Seafood feast: Garlic butter clams, abalone and chicken stew, steamed dishes...
To Sangye's surprise, Matthews was about the same size as the orca daughter beside him, and he was clearly not a large fish.
His fish tail was as ornate and elaborate as his son Sireno's, with fins on the pale gold fish tail spreading out as it swayed, fluttering like butterfly wings, and the tips of the fins were covered with specks of gradually changing gold light.
Matthews is a mermaid species of the Big-Mouthed Serpent-Toothed Dragonfish. This fish is small and exquisite, but its mouth is filled with hundreds of sharp serpent teeth. When it attacks, it opens its blood-red mouth and its fins are fully spread out, resembling a real butterfly.
He nodded to Sangye.
“Colonel, my father came out looking for me.” Lilybett resumed her smiling expression. “Our mother is back today; she went to see Sireno.”
As they ascended with Sangye, Lilybet asked, "My mother heard about your cooking and wants to ask if you could cook a family meal for us too. She'll pay you. My mother is very wealthy."
"But don't worry, you can continue to live in the house in Cirenault. We'll go to my parents' house for a family reunion; it's right next door."
When Lilybeth spoke of her mother, her face was full of pride.
Sangye had heard from Minur that the Tide Sea Clan had also intermarried with the old royal family. But unlike them, Matthews and she clearly had a good relationship, and she was even willing to return to Black Tower Star to visit him from time to time.
"When the royal family decided to mine Black Tower, my mother got wind of it beforehand and specially returned to give the most unruly people in the tribe a beating, so that my father and I wouldn't act rashly. Over the years, we've been the best-off tribe on Black Tower," Lilibet said proudly.
Sangye found it strange that their mother hadn't taken them with her when they left, given that they had a good relationship.
She asked whatever came to mind; Lilybeth wasn't a petty person.
“We can’t live without seawater.” Lilybet swayed her strong fish tail. “We can for a short time, but if we don’t have seawater for a long time, our lungs will dry up, our skin will crack, and we will gradually die.”
There are many planets with oceans in the galaxy, but their environments may not be as good as the Tide Sea, nor do they have the King Coral Reef. Moreover, the Tide Sea people are connected to the spirit of the Tide Sea, which is both their home and their invincible guardian, protecting all mermaids.
“Mom has always wanted to take us away and reunite the family. But we can’t find a suitable ocean, and we’re not as adaptable as humans. So we have to stay in the Tidal Sea,” Lilybet explained. “We also have a little sister who was born human. Although she can also turn into a fish tail underwater, she’s more human, so she’s always lived with Mom.”
Upon reaching the fork in the coral reef, Matthews swam ahead to the next side, while Lilybeth personally led Kuwano to slowly rise to the surface.
Invited to a dinner party, Sangye was all too familiar with the situation. Normally, she would ask about the host's preferences and dietary restrictions, but there was no need to ask here.
Moreover, since it's a family dinner, there's no need for anything grand or fancy; the most important thing is to eat your fill and enjoy yourself.
While Sangye's plan was sound, Du Yuan, who was being affectionately held by Sangye, was not in a very good mood.
Because Sangye was pestering Du Yuan to take out all the good seafood she had raised.
While pestering him, he made grand promises: "Master, let me tell you, I just raised a lot of fish, shrimp, and crabs in the sea. I'll return them to you after the harvest. Besides, you've been hiding them away, so you'll eventually have to take them out to eat. Since you're going to take them out anyway, why not eat them today?"
Du Yuan pouted, looking slightly unwilling.
That's true, but it still hurts to take it out. Things are different now than before. If it were still back in Shifangwu, she would have given it to them immediately.
But feeling sorry for Sangye, he took it out after only a few tries.
The chef has a lot of good stuff hidden away: perfectly sized clams, thick and plump abalone, large sea bass weighing over three pounds, as well as various scallops, golden snails, sea cucumbers, and razor clams.
Clams need to purge sand first, and Sangye has a unique technique for this—throwing two rusty iron rods into a basin of water—the clams will quickly purge the sand clean.
If you are particular about the taste, you can soak it for a while longer, about an hour.
Sangye is that kind of meticulous person.
She first needs to prepare the dish that takes the longest to prepare: abalone and chicken stew.
Cut the three-yellow chicken into small pieces and marinate for a while.
After cleaning the abalone, blanch it in boiling water for a while. Once blanched, it can be easily removed with a spoon. Then, make a cross-shaped cut on the surface of the abalone to facilitate the absorption of flavor later.
Heat the oil and pan-fry the abalone and chicken until fragrant.
Then, in a separate clean pot, sauté the onions and garlic until fragrant, then add the chicken and abalone and stir-fry until golden brown. Pour them into a clay pot, add dark soy sauce, oyster sauce and other seasonings, and add water to simmer.
During this time, the aroma will continuously overflow from the vent of the casserole, mixed with the fresh fragrance of poultry and seafood, without any fishy or unpleasant smell.
Then, Sangye prepared seafood porridge as the main dish for tonight.
A key step in making seafood congee is to extract shrimp oil. Heat oil in a pan, then add the shrimp heads separately and stir-fry repeatedly until the shrimp oil is extracted.
