’t been served, thus he shifted his sight to Wu Hai, who was seated beside him, at once .

Wu Hai was so sensitive that he noticed the greedy sight immediately . Then he pulled the plate farther from Wu Zhou with a sound of “Zi” and didn’t forget to say, “I am not well acquainted with you . ”

“But we just talked . ” Wu Zhou frankly pointed out the fact that Wu Hai had ridiculed him just now .

“Misconception,” Wu Hai denied without any hesitation . He turned his head back and concentrated on eating his Phoenix-Tail Prawns .

“Two servings of Clear Broth Noodle Soup . ” just when Wu Zhou looked from left to right, Yuan Zhou carried two bowls of Clear Broth Noodle Soup to him .

“Eat your noodles . Stop thinking of the prawns anymore . ” Zhao Yingjun carried up one bowl of the noodle soup and handed it to Wu Zhou .

“The noodles were yet entertained to you by me . ” Wu Zhou whispered .

“That’s because you have gotten the bonuses . ” Zhao Yingjun said to the point .

“Alright . I eat my noodles . ” instantly, Wu Zhou got speechless . He took up the bowl and gulped down two mouthful of the broth, finding himself calming down . Anyhow, there was still the delicious Clear Broth Noodle Soup that he could eat .

Zhao Yingjun nevertheless looked repeatedly at his Clear Broth Noodle Soup and once again smelled the scent . However, he still ended up dropping it to the side and began to eat his Phoenix-Tail Prawns blissfully .

However carefully and slowly he chewed and swallowed, 8 Phoenix-Tail Prawns couldn’t last for long . At that time, Wu Zhou had already started eating the Clear Broth Noodle Soup delightedly .

Despite that, Zhao Yingjun was still awfully conflicted . After all, he truly didn’t like eating noodles . To eat or not to eat, this was a serious question .