The Cheat Emperor of the Culinary World

Fu Yu sent the person off and turned back to the kitchen.

Yao Shi urged him to quickly put together the vegetarian banquet, aiming for an official launch by the National Day.

For this matter, Fu Yu had already finalized the specific new dishes long ago.

Primarily because the pay from the music restaurant was indeed substantial.

Fu Yu felt it necessary to return the favor.

Six dishes and a side, considered a small banquet.

Need to come up with another six dishes to make it a large banquet, plus a main course.

After all, the music restaurant is different from Qianlima.

Large banquets usually consist mainly of cold dishes, and foods like noodles that can’t sit for long are unsuitable.

So Fu Yu chose six additional dishes from the special family banquet menu, replacing the fruit and vegetable seafood noodle soup, creating a large vegetarian banquet of twelve dishes and one main course.

Zhou Yesheng, while preparing the ingredients with the list, took a careful look at the names of several dishes.

Arhat Vegetarian Dishes, Lotus Soup with Lily, Four Seasons Vegetarian Sweet and Sour Pork, Dongpo Tofu, Jiuhua Buddha Jumps Over the Wall, Steamed Tofu with Rice Powder, Palace Gate Glutinous Bean Buns.

Wow!

He hadn’t heard of a single one of these!

He now admired Fu Yu greatly.

Zhou Yesheng decided that whenever Fu Yu came over, he would ask Zhang Zhen if he could assist Fu Yu in the kitchen.

On one hand, because Fu Yu’s cooking was indeed impressive.

On the other hand, Zhou Yesheng found Fu Yu to be genuinely nice.

If there’s anything he doesn’t understand in cooking, as long as he asks, Fu Yu will patiently guide him in detail.

This made Zhou Yesheng feel he gained a lot.

Even though he only assisted Fu Yu a few times, he felt he learned more than from working in the kitchen over the past year.

Once Zhou Yesheng had all the ingredients ready.

Fu Yu began cooking the Arhat Vegetarian Dishes.

Rehydrate the fungi and peel and wash the water chestnuts.

Slice the mushrooms thickly, and cut the other fungi and water chestnuts into chunks.

Cut the tofu into thick cubes, toast gluten and tofu puff into small pieces, and carrot into large chunks.

Rehydrate the dried bamboo shoots and shred them, soak wood ear, white fungus, and daylily in cold water and remove roots for later use.

Boil peanuts and ginkgo in plain water in advance.

Heat the pan and add sesame oil and peanut oil.

Zhou Yesheng curiously asked, ”Chef Fu, there’s nothing special about this dish’s ingredients! Without meat, can it taste good?”

Fu Yu poured sesame oil into the pot and said, ”The specialty of vegetarian cooking is to savor the natural flavors of the ingredients. However, ours is certainly different from what is offered in temples, as it has to cater to the public taste.”

”For example, in this dish, you must use plenty of sesame oil to achieve a rich flavor.”

Zhou Yesheng quickly nodded, remembering to use more sesame oil, and continued to watch Fu Yu cook intently.

Pan-fry the tofu on low heat until both sides are golden, then remove from the pan for later use.

Leave some oil in the pan, and after quick-frying the gluten, toast gluten, and tofu puffs, remove and reserve.

Stir-fry the bamboo shoots, wood ear fungus, white fungus, carrots, and daylily until cooked, then reserve.

Stir-fry the fungi and water chestnuts for fragrance.

Add the previously fried ingredients to the pot, add water to cover the ingredients.

Add dark soy sauce, light soy sauce, sugar, and salt for seasoning, and a small amount of bay leaves and cinnamon.

Cover and simmer.

Zhang Zhen passed by and saw the pot of cooking ingredients and laughed, ”Isn’t this just a hodgepodge of stew?”

Fu Yu laughed too, ”Close enough, but the taste is quite unique!”

Zhang Zhen was intrigued, ”I’ll have to taste it carefully later.”

Once the broth is plenty, add the soaked crystal noodles, cover for another 5 minutes, then uncover and let the broth reduce slightly on high heat.

Zhou Yesheng volunteered, ”Chef Fu, I’ll watch the pot! I’ll make sure the noodles don’t stick.”

Fu Yu thought to himself, even if you don’t watch, the pot won’t stick.

But he deliberately instructed, ”Sure, make sure to stir gently, but be careful not to break the ingredients.”

Zhou Yesheng quickly agreed, being especially careful when stirring.

Fu Yu then started making Jiuhua Buddha Jumps Over the Wall.

Without the various high-end seafood, the vegetarian Buddha Jumps Over the Wall uses a wide variety of tasty mushrooms.

Peel the bamboo shoots, wash them, and cut them into fan shapes.

Boil water in a pot, add monkey head mushrooms, bamboo fungus, king oyster mushrooms, bamboo shoots, morel mushrooms, stone ear fungus, matsutake, shiitake mushrooms, and polygonatum slices.

At this moment, Zhou Yesheng reported, ”Chef Fu, the noodles are cooked!”

Fu Yu switched places with him, ”Simmer for half an hour, just keep an eye on it.”

He took a shallow round plate to serve the dish from the pot, stacking it like a small mountain and drizzling with a layer of clear oil.

Arhat Vegetarian Dishes were done.

Fu Yu turned and called out to Zhang Zhen, ”Zhang Zhen! The dish is ready. Can you take photos now?”

”Yes!”

Zhang Zhen agreed quickly, pausing his work immediately.

He came over, glanced at the plate of food, and said, ”Wow, just the way this is plated, it looks so upscale!”

Zhang Zhen took out his phone, carefully took some photos, and even recorded a video.

Then, he invited a couple of chefs over to taste the dish.

Even without a trace of meat, it was exceptionally flavorful!

Especially the gluten and tofu, releasing a mouthful of broth with a bite, offering a distinct taste.

After the chefs tasted it, the head chefs also took a sample, and the few leftovers at the bottom of the plate were divided among the assistants.

Everyone praised the dish highly!

Zhou Yesheng smacked his lips and said sincerely, ”I just realized vegetarian food can be this delicious. No wonder people stay after temple fairs just to have a vegetarian meal there.”

Fu Yu smiled and picked up the prep for the Lotus Soup with Lily.

Wash the lily and daylily flowers with water, and place them in a soup bowl.

Remove the ends and skins of the lotus seeds, remove the core, wash them clean, and put them in the soup bowl as well.

Add 500 grams of clear water to the soup bowl and steam with high heat.

The soup was on the stove here.

And the simmered ingredients were also ready.

Fu Yu called Zhou Yesheng over to watch the soup pot.

He then carved king oyster mushrooms to look like abalone and stuffed the stone ear fungus into the bamboo fungus.

Heat rapeseed oil in a pot and add the ingredients to it.

Simmer on low heat.

Zhou Yesheng managed both pots easily.

Fu Yu then successively cooked the Four Seasons Vegetarian Sweet and Sour Pork and Steamed Tofu with Rice Powder, both well-received.

As he was about to make the Dongpo Tofu, Zhang Zhen and Chef Liu had just freed up and gathered around to learn from Fu Yu.

Zhang Zhen chuckled, ”Chef Fu, don’t worry! We’ll honestly report to finance that you’ve already started teaching us vegetarian cooking today!”

Fu Yu chuckled too and didn’t stand on ceremony.

Yao Shi previously agreed with him that teaching cooking would earn him a bonus by the hour.

This money was what he deserved.

Zhou Yesheng, considerate, moved all the ingredients for the Dongpo Tofu over.

Zhang Zhen and Chef Liu looked at the three main ingredients.

Smoked dried tofu, tofu, and winter melon.

They couldn’t help but exchange glances.

With white looking white, green looking green, these seemed unrelated to Dongpo Pork at all!

Could these really turn into something like Dongpo Pork vegetarian style?

It seemed like it’s just the name!