Chapter 124: Chapter 124: Tofu
The wild soybean harvest yielded over three hundred kilograms; Kaelen kept one hundred kilograms of the best beans for seeds, and handed the remaining two hundred kilograms over to the tribe’s communal kitchen.
He taught everyone how to make tofu and soy milk, adding new dishes for everyone. Families who didn’t eat at the communal kitchen could use supplies to trade. Fifty grams of salt could be traded for two pieces of tofu, each about twenty centimeters long.
As for soybean oil, with this amount of beans, it wasn’t enough to press for oil, so it was best to just let everyone make tofu to eat. Regarding oil, Kaelen still leaned more toward animal fat and rapeseed oil.
The method of making tofu wasn’t difficult, so the cooking team naturally could learn it.
First, soak the soybeans for about twelve hours so they soften and release all toxins. Next is to wash them clean, then put them into a stone mill to grind, adding water to grind them smoothly.
After grinding, Kaelen instructed everyone to use a clean linen cloth to filter out the liquid essence, squeezing out and discarding the pulp.
This liquid-squeezing process was truly trivial for beastmen. Their strength was so great that Kaelen had to walk around constantly reminding them: "Gentle, be gentle! If you squeeze too hard, the cloth will tear and the pulp will mix into the water!"
The cloudy, stark-white soybean liquid essence was then poured into a large stone pot to boil. Recalling the lesson of eating raw beans a few days ago, Kaelen deliberately raised his voice to instruct the cooking team:
"Everyone, remember carefully, this soy liquid must be boiled thoroughly. Even when the foam boils up, you must not extinguish the fire immediately, but reduce the firewood and let it simmer for a while longer. Undercooked beans will cause stomachaches and diarrhea."
The cooking team naturally knew the vomiting and diarrhea exploits of those gluttons, and everyone nodded, guaranteeing to cook it thoroughly.
When the pot of soy liquid had boiled thoroughly and emitted a distinctive rich aroma, Kaelen scooped out a few bowls, mixed in a little sweet sorghum sugar, and distributed them to everyone in the kitchen to taste. The refreshing aroma of the soybeans mingling with the gentle sweetness of the sweet sorghum sugar made everyone’s eyes light up.
The piping hot, smooth soy milk sliding down into the stomach brought an extremely comfortable feeling.
Waiting for everyone to finish drinking the soy milk, Kaelen then began the most important step to create tofu.
He took out a jar of bittern water saved from salt-making, instructing:
"If you add too much of this bittern water, it will be harmful to health; it needs to be measured carefully. The most standard ratio for making tofu is: 1 kilogram of dry soybeans, ground and filtered with 10 liters of water. After the pot of soy milk has boiled and the temperature has dropped a bit, we will use exactly 20 milliliters of pure bittern water, diluted with 200 ml of warm water before pouring it in."
Hearing these specific numbers, the beastman crowd nodded. Thanks to learning elementary math, the concepts of weight and volume were now as clear as day to them, no longer the vague estimations of "a handful" or "a scoop" like in the past. One person immediately carefully used a glass measuring cup to pour exactly to the 20 ml mark of bittern water, then mixed in 200 ml of warm water and handed it to Kaelen.
Kaelen nodded in satisfaction, took the bittern water cup, and slowly poured it into the still-hot pot of soy liquid, stirring gently and evenly as he poured. The cloudy soy liquid began to precipitate. The soy curds separated into fluffy white patches like clouds, leaving the floating liquid above a clear yellow color.
"Great Priest, are you performing magic again?" A chef beastman asked with his mouth wide open.
Kaelen could only shake his head in amusement: "This is a precipitation reaction; if anyone studies up to the middle school curriculum, they will know about it."
The chef group rubbed their noses awkwardly. They were all a bunch of poor students; finishing elementary school was already lucky enough for them, they were helpless when it came to anything more advanced.
After the soy liquid had fully precipitated, Kaelen took a wooden mold with drainage holes carved at the bottom, spread a layer of clean grass-fiber cloth over it, then scooped the fluffy soy curds and poured them into the mold. Folding the edges of the cloth neatly, Kaelen used a flat rock of moderate weight to press down on top to squeeze all the water out.
"Alright, now we just need to wait about an hour and we will have tofu to eat."
Exactly one hour later, the rock was lifted off. Kaelen carefully opened the linen cloth. A stark-white, perfectly square block of tofu, steaming hot and softly jiggly, appeared before everyone’s eyes.
"Wow! It looks as white and soft as the belly fat of the Storm wild boar, but it doesn’t have a foul smell!" A beastman exclaimed quite vividly.
Kaelen burst out laughing at that realistic comparison. He used a knife to cut the block of tofu into small square cubes like chess pieces, handing them out to everyone in the kitchen to taste. The piece of tofu melted as soon as it entered the mouth, carrying a gentle aroma and a refreshing taste akin to fruit.
Everyone was reluctant to swallow it, but the misery was that the tofu was too soft; just holding it in the mouth made it melt away.
Kaelen said: "Now everyone, start cooking all these soaked beans; afterward, I will teach you various ways to prepare dishes from tofu."
The large kitchen began to bustle with activity. By noon, the tofu dishes were all displayed on the shelves, ready to welcome the first customers.
Not outside Kaelen’s expectations, the tofu dishes were extremely welcomed. White tofu dipped in sweet fish sauce, fried tofu, braised tofu, non-tofu rib soup, soy milk... Everything was swept clean within a few minutes, yet the clansmen still craved more. Especially the elderly beastmen and Sub-Beasts, whose teeth were no longer good for chewing meat, loved this tofu dish even more.
Hearing that this tofu was made from the soybeans that caused people stomachaches and vomiting, everyone was very surprised, mixed with fear. Would eating so much just now cause them to vomit to death?
Everyone waited and waited, only to find they were perfectly fine. A kitchen assistant hearing the gossip indignantly put his hands on his hips and scolded: "The tofu you guys ate today was all taught to us by the Great Priest. You dare to doubt the Great Priest?!"
The whole group immediately shook their heads vigorously, then someone timidly asked: "But I don’t understand, earlier people ate those beans and had vomiting and diarrhea, so why doesn’t making them into tofu cause stomachaches anymore?"
That Sub-Beast kitchen assistant raised his chin high, saying disdainfully: "Those ignorant fools eating raw beans naturally got poisoned. This thing must be cooked, heard me clearly, cooked! thoroughly!"
The clansmen below then unanimously went ’oh’, showing they understood, then told each other that in the future they shouldn’t just casually eat random things; they had to wait until the Great Priest finished inspecting it before eating.
That afternoon, the crowd in the tribe plowed and transported dirt as crazily as if they were high on Banshee grass; their goal was to expand the fields as much as possible to plant lots and lots of soybeans.
When the sundial in the square signaled four in the afternoon, the urgent sound of the horn welcoming clansmen back rang out; everyone stopped their hands, looking up in anticipation. The guard beastman on the city wall shouted loudly:
"The Chief has returned!"
The news was quickly reported to Kaelen; he dropped his pen, hurriedly running out to the tribe’s gate. Waiting for about half an hour, Sane’s figure gradually appeared at the end of the dirt path.
Sane, with his sharp eyes, saw his mate waiting for him at the tribe’s gate; he hastily abandoned the clansmen behind, using full speed to leap forward, quickly stopping in front of Kaelen.
Seeing Sane return empty-handed, Kaelen’s eyes dimmed slightly. Sane hurriedly hugged his mate, saying gently: "Tomorrow I will continue heading in two other directions to search."
Kaelen shook his head: "Forget it, constantly running around outside is not the way either. You have lost a lot of weight. Let’s temporarily stay at the tribe to handle affairs first; wait for the merchant caravans to return, then we will plan further."
Sane sighed, hugging his mate. Waiting until the hunting team fully gathered, everyone then went inside the tribe together. The hunted prey was all brought to the kitchen; people would divide it per capita in the tribe, and the remainder would be processed thoroughly and then placed in the tribe’s cold cave.
This cold cave was actually an underground cellar dug deep into the earth. The temperature here was originally cooler than outside, and Ice-element Divine Energy warriors frequently came down to release cold air, reinforcing the four rock walls. It operated no differently than a giant refrigerator for the entire tribe.
Sane didn’t participate in the distribution; originally, his going out wasn’t just to hunt. Moreover, the tribe now had enough to eat and wear, with self-raised livestock and poultry, so there was no need to hold a lavish feast every time the hunting team returned either.
He and Kaelen bypassed to Zale’s place to pick up the two children, then returned home together. The two little eggs were in Zale’s arms; as soon as they sensed Sane’s aura, they immediately lunged into his embrace.
Calculating the days, they should have broken their shells three days ago; regrettably, they lacked enough energy, so they hesitated until now. Kaelen also didn’t allow them to drain Zale’s Magical Energy dry, so they could only wait for the magic cores Sane brought back.
Sane poured a pile of Wood-element and Water-element magic cores onto the table, separately placing them into the two little ones’ nests. The second brother was Wood-element, the younger brother was Water-element. After finishing the arrangement, he then placed the two eggs on them.
The shell-breaking process wasn’t just a matter of a day or two; tomorrow morning he would take them to the place specifically used for clansmen’s advancement.
The two were both elemental ability users; by right, there was no need to move them to the place with the advancement array. However, considering that both he and Kaelen were not ordinary people, Sane didn’t dare to gamble. If by chance anomalies occurred when the children broke their shells, it would endanger the tribe.
The tribe’s construction speed wasn’t as fast as the destruction speed; sooner or later, the tribe would once again be so poor they wouldn’t even have pants to wear.
Placed in the nests fully lined with magic cores, the two little ones immediately wiggled joyfully twice, then fell silent. Faint streams of energy from the magic cores rose up, penetrating the eggshells. The colors of the two little ones’ eggshells became even more vibrant.
The third baby even grew two additional scales on his eggshell.
Kaelen and Sane sat silently leaning against each other, staring unblinkingly at the two eggs, their hearts unavoidably missing the missing child.
They didn’t know if the boy had enough energy to break his shell or not? Nor did they know if he was in a safe place or not? Did he encounter any danger after breaking his shell?
The longing of the two fathers seemingly materialized into a physical entity, flying across the mountains and forests, crossing the flowing lava river, and flying to a certain place.
The little snake cub with two bumps on his head lying on a soft blanket nest groggily opened his eyes; the originally drowsy eyes suddenly turned into vertical slits.
"Holy Son, what is wrong?"
Before the curtain was lifted, the little snake’s lively eyes darted slightly, reverting back to a drowsy appearance as if he was still half-asleep. He said lazily:
"I am thirsty."
The servant outside immediately poured a cup of warm water and brought it over; the little snake shifted into his human form, slowly drank the water, and then lay back on the bed. The bed curtain was lowered again; the servant didn’t leave but stood guarding right by the bed.
The little snake curled himself up, burying his head into his body, hiding his eyes overflowing with killing intent.
Daring to use charm arts to bewitch them, forcing him and Uncle Wofu to become reluctant Holy Sons. He didn’t know what on earth that guy was scheming?
Regardless of what the man was plotting, Edward would firmly remember this grudge of being controlled like a puppet!
