(AN: School has been assigning me more work recently so it might take longer for me to release chapters.)

Fu Chen took out a silver cylindrical container from a cabinet in the kitchen. He opened the lid to reveal a mixture of dried green leaves with brown kernels mixed in. 

“These are dried green tea leaves with roasted brown rice kernels. Drinking tea made from these ingredients can help relieve bloating and improves digestion.”

He put the open container in front of Fu Lian and gestured to her. She sniffed the tea which had a grass-like aroma and was also slightly nutty. Fu Lian looked up and saw Fu Chen standing in front of the kitchen island counter filled with ingredients: 

• Leftover short-grain white rice
• A sheet of seaweed
• Water

• Several light brown eggs
• A block of hard cheese
• Cooking oil
• Sweet cooking rice wine
• Soy sauce
• Sugar
• Salt 

Fu Chen faced Fu Lian who was sitting across him, “First, I’ll make a rolled omelette with cheese.” 

He held a light brown egg in each hand. “You want to use room temperature eggs because egg yolks will break more easily. That allows you to mix them more evenly together with the egg whites and any other ingredients you use. One way to bring cold eggs to room temperature is by using energy to heat the eggs without cooking them. However, that is inefficient since you need to have good control and constantly supