After lunch, I went to my chores.
I’m doing minor chores such as gathering materials and maintaining tools.
I’m the leader, but I also do all the chores.
I’m not going to sit around and say that I’m the king.
「 Hokage-kun, do you have time? 」
Eri talked to me as I was working silently.
「 I do, what about it? 」
I put the stone spear I haven’t used in a while against the wall.
「 It’s about this… 」
Eri shows the textbook in her hand.
It’s a home economics textbook, and the page was on a cooking-related topic.
She’s pointing at the picture of miso soup at the corner of the page.
「 Miso soup? 」
「 Yes, I want to make those 」
「 Oh, that’s good! Miso soup is one of the classic food in Japan 」
「 Then there’s wakame on the sea right? I thought it would go well with Miso soup 」
「 Definitely. Let’s make them! 」
「 I wanted to make it but…we don’t have miso itself 」
「 Oh 」
I forgot about that.
I don’t know when I forgot about it but I was thinking of making a miso.
But, I completely forgot about it.
When I was about to start working on it, I did something pleasant with someone else.
「 To make Miso, you need soybeans 」
「 Soybeans…don’t we have those nearby? 」
「 We do. Just harvest those and there’s no problem. The problem is how much should we harvest. We’ll need a lot of soybeans if we want to make miso. We’ll have to ask Mana to lend us the monkey army since it’s going to be hard to harvest on our own 」
I look around the hideout and found Mana.
She just returned and is now rewarding the monkey army.
Seems like she’s feeding them with some white pulpy fruit.
I wondered what it was since it’s cut to pieces but it seems to be cherimoya.
It’s the forest ice cream, so good that even our cheeks fell off.
「 Here, aahn 」
「 Uki!! 」
The monkeys lined up in a well-behaved line, opened their mouths waiting for the sweet food on their mouth on their turn.
Then, they happily left the hideout after eating the cherimoya.
「 Mana, do you have time? 」
I talked to Mana after she finished feeding the monkeys.
I asked her to help us out as we need soybeans to make miso.
「 I don’t mind, but, are you okay there Meiko? 」
Mana checks on Meiko, the leader of the handicraft group.
「 It’s okay. We gathered enough rubber now 」
「 Okay then! So, what do I need to do? 」
「 I want to ask the monkeys to help us gather soybeans 」
「 Okay! Then, Hokage needs to prepare a reward for Rita and the group 」
「 Got it 」
I left Eri to prepare dinner and went out alone to pick fruits.
◇
Thanks to the monkey army’s help, we gathered a sufficient amount of soybeans.
I’m reminded that human wave tactics are the best.
「 Well then, let’s begin making miso 」
I taught Eri how to make miso.
The truth is, miso takes a lot of time to make.
But, the prep-work is already done this time so we can complete it in such a short time.
Even so, it still takes a day so we’ll take even more shortcuts.
「 The first thing to do is to wash the soybeans 」
I fill in an earthenware bucket with a large amount of water and throw the soybeans on it.
You want the soybeans to absorb a lot of water so more is better.
「 –Or that’s how it’s supposed to work, but we’re taking a shortcut 」
「 Huh? 」
「 We’re going to crush the beans before washing them 」
「 Crush? 」
「 Yes, crushing like the same way with seashells. Except, we don’t grind them. Only until most of the soybeans are split in half. In other words, just a light crushing 」
I demonstrated.
I put the soybeans in a wooden mortar and gently crush them with a wooden mallet.
The mortar and mallet are used for other purposes, but it’s also useful in this one.
「 Once we’re done crushing them, we’re going back to the washing step 」
「 Why crush them first? 」
「 It’s to absorb moisture more efficiently. 」
「 I see, it means that it’s easier for water to come in when it’s cracked 」
「 That’s right 」
Soybeans look clean at first glance but they’re actually quite dirty.
That’s why we wash it with water to clean off the dirt.
It’s best if we change the water several times.
「 After rinsing it away, we’re going to crush them lightly again 」
「 Crushing again? 」
「 Yes, another one. All to make it easier to absorb water 」
This time, we’re making sure it doesn’t shatter into smaller pieces.
「 Then, we’re going to soak it to water. Usually, you need to soak it for at least ten hours, but since this is a shortcut, one hour should be enough 」
「 Wow 」
「 Well, the taste would be worse in quality, but that’s to be expected 」
The water absorption speed of soybeans isn’t that bad.
The water in the bucket is visibly reduced after one hour.
「 Replenish the water and boil it 」
I transferred it to the large bronze pot and boil the soybeans.
「 We can’t shortcut the boiling process, and if you rush it, then it’ll fail massively. That’s why this process has to be successful 」
I picked up the piece of soybean with my chopstick.
As soon as I pick it up with my chopstick, it crumbled and broke to pieces.
It’s as if you’re trying to grab a steamed egg custard with chopsticks.
「 The softness just now is complete 」
I transferred the cooked soybeans to another container and let them cool.
The final step is to cool it down to a temperature that doesn’t feel too hot to touch.
「 Lastly, we mix salt and koji mold 」
「 Koji?! When did you prepare that? 」
「 I was trying to make Miso before. By the way, you can make koji if you have soybeans and wheat. I’ll teach you how to make them later 」
I mix the salt and koji and knead them together with my hands.
The soybeans which are already crumbling have turned into a soggy mess.
I knead them repeatedly, again, and again, and again…
「 And that’s complete! This amount should be enough for consumption today 」
「 Oooh!! One day Miso, amazing! 」
「 You need to consume what’s made that day. In case you want to use it the next day or later, then you need to cover the miso container and place weights. If not, it’ll separate inside and it’ll taste bad. That’s why you usually store it with some weights for about six months before use 」
「 Really? You seem to know more than the textbook, Hokage-kun 」
「 Home economics textbook is teaching you about the modern methods 」
With that, Miso soup has been added to our meals.
Although, it’s not as good compared to the modern ones.
That said, it’s still miso soup so we’re excited.
Eggs, milk, and now, Miso.
Our food culture has been advancing without a hitch.