Gourmet: Twins' Father and Chef of the Kindergarten-Chapter 54 - 51: Molten Pumpkin Cakes
When Huang Jun arrived at the kitchen, Aunt Lin and Aunt Li were already busy as usual.
He routinely changed into his chef’s uniform, put on his hat, carefully donned his mask, and after sanitizing, stepped into the workspace.
"Oh, Chef Huang is here!"
Aunt Lin greeted him warmly and reported the progress of their work, "Chef Huang, Aunt Li and I have already handled the pumpkin. We’ve peeled it and cut it into strips as you requested, and it’s been steaming for a while on the tray. The timing should be about right, but you should check if it’s ready to be taken out."
"Alright."
Huang Jun nodded slightly, sincerely expressing his gratitude, "Thank you both so much."
Aunt Lin laughed heartily and waved her hand, "We’re all family here. There’s no need to talk about hard work!"
Aunt Li nodded in agreement with a cheerful expression, "Exactly, we’re all family. It’s too formal to say things like that! Chef Huang, don’t be so polite in the future, or I’ll really be upset with you!" 𝗳𝐫𝚎𝗲𝚠𝚎𝗯𝕟𝐨𝘃𝚎𝗹.𝗰𝗼𝗺
"Alright! I’ll listen to you guys and won’t say it anymore in the future!"
Huang Jun walked slowly to the steaming tray.
Steam rolled around gently.
The sweet aroma of steamed pumpkin wafted through the air, carried by the white steam.
After observing for a moment,
he confirmed that it was ready, then gently uncovered the steamer to take a peek...
The slices of pumpkin in the basin were fully cooked and tender.
"Hmm, it’s ready to come out!"
He deftly used tongs to remove the pumpkin from the steamer one by one, placing the basin gently to the side.
Next, he carefully drained the nearly overflowing pumpkin water from the basin, and poured all the steamed pumpkin into a clean stainless steel basin.
He picked up a pestle and began patiently mashing the pumpkin into a fine pulp.
In this process,
he kept stirring, striving to achieve the finest texture.
Then, he added an appropriate amount of white sugar to enhance the sweetness.
He gently stirred it with chopsticks, allowing the sugar to perfectly blend with the pumpkin mash, making it smoother.
He added glutinous rice flour to the basin and continued mixing until it became a shredded texture, then he started kneading the pumpkin dough shreds.
The kneading process was quite simple without any difficulty or special technique required.
Just ensuring the glutinous rice flour mixed evenly with the pumpkin mash was enough.
Due to the quantity needed, the kneading process took some time to fully incorporate the glutinous rice flour into the pumpkin mash.
Eventually,
Huang Jun kneaded a smooth and velvety golden-yellow pumpkin dough.
Then, he fetched a bowl, added some flour, poured in some brown sugar, and added some white sesame seeds, using a spoon to mix them thoroughly.
And just like that, a flowing heart sugar filling was ready!
"Chef Huang, what are you...?"
Seeing Huang Jun’s actions, Aunt Lin looked curious and asked, puzzled.
Aunt Li, observing carefully, tentatively guessed, "Are you making filling, Chef Huang?"
"Congratulations, Aunt Li, you guessed right!"
Huang Jun smiled slightly, then explained, "I’m planning to make flowing heart pumpkin cakes."
"The pumpkin cakes I’ve had never had a flowing heart; I never imagined you would come up with such an intriguing idea, Chef Huang!" Aunt Li praised.
"This isn’t an original idea of mine; flowing heart pumpkin cakes have always existed, but they’re just not commonly seen on the market."
Huang Jun laughed and explained, then expressed his thought, "I thought I’d make something different for the kids so they could also experience the unique taste of these flowing heart pumpkin cakes."
Aunt Li and Aunt Lin, hearing this, couldn’t help but admire Huang Jun’s thoughtfulness.
Huang Jun looked at Aunt Lin and Aunt Li and asked with a smile, "Aunt Lin, Aunt Li, you know how to make pumpkin cakes, right?"
"Of course! I often make them at home."
Both responded in unison, wondering why Huang Jun asked with such a question, and inquired with curiosity, "Chef Huang, why are you asking?"
Huang Jun explained, "I wanted to ask if you both could help me make flowing heart pumpkin cakes."
Aunt Lin and Aunt Li, although wanting to help, were only familiar with making regular pumpkin cakes and were not familiar with making flowing heart ones.
They looked troubled, "But we don’t know how to make the flowing heart ones!"
Huang Jun smiled and asked, "Do you know how to make steamed rice balls?"
"Of course!"
Aunt Lin and Aunt Li answered without hesitation, showing proud and confident smiles, "We’re really good at that."
"That’s great!"
Huang Jun nodded, "The method for the flowing heart pumpkin cakes is actually the same as making steamed rice balls."
"Oh, I see..."
Aunt Lin and Aunt Li felt it’s no problem at all—they could totally handle it. So, they nodded cheerfully, "Then we’ll help you wrap them!"
The three of them washed their hands and began making the pumpkin cakes.
Huang Jun quickly took a small piece of dough weighing about 50 grams, skillfully kneading it into a ball.
Then, he inserted his thumb into the center and started to gently rotate and shape it into a small bowl shape.
He added a small spoonful of the prepared brown sugar sesame filling into the center, using his fingertips to gently close the edges around the filling.
Once the edges were perfectly sealed, he formed it into a round ball, then gently pressed it into a flat shape.
To increase the crispy texture of the pumpkin cake’s surface, Huang Jun lightly dipped the flowing heart pumpkin cake into a bowl of water, then quickly rolled it in prepared breadcrumbs, ensuring it was evenly covered. He pressed it slightly to make the coating more secure.
The entire process was done in one smooth motion!
His mechanical maneuvering left Aunt Li and Aunt Lin watching only his hands dancing deftly over the dough.
At this.
Aunt Lin and Aunt Li were completely mesmerized!
Even with decades of experience in making pastries, Aunt Lin and Aunt Li had to marvel at how their skills compared to Huang Jun.
Feeling inadequately!
"Chef Huang, you’re really amazing. Your technique is exquisite, no wasted movements at all,"
"Yes! Wrapped so fast and neatly, I’ve wasted all those years making steamed rice balls!"
Huang Jun smiled modestly, "You’re flattering me. Actually, today is also my first time making these flowing heart pumpkin cakes. I’m still figuring it out, not really proficient yet..."
Making it so good and so quickly for the first time?
How can us old-timers possibly withstand this?
Plus...
You call this "not very proficient"?
Aunt Lin and Aunt Li, eyes full of amazement, couldn’t believe Huang Jun could do so well on his first attempt at making flowing heart pumpkin cakes.
By comparison,
Their skills seemed even more... lacking.
"Chef Huang, do you perhaps misunderstand the term ’proficient’?" Aunt Li jokingly remarked.
"Yes, indeed!"
Aunt Lin nodded, saying while thinking, "Chef Huang, I seriously doubt your... what was it called?"
"Versailles, perhaps?" Aunt Li thought for a moment, reminding.
"Yes, yes, Versailles!"
Aunt Lin nodded vigorously, "I seriously suspect you’re doing a Versailles trick, but unfortunately, I don’t have... have the evidence!"
Hearing this, a hint of "I have none, I’m not, don’t say that" denial appeared on Huang Jun’s face as he smiled at them helplessly, without much explanation.
Anyway, explaining wouldn’t help!
He continued to focus on making flowing heart pumpkin cakes!
Within minutes, the stainless-steel tray was filled with golden flowing heart pumpkin cakes, each coated in crispy breadcrumbs.
Thinking of Xie Jianing’s request, Huang Jun decided to fry some flowing heart pumpkin cakes first.
He quickly went to the stove, turned on the burner, set a pot over it, and poured in a large amount of oil.
Soon,
the flame gradually intensified, and the pot on the stove started to faintly crackle, as the oil temperature slowly rose.
Seeing that the oil temperature was about right, he gently placed one orange-yellow flowing heart pumpkin cake after another into the boiling oil bath.
After a short, light frying, the pumpkin cakes absorbed the oil, revealing a unique golden color.
Under the high temperature,
the breadcrumbs gradually became crispy, making the entire pumpkin ball even more golden and tempting.
The aroma of frying filled the entire kitchen...
Silently spreading outward...
