Inside the kitchen, Yi Lei Fang was cooking up a storm, causing a delicious aroma to drift along the wind. Several servants were standing in front of the closed door of the kitchen, wondering what the Young Miss and her other servants were cooking as they were drooling and gulping their saliva without realizing it. Even though they cannot see what is going on, they can hear her voice giving orders inside.
"Gulp, Young Miss, gulp. This smell is so delicious!" Xi Ting excitedly blurt out.
Xi Ting was looking at the brown and glazing sliced up pork belly with boiled eggs coated with sweet soy sauce, making the eggs turn light brown. She can smell the lemongrass, lime leaves, sugar, soy sauce, gangla, and ginger all together.
Xi Ting and the three maids cannot resist the temptation in front of them as their mouth kept drooling nonstop. This type of food is really fatty but eating it once in a bloom moon should be fine.
Xi Ting pointed at the pot full of pork belly mixed with boiled eggs, "Young Miss, what is this called? I never seen anything like this?" The three maids nodded in agreement.
Yi Lei Fang was busy cooking and without looking at them, she replied, "It's called sweet pork belly, lower the flame, I don't want the bottom to burn. It just needs to be slow cooked until the meat is tender enough."
Xi Ting removed some firewood while one of the maids stirred the meat so it would not get stuck at the bottom of the pot. Every time she opens the top, the sweet and fatty smell would drift out.
"Young Miss, the meat looks cooked, why do you need it to be slow cooked?" Questioned a petite maid with a round face who has a chestnut eyes with chubby cheeks.
Yi Lei Fang mysteriously smiled at her. "Just wait and see. I will have you all taste my delicacy once I am done cooking."
"Yes, Young Miss!" She is so happy to try the Young Miss's cooking. She knows her Young Miss loves to eat. Although Yi Lei Fang eats a lot and would try new recipes, nonetheless, she would still stay fit. Martial art practitioners need to consume a lot of food to restore their energy.
While Xi Ting and the other maid is watching over the pot of sweet pork belly, Yi Lei Fang was getting ready to finish her second dish and getting the medicine ready for Chief Yi Yang. She removed the three fully cooked chicken from the pot of boiling hot water. Inside the hot water is some stalk of lemongrass, herbs, the nutrients and natural oil that came out from the chicken turned the water pale green.
She chopped up the chicken into decent pieces and add a small amount of salt to taste and minced up cilantro. She neatly place the pieces of chicken on the plate. From the same boiled water, she scooped up some hot water and place it in a separate porcelain soup bowl.
She took out a porcelain flask, containing the spiritual water and pour several drops into the soup. She also took out three small wrapped up papers. She open the paper and laid them out. The paper contains green powder with the labels written inside. She pinched the powder from the paper and sprinkled it into the soup. Afterward she grab two palm size tofu and cut them into small square shapes. Placing the tofu into the soup.
Less than a few seconds later, the oils that was floating on top of soup cleared up. Lastly but not least, she adds some hibiscus and violets flower into the soup, giving a sweet and flowering smell. The pale green soup turned to a purple color.
Yi Lei Fang turned to Xi Ting and instructed her, "Ting'er remove the sweet pork belly and place them in this plate. Once you are done, grab several bowls for the chicken soup from the pot and add some tofu in it. I am going to make the last dish." She turned to the other maid with the chestnut eyes name Xi Fei and the other two maids, "Fei'er, I need you and Yin'er to wash and cut these vegetables. Yao'er I need you to cut the cow meat for me." Yi Lei Fang shows the three maids how she wants her meat and vegetables to be cut.
All four maids work diligently.
While the last dish is still being prepped, Yi Lei Fang wastes no time and prepared to make steamed tapioca layered cake for dessert. To make red food coloring. she used a wooden grinder to grind and pound the wild raspberry fruit. She then place the smashed fruit into a white clean cloth and squeezed out the juice into a small bowl. She then place the prepare made yellow mung bean in the wooden grinder and smashed it into paste-like consistency.
After she got everything ready, she mixed all the flour, tapioca, the red food coloring she made, and the other ingredients together in a bowl. She separate the smashed yellow mung bean in another bowl and mixed it with the other ingredients. The bean mixture has a pale yellow color.
Since the two mixtures are set, Yi Lei Fang pour some of the red mixture first in a square copper baking-like pan. The pan is then placed inside the steam bamboo basket to steam it until it is cooked. When the red layer is cooked, she poured the next layer with mung bean mixture and steams it again. She repeats the steaming process two more times, making the tapioca layered cake to red, yellow, red, and yellow.
Xi Ting and the other maids were already done with their tasks long ago, were now watching Yi Lei Fang make the cake. At last, the cake was done. Yi Lei Fang open up the bamboo steaming basket and place the basket on a table to let it cool down.
Yi Lei Fang wipes off the sweat on her forehead.
"Alright, now the third dish."
In less than thirty minutes, all the main course is ready.
Yi Lei Fang exhaled deeply. "Okay, go ahead and try each dish and see what you think."
Xi Ting was the first one to try since she is the personal maid servant and the one in charge of the three servants. She use the chopstick to grab a slice of pork belly and place the meat in her mouth. In seconds, her eyes bulged out.
"Yum! Young Miss, the meat just melts in your mouth! The taste is sweet but also has a hint of salt! It is delicious and the taste is great! I don't even have to chew. I can just swallow the meat and not choke!"
The corner of Yi Lei Fang's lips twitched, not knowing if she should take it as a compliment or feel offended.
All the four maids has tried the dishes and the dessert. They wanted to eat more as it was too great, however, the food was prepared for the Yi Family. Plus they are just servants, so having a small taste of the delicacy was already good enough.
Yi Lei Fang's back was facing the maids and did not see their dejected face. She went up to the tightly closed doors to air out the heat from the inside.
With a bang, the door open freely. But what shocked her silly, was seeing all the servants crowding the entrance while the ones who were closer to the door were not so lucky as they embarrassingly fell forward, crashing on top of each other.
A young man wearing a gray servant clothes quickly got up from the ground. He scratched his head and let out a dry laugh. "Hehehe...Young Miss, do you need help?"
Yi Lei Fang scrutinized the young male servant in front of her. If she remembers correctly, his name is Chi Tao.
"Chi Tao and the rest of you, go and help bring the food at the gathering hall."She waved her hand and walked away to meet up with her parents, siblings, and that white lotus cousin.