She Becomes The Hero In Another World 89 She Surprises Everyone Ii

Robin shook her head. "Strange though it may seem, this plant is related to the horseradish plant, even though it tastes unpleasant. It is not meant to act as a main or side dish, but instead as a spice for those who like their food spicy. But, since just a pinch is enough to make a mouthful sufficiently spicy, I'll make it into a paste, and give everyone a small serving alongside their food, so they can choose whether to have some or not."

Ponzu looked unconvinced, but he sighed. "So, I just need to grind this into a paste, huh?" He said unenthusiastically, as he cast 'Puree' on it.

"Yup!" Robin cheerfully replied as she prepared to make spicy mayo. First, since Robin didn't have sriracha sauce, she decided simply to use the dried sriracha peppers she had acquired. Of course, she chopped it open, and removed the seeds first. Then, she placed it in a bowl of hot water to rehydrate a bit. She also made a small batch of mayonnaise and set it aside.

After Ponzu finished turning the root into a paste, Robin tasted a pinch of it to check, and was mildly surprised. While it was spicy, there was no sulfury undertones like the ones she had used in restauraunts. Instead of the mustard-like flavor she was used to, it actually had a refres.h.i.+ng green taste, as if the vibrancy of the green root had translated into a flavor. The spicy part was a numbing warmth similar to what you would get while chewing on a mint leaf, except hotter, and without the minty aftertaste.

Then she recalled a conversation she'd had long ago with her brother one time.

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"Is it good?" He asked.

"Yum! It tastes much better with a pinch of wasabi!" Robin agreed.

"Haha, what if I told you that this is probably not genuine wasabi?" He asked.

"What do you mean?" Robin was confused.

"The genuine wasabi plant is very hard to cultivate, which makes it expensive due to its growing rarity." The young man patiently explained. "Do you think a small restaraunt like this can afford to buy and s.h.i.+p the genuine article all the way here? What about the thousands of j.a.panese stores all over the world? Can they afford it?" He sighed. "That's why, what you're eating right now is probably fake wasabi."

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'So this is what genuine wasabi tasted like?' Robin was mildly surprised. In that case, she was confident that she could win this contest even without the spicy mayo! Ah, but since she had already begun making it, of course she would finish it!

she had Ponzu puree the rehydrated sriracha pepper. Then, Robin added it straight to the mayonnaise, alongside a few tablespoons of sesame seed oil, and stirred it until the familiar light salmon color had spread throughout the mayo. It was finished!

Robin even felt festive enough to make an omelet for egg sus.h.i.+, after that. She then retrieved all the fish she had, as well as her stick contraption. This was her replacement for a bamboo mat, as she had not been able to find even a single bamboo shoot anywhere.

The preparations were now finished. Robin prepped her hands, and then began making the sus.h.i.+. Molding the now-cooled sus.h.i.+ rice in her hands, Robin quickly and easily connected the cuts of fish to the top, using a dab of wasabi as glue.

Once she ran out of the two-finger wide cuts of sus.h.i.+, she spread out the flexible wooden mat. It was time to make the sus.h.i.+ rolls. On top of the mat, she scattered white and black sesame, along with poppy seeds. Then she spread the sus.h.i.+ rice on the mat, on top of which she soon placed a nori sheet.

"What on earth is she doing? Is she going to make a fish cake?" Christian, who was sitting in the audience, asked.

"Hus.h.!.+ Just watch!" Jasmine shushed him.

Robin then meticulously laid down the cuc.u.mber strips lengthwise along the bottom edge of the rice rectangle, until there was a strip the size of a finger. Again, she laid a strip of cream cheese along the top edge of the cuc.u.mber. She then stacked several strips of salmon on top of both, along the line where the two connected.

Finally, she did something which surprised everyone. She picked up the bamboo mat, and used it to tightly roll everything up into a dark green tube, and set it off to the side, clearing the bamboo mat up for other rolls to be made.

By this time, the crab was done boiling, so Robin quickly cracked them open, extracting the meat, and used it to make a pseudo California roll with the shrimp.

Philadelphia, veggie, salmon, red snapper, sea ba.s.s, tuna, pseudo-California, rice inside the nori, and rice outside the nori: she made two of each kind of roll. Each second roll would have spicy mayo on it, to give them a choice. Then she cut them into even segments, and used a spatula to transfer them.

There were seven judges for this contest, and so, Robin needed to divide the sus.h.i.+ up among seven plates. Robin arranged the sus.h.i.+ rolls and the sus.h.i.+ on each plate in a flower shape. The round sus.h.i.+ rolls were in the center, and the larger sus.h.i.+ pieces became the petals. Ginger slices were skillfully placed in between., making the petals look fuller. Each second piece of the same type of sus.h.i.+ roll then recieved a dab of spicy mustard.

The colorful plates were very eye catching. The bright pinks of the fish, white rice, black sesame, red shrimp, light green cuc.u.mbers, bright orange carrots, and dark green of the nori created a very tempting sight. But many did not understand why Robin was not going to cook the fish. Was she actually expecting the judges to eat raw fish?

Robin truly was finished, though. And was one of the first ones to be finished, since she didn't have a long extended cooking time to deal with. After filling each plate with every kind of sus.h.i.+, there were still several leftovers. Robin then turned to Ponzu, and asked him. "Wanna try some?"

"Do I ever!" Ponzu replied eagerly. Once he knew the fish was safe for eating, he wondered how it would taste. Robin simply laughed and pushed half of the leftovers to him, along with a small portion of wasabi and pickled ginger.

"Try it plain, first" She explained.

Ponzu picked up a bright salmon sus.h.i.+ piece, and bit into it. The salty vinegar and bounciness of the rice, the fresh mild chewiness of the salmon, it was a pleasant experience for Ponzu. Then he tasted the small bit of wasabi in the center, and his eyes opened wide with surprise. It really was delicious! Although it was still spicy, the wasabi's bite was soothed by the soft, yet firm ingredients surrounding it. The end result left him eager for another piece.

He sampled each kind of sus.h.i.+, even the ones with spicy mayo, and found each one more and more delicious. He even started adding a pinch of wasabi to the sus.h.i.+ rolls, as he found he quite liked the flavor now. Of course, the audience, seeing his reaction to the sus.h.i.+ rolls, began to suspect that the food really was finished, and also really delicious.

But, Ponzu found they were also very filling. After eating the equivalent of four sus.h.i.+ rolls, he was stuffed. The remaining amount was still quite large. Robin only sampled her favorite ones before storing the rest in her magic bag. After all, the other members would probably like to sample it as well.

At that point, the inspector coughed.

"When you are finished with your food, please place them atop the food tray, so that the judges may taste them."

The other chefs only looked at the inspector blankly. They were still busy baking, stewing, or frying their dishes. Did that mean that someone had already finished their dish? The audience was also surprised. Who in their right minds would serve raw fish to the judges?

Robin nodded and moved the plates to the tray. Everyone was speechless. Apparently, this chef was a person who would do so! Some of the judges looked uncertainly at the dish that was being rolled up to them. Was raw fish really that safe to eat? But, then again, the young chef's kitchen hand looked pleasantly surprised by the taste as well.