Chapter 98: Cabbage and Tofu: The Ultimate Simplicity

While contestant No. 20 was looking stunned, Ye Tian took the basket containing cabbage, tofu and two eggs and walked back to her stove with ease.

The surprise came so suddenly that Contestant #20 was a bit stunned. While the remaining dish wasn't as good as the previous 18, it at least had an extra piece of pork tenderloin compared to what Ye Tian had taken. He could make sweet and sour pork tenderloin, or shredded pork with green peppers. The tomatoes could be served cold or used in soup. At least making two dishes and one soup was no problem.

He took the remaining dish and returned to his seat in a foolish and cheerful manner.

The host took the microphone again. "Okay, the contestants have just selected their ingredients in order. Let me reiterate the rules of the competition. Contestants, please be sure to use all the ingredients you have. Also, you can use any green onions, ginger, garlic, cilantro, and all seasonings. There are no restrictions. If you are satisfied, we will start the timer immediately. The competition time is three hours. If you are ready, you can raise your hand and let the judges know in advance, but you will not receive any extra points for finishing early, and you will be penalized for exceeding the time limit." After saying this, he glanced at Ye Tian, intentionally or not.

The master's wife was already getting anxious in the audience: "Lao Luo, what do you think Tiantian is thinking? Everyone else has fish, shrimp, and chicken, but she only has cabbage and tofu. I want to make boiled cabbage, but there's no chicken broth! What should I do?"

"Don't worry, since she chose this dish, she must have an idea in her mind. We just have to wait and see." Chef Luo was still very calm, wondering what dish Ye Tian was going to make.

Ye Tian didn't choose this dish out of pity for Number 20 or out of a desire to be kind. She simply felt that pork tenderloin was only good for a few dishes, so it would be better to just use cabbage and tofu. City dwellers were tired of the heavy meat and fish, and cabbage and tofu were so much healthier. Otherwise, why were there so many vegetarian restaurants in the city these days?

In fact, when she took the basket of ingredients, she had already thought of what dishes to make. They were all her specialties: Qianlong cabbage, Mapo tofu, and the rest she planned to make a fried egg white and tofu soup.

In fact, you can also make scrambled egg soup, but using fried eggs to make the soup will make the soup milky white and taste refreshing and delicious, so in the end she decided to make fried egg white, vegetable and tofu soup.

As for the Qianlong Chinese Cabbage and Mapo Tofu, the key was seasoning. The products on site were provided by the sponsor, and all the seasonings were from the same brand. Ye Tian felt that it was crucial to combine these uncommon brands of seasonings.

She didn't hesitate and took onions, ginger, garlic and coriander, as well as all the bottles and jars of oil, salt, sauce and vinegar, and opened each bottle to study the taste.

The others were busy washing and cutting, marinating and making soup in advance, but Ye Tian was the only one leisurely studying the seasonings, which was really confusing.

Chef Luo and Yu Hai certainly understood what she was doing. She was trying to understand the flavors of the seasonings provided by the organizer, and use these ready-made seasonings to make good sauces, thereby improving the taste of her own products.

For example, there were three types of sesame paste provided for the Qianlong cabbage dressing. Although they were all from the same brand, the proportions of the ingredients were different. As for light soy sauce, dark soy sauce, and drinking vinegar, there were many bottles, and Ye Tian certainly wouldn't just use any bottle.

She spent more than half an hour selecting and choosing, then began to mix and prepare, which took another half an hour. After that, she started to wash the vegetables and cut the tofu. Anyway, there was so much time, so why rush?

She mainly used the leaves of the Qianlong cabbage, tearing them into small pieces by hand; then she only took three cabbage stalks, cut them into thin strips of even size, and used them to make soup.

She first prepares the ingredients for Mapo Tofu, leaves one-fifth of the tofu, cuts it into cubes smaller than the ingredients for Mapo Tofu, and then carves each piece into cute shapes such as flowers, hearts, stars, etc., which can be regarded as the decoration of this soup!

When she officially started cooking, she worked quickly. She poured the sauce she had prepared directly onto the hand-torn cabbage leaves, mixed them with her gloved hands, and put them into the selected disk. This was Qianlong cabbage.

Then she heated up the oil in a pan, cut two egg pancakes and set them aside, then cleaned the pan, heated up the oil in a pan, added the fermented black bean paste she had prepared, and started making mapo tofu.

After the Mapo Tofu is served on a plate, cut the cooled fried eggs into small cubes and then start making the cabbage, tofu and fried egg soup.

As she added the seasoning, she muttered softly: If there were some fresh mushrooms, the soup would definitely be more delicious!

It took a total of two hours. Because there were no time-consuming meat dishes or soup, even if she had been dawdling before, the two dishes and one soup were all ready quickly.

Ye Tian reserved a little of each dish and tasted it confidently. The taste was just as she expected. Even though the ingredients were simple, under her skillful hands, the dishes and soup were delicious!

She looked at the time. It was 11:30 in the morning. The judges and public judges who had arrived early were probably hungry at this time. When you are hungry, food will definitely taste better.

So she raised her hand to show that she was done.

The host was actually not idle while everyone was cooking. He looked at this chef and made a few comments; then he interviewed that chef. Everyone was already nervous in front of the camera, and when they were interviewed, they were completely flustered.

While Ye Tian was preparing the sauce, the host came up to interview her. He asked Ye Tian what she was doing, and Ye Tian smiled and replied, "I'm looking for the taste in my heart!"

The host was speechless for a moment, thinking that this chef was too artistic.

Later he asked Ye Tian why she took the basket when she had other options.

Ye Tian simply said, "Because it's healthy! Modern people pay attention to eating vegetarian food and pursue health. Cabbage can nourish the stomach and promote metabolism, so it's very nutritious. Tofu is also rich in nutrients, it replenishes calcium and nourishes the brain, can lower cholesterol, and prevent cardiovascular and cerebrovascular diseases. These two are very healthy ingredients, and this is also the theme of my cooking today: delicious and healthy."

The host was stunned by Ye Tian's words. He couldn't help but look at the two eggs and asked, "Where are the eggs?"

"Eggs? Eggs contain various trace elements that can enhance immunity and promote physical and intellectual development. It is said that they can also prevent cancer. They are also very healthy food." This is not a problem for Ye Tian, because she has read the encyclopedia of food ingredients.

"This master is really knowledgeable. I have learned a lot from him. Thank you for your answer." The host said goodbye to Ye Tian and went to interview other contestants.

After Ye Tian raised her hand, the seven judges on stage and the public judges below also became curious about her. She praised the cabbage and tofu so much, and even searched for the taste in her heart. So what exactly was the taste in her heart? She really wanted to try it.

Since the contestants have finished cooking, the judges will of course taste it immediately. Otherwise, if they leave it for another hour, the soup and hot dishes will become cold.

Serving spoons were provided for the dishes and soup, and each judge scooped out a little and tasted it carefully.

The Qianlong cabbage is refreshing with the aroma of mahjong, the Mapo tofu is spicy, tender and very delicious, and then you can take a sip of the cabbage, tofu and fried egg soup.

One judge thought: "Wow! This soup is a creamy white, the ingredients are perfectly sized, the cuts are exquisite, the tofu is even adorably patterned, and most importantly, it's incredibly delicious! But it's not the kind of freshness you get with chicken bouillon; you can't even taste the chicken bouillon flavor."

Another judge wondered, "Is this mapo tofu really made with the fermented doubanjiang produced by today's GG sponsor? I remember their sauce wasn't very good, but there weren't any other brands on site, not even Pixian doubanjiang. Could it be that she just whipped it up herself? This young female chef is truly amazing."

Another judge was wondering: How come the ordinary Qianlong cabbage is so flavorful and better than any he had eaten before!

They each only took one bite of these two dishes and one soup. It was already noon, so why did they feel even hungrier?

One judge held a spoon to the tofu on the plate, ready to take another spoonful, but the tofu was taken away by the staff.

"There are also public judges!" the staff member whispered.

Several judges hadn't even had breakfast and were already starving. One female judge, after taking a sip of soup, wanted to grab the entire bowl, thinking it wasn't enough for her because it was so delicious.

There were 20 public judges on the scene. Each of them ate a little, and the two dishes and one soup were eaten up in no time.

At this point, both the judges on the stage and the public judges off the stage were still not satisfied.

Some judges started to give scores, but were hesitant and didn't know how much to give. Some simply put down the scoreboard and planned to wait until they had tasted all the contestants' dishes before giving scores based on the comparison. Otherwise, they would not know what everyone's overall level was.

Seeing that the other chefs had reached the final critical moment, the host thought it would be a bit disturbing to interview them again, and the sounds of frying, stir-frying and cooking were also too loud, so he stared at Ye Tian without fear of setbacks.

"Chef Ye, what do you feel when you cook with cabbage and tofu?"

"I think simplicity is the best way! Using the simplest ingredients to make healthy and delicious dishes is my ultimate pursuit as a chef!" Ye Tian smiled sweetly, but her words were sonorous and powerful.

Led by Chef Luo’s applause, the whole audience burst into thunderous applause.

The chefs were too busy to listen to the interview carefully. They were a little confused when they heard the applause. Was it a reminder that time was almost up?

The three-hour competition time was up, everyone was asked to stop, and then the staff began to serve the dishes.

At this moment, the other chefs were very nervous as they watched the judges tasting and scoring the food. Only Ye Tian was calm and composed, because the dishes she cooked had already been eaten up anyway.