Seafood porridge doesn't have to be limited to any particular type of seafood; even just a few shrimp can be called seafood porridge.
Sangye prepared scallops, dried scallops, abalone, shiitake mushrooms, salted duck eggs, and green vegetables. After processing them in advance, he added water to the shrimp oil pot and brought it to a boil. Then, he put all the ingredients and rice into the pot and simmered them over low heat.
Then you can relax and prepare the last two dishes, which are relatively simple to make but require special ingredients—steamed sea bass and garlic butter clams.
After cleaning the scales and internal organs of the sea bass, make a cut along the large bone on both the belly and back of the fish. This will flatten the fish and allow it to absorb more flavor.
Next, soak the fish, ginger, and scallions in clean water for a while, then pour a small capful of white vinegar over them. Do not add cooking wine or salt, otherwise the dish will be very salty and have a strange cooking wine flavor, which will ruin the natural freshness of the sea bass.
Wild sea bass has a texture comparable to freshwater bass, and its flesh is all "garlic cloves" of meat, which is very chewy and has an extra touch of freshness compared to freshwater bass.
Farming sea bass has always been a major challenge, and the taste of farmed sea bass is not particularly good.
After lining the bottom of the plate with ginger and scallion slices, steam the dish directly.
This time, Sangye took the time to prepare garlic butter clams.
Grease the pan with butter, then sauté ginger slices, minced garlic, and chopped chili peppers until fragrant. Add the clams (which have been purged of sand) and drizzle with two more pieces of butter to enhance the flavor. No water or other seasonings are needed; the seafood itself is already fresh enough.
By this time, the clams had expelled all the sand.
After filtering the water again, put it directly into a pot with fresh water and simmer over low heat until the clams open. The water that seeps out of the clams will bubble and release a milky aroma of butter.
At this point, just sprinkle in some more black pepper and it's ready to serve.
The dishes we made earlier are basically ready to be served by now.
Apart from the abalone and chicken stew, almost none of the dishes have added seasonings. The saltiness and freshness of the seafood itself are enough, and the seafood has virtually no unpleasant odor or overly strong flavor.
Sangye made two portions of each dish, one for the five-person family over there and one for the two families of six here.
After the seafood dinner was prepared, it was Sireno and his sister who came to take it away themselves.
His sister Alicia looked to be only about ten years old, much younger than Cyreno and Lilibet. She was lively and adorable like an elf, with short silver hair that bounced as she walked.
Cireno held her hand, unusually refraining from using his charm on the other women present, and carefully watched over her.
He only allowed Alicia to carry the casserole containing the garlic butter clams; he carried everything else himself.
After they left, Kuwano was finally able to sit down and have dinner.
Du Yuan and Rong Cheng had been waiting eagerly for a long time.
Wu Huansheng and her family also returned to the speedboat mooring area behind their house. They had taken Wu Jianing camping at sea all day.
Wu Jianing chattered away, sharing her day's experiences, including seeing a warship land in the sea.
With a thought, Sangye looked at Wu Huansheng.
Wu Huansheng nodded: "That should be Secretary General Saiyin."
Kuwano had never heard of this title before.
“Sain is His Majesty’s spokesperson, the outlet for all policies of the royal family and the empire, and the gathering point for all intelligence. Her position is extraordinary, and like the eunuchs, she is His Majesty’s confidante,” Wu Huansheng explained. “Her power is extraordinary. Some things, whether said a second earlier or a second later, have extraordinary effects and may very well determine the survival of a small planet.”
"There are rumors that Lady Sain comes from Black Tower, because she is the most frequent high-ranking official of the Empire to visit Black Tower. However, this has never been truly confirmed."
Even if Wu Huansheng knew more inside information, he couldn't say it directly.
Fortunately, Wu Jianing kept talking to attract the adults' attention. She kept talking, but her hands were also busy.
This time, eating clams was very satisfying and rewarding. With a gentle bite, the shell and meat separated, accompanied by the aroma of butter and milk. Soon, a small mountain of shells piled up in front of her.
Rong Cheng didn't care at all what they were talking about; she wasn't interested in any of it and was far more drawn to the thick seafood porridge in front of her.
*
Inside the coral room next door.
The family was enjoying a happy time together.
Sain is sweet and gentle, petite, and speaks slowly but with a captivating charm that draws people in.
She didn't know how to use chopsticks yet, and didn't want her hands to get wet with the sauce, so she watched with a smile as Matthews separated the clam meat for her.
The eldest daughter, Lilybet, shoveled a large mouthful of porridge down her throat like an orca.
“Mom, is that guide really worth befriending?” Lilybet didn’t question her mother’s request, but she was curious. “You even want me to go out and exchange our family secrets.”
Sain smiled gently at his daughter: "Of course, you have to trust your mother's decision. After all, I have a lot of information here, even information about the royal family. It's just that I can't tell you right now."
The day before her arrival, she asked His Majesty the Emperor whether he should deal with the "sad and melancholy photo on a rooftop at night" that was becoming increasingly widespread in the capital. Matters involving the royal family must be handled according to the wishes of the royal family members.
The usually decisive Emperor hesitated for a while before telling her to ask the person involved.
The person involved remained silent and climbed onto the roof again that night.
She keenly sensed something unusual.
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