Kays Translations
Just another Isekai Lover~
Chapter 30. An incredibly delicious sweet
Well, now that things have turned out this way, I have to keep my promise to Luna.
I thought there would be plenty of time until they grow, so I was going to think about it in the meantime, but…
A super tasty treat made with vegetables.
How on earth am I supposed to do that…
I can’t help but clutch my head.
mustard greens, spinach and lettuce, and what’s more, mizuna, beets, and arugula are growing in this baby leaf —though I can’t really call it a baby anymore.
No matter how hard I try, creating an “incredibly delicious sweet” using these vegetables is just beyond my imagination.
The saving grace is strawberries. With strawberries, I think I can somehow manage. I will!
Hmm, beets?
The beets used in borscht are related to sugar beets, right? Could I possibly make sugar from this beet?
Sugar, the unbeatable ingredient!
I thought about it, and honestly, rather than going through all that trouble, I can just buy 1 kilogram of regular refined sugar for 98 yen. And I’ve already confirmed that, in this world, sugar isn’t that rare or valuable. My shoulders drooped.
For now, I’ll keep asking Martha-san to cook the leafy greens dishes.
My target ingredients are the cherry tomatoes and strawberries.
With these, I want to create an incredibly, super, amazingly delicious sweet.
How on earth do I do that!?
Anyway, I know I can’t pull off a cooking miracle myself—I don’t cook much, after all. I try to make the things I like taste good, but mostly I love quick and simple recipes, and I adore pre-made seasoning mixes and flavorings.
I also make sweets that I personally enjoy.
So, let’s play it safe here, yes, very safe.
I think I’ll just cheat and make my favorite easy to make strawberry mochi and turn the strawberries and cherry tomatoes to candy. It’ll probably be delicious. Maybe I can’t quite guarantee it will be “incredibly,” but…
I asked Martha-san to lend me her kitchen and pots.
“Which pot would you prefer—this one or that one?” she gently asks.
I answer immediately.
Both!
I borrow a small saucepan and a medium-sized one, and also check where all the tiny utensils and dishes are stored.
I was worried about her seeing me bring out the ingredients, but Judo, who’s very perceptive, calls out:
“Martha-san, there’s something I’d like to talk to you about.”
Amazing. I mean, there are people who are so naturally considerate, aren’t there? I want to be like that too, but I’m generally not good at reading between the lines, so I often find myself scratching my head thinking, “I should have done this at that time.”
I figure I only need about 100 grams of sugar for candying, so I pay for 10 yens worth.
I’ve bought bamboo skewers from a 100-yen shop before, so I figure about the ten skewers for six yen should be enough.
As for the red bean paste—I’ll buy a bag from the 100-yen store. If there’s any leftover, I can just eat them. It costs 108 yen and now weighs 120 grams, but it used to be 200 grams.
Ah, those were the good old days. I had recently bought one for the first time in a while and was surprised at how small and light it was.
It was so thin and flimsy, I had to double-check—like, “Is this really the same thing?”
But surprisingly, even though it’s from a 100-yen shop, the bean paste is made in Japan. And It’s actually pretty tasty.
I was really torn about whether to use smooth or chunky, but I think I’ll go with smooth this time.
Once, a long time ago, during a casual chat with someone I wasn’t very close to, they asked:
“Which do you like better—red bean paste with whole beans or smooth?”
I doubt they had any hidden motives. It was just small talk to fill the time. The answer didn’t matter much.
But I ended up thinking about it very seriously and couldn’t answer properly.
Because, honestly, aren’t they both good?
Choosing one? That’s difficult.
Could I ask for a little more time to think about it? I’d like to take it home and seriously consider my answer. That’s what I wanted to say.
That’s how deep that question is.
While reminiscing about that, I gather the remaining ingredients.
I feel like my ability is really useful for making sweets.
Being able to output in grams means that measuring is easy and accurate, and we’ll, isn’t baking is all about accurate measurements and following recipes exactly, right?
Any baking book that doesn’t specify egg sizes isn’t trustworthy. Eggs vary greatly in size—Medium or Large—The amount of water also differs.
Recipes that list ingredients in grams are the real deal—serious! Though I don’t see them very often.
The only other thing I need is potato starch to dust the mochi when shaping it— ahhh!
I’ve made gyuuhi instead of strawberry mochi before using a microwave method with glutinous rice flour. I’d microwave White bean flour, sugar and water, but I can’t do that here.
Modern people rely too much on microwaves, I think. Especially in quick recipes, they’re always involved.
Microwaves are incredible. I think they’re the most convenient and useful modern-day item.
What should I do? I want to look up how to make mochi. I wish I had internet. I’ve paid for internet service, but if I try to buy what I need online, it wouldn’t work, right? It just wouldn’t, would it?
Since I just need to cook it, I think steaming might work.
Well, if you think of it as a dumpling, I think steaming it for about 20 minutes will do the trick?
After much effort, I finally managed to make the strawberry mochi, coating the strawberries and cherry tomatoes in candy, and then placing them carefully on a plate to deliver to Luna.
The candied strawberries and cherry tomatoes look glossy and quite attractive.
A shiny glaze makes everything seem more delicious, doesn’t it?
The strawberry mochi I made, some of them didn’t turn out perfect—some of the bean paste oozes out, but overall, I think it’s within an acceptable range.
Sometimes, strawberry mochi have a little “pop” when you bite into them. I love that sensation.