Rising from the Slum City of Reincarnation in Another World ~ Gathering, Hunting, and Living a Slow Life by Eating - Chapter 22

Rising from the Slum City of Reincarnation in Another World ~ Gathering, Hunting, and Living a Slow Life by Eating

Chapter 22    Tempura

Sunday.

The sound of the bell rings at the third hour, 6 o’clock in the morning.

“Munya munya, Edoo, ohayouu.”

“Ah, good morning, Minya.”

“Nyahaaan.”

Minya, still half-asleep, clings onto me and seeks affection like every morning.

I prepare for the day and have breakfast.

“Now that we have some money, let’s make our meals a bit more abundant. Today, let’s head to the grasslands.”

“Yes!”

First, let’s find Lania.

Her house is a little further ahead along the city wall.

“Lania-chan!”

“Yes?”

She replies with a shy tone. How adorable.

Although Lania’s family is wealthier than mine now, their house used to be even poorer than ours. I wonder why they don’t move. This area is close to the city gate and has the best security within the slums, so I can understand why they wouldn’t want to give it up. It’s the same for us. In reality, we’re too poor to move.

“Today, we’ll search for salad, aromatic vegetables, and distinctive plants in the grasslands.”

“Yes!”

Just like in an RPG, our brave party advances through the map chips and walks along the streets of the slums. The followers trail behind the one leading.

Although the streets in the slums are narrow, they can accommodate about three people walking side by side. However, they’re not wide enough for a carriage to pass safely.

Also, because the road is lower than the houses, it turns into a river when it rains. Since there are no sewers, the road acts as a drainage channel. It’s a clever way to prevent houses from getting flooded. I don’t know when these facilities were established; they’ve been like this for as long as I can remember.

As we continue, the houses thin out, and we reach a grassy area with tree stumps.

The first thing that catches our attention is…

【Sunny Lettuce – Plant – Edible】

It’s a lettuce that doesn’t form a tight head.

Dandelion greens are not bad, but their leaves are on the smaller side, making it difficult to gather a sufficient amount.

But this one is perfect.

The leaves are larger, and they have a mild flavor without any bitterness or peculiar taste.

Ideal for salads.

“When you make a salad with this, it’s delicious without being too grassy.”

“Meow.”

“I see, that makes sense.”

There seems to be quite a lot of these around here.

I’ll gather several leaves and take a few with their roots intact to plant in the garden.

Now, let’s see if we can find anything else.

Oh, this looks good.

Leaves larger than the weeds. It belongs to the monocot family.

【Ginger – Plant – Edible】

“This one has a spicy kick to it.”

“Oh, really?”

“Since this is a young plant, you can wash it and eat it raw.”

“Oh, I see.”

Young ginger leaves are delicious when eaten raw with a miso paste, but unfortunately, we don’t have any miso.

It seems like they can also be pickled in sweet vinegar.

Deciding how to use it requires some thought. What should we do?

Now, let’s see if there’s anything else.

“Hey, what about this?”

It belongs to the monocot family. The leaves grow straight.

Oh, that looks good, doesn’t it?

【Onion – Plant – Edible】

“When you roast this, it becomes sweet. Raw, it’s a bit spicy. Both ways are delicious.”

“Oh, really?”

“It’s one of the top ten staple vegetables. Nice!”

“Yes! I’ve been praised.”

Minya looks up with expectant eyes.

“Oh, come here.”

“Meowow!”

She gets extremely happy when her head is petted.

Dad doesn’t really pet her head that much.

Well, that guy is too doting and seems to avoid touching her head.

It seems like he believes he shouldn’t touch her.

Alright, I’ve also harvested the usual leafy vegetables.

“Well done. Let’s go back home.”

“Yes!”

“Lania, you’ll eat them too, right?”

“Yes!”

Before returning, let’s stop by Dridon’s general store.

“Dridon-san, please give me olive oil and flour.”

“Sure. Have you awakened to cooking? You used to only buy Ilk beans.”

“Haha, well, it’s kind of like that.”

“That’s good. Just sticking to beans isn’t really recommended.”

“Yeah, that’s true. Please give me more suggestions.”

“But I understand that when you’re poor, Ilk beans are the only option.”

“Yeah, exactly.”

So, I’ve got the oil and flour. It’s hard to believe that I didn’t even have these until now.

Now, let’s go back home.

“We’re home!”

“We’re back, Mom!”

“Thank you for having us.”

Now, it’s time for lunch.

I’ll boil the Ilk beans and crow’s feet beans.

And I’ve already torn the lettuce for the salad into suitable sizes.

As for the classic dish, I’m thinking of making tempura fritters.

I’ll thinly slice the onions and ginger.

But I won’t cut them into thin strips.

Tempura made with onions.

Tempura with onions, Ilk beans, and green beans.

Tempura with ginger.

Dandelion tempura.

And ta-da! Elder mushrooms tempura.

I secretly found one plant, so I’ll make tempura out of it.

Since tempura made with Maitake mushrooms is delicious, this one should turn out well too.

I dissolve wheat flour in water and mix it with the ingredients.

Using a spatula, I take a portion and place it in a pot with about 2 centimeters of heated olive oil.

Sizzle…

The sound of frying in oil.

“What’s this? What’s this?”

“This is tempura.”

“Tempura.”

The tempura is ready. I drain the excess oil and make sure it’s not greasy.

Tempura dipping sauce is good, but salt is not bad either.

We only have salt here.

In addition to the staple Ilk beans, we place the tempura separately and eat it with our hands.

Ah, eating tempura with a spoon is difficult.

Chomp.

“It’s delicious.”

“It’s delicious, indeed.”

“Oh, that’s amazing, Ed-kun.”

“It’s delicious.”

It’s a hit with everyone.

The sweetness of the onions is good.

The spiciness of ginger is also great.

The leaves of dandelions are not bad either.

“The mushrooms are delicious too.”

Definitely the Elder mushrooms.

They may not be as tasty as Purple mushrooms, but they’re still delicious.

“Ahh…”

“What’s wrong?”

“I should have picked the dandelion flowers while I was at it.”

“Eating flowers? That sounds interesting and beautiful.”

“Right? I knew you’d understand.”

I always only brought back leaves, so there’s no help for it.

Days filled with intense battles and flying gold coins are great, but I think it’s also nice to have days like this, filled with delicious food.

Speaking of which, I still have enough grapes to make just one jar of grape jam. The rest of the grapes are stored at home.

If I manage to sell about ten jars, I’ll be able to clear the inventory.

“Well then, let’s make grape jam in the afternoon.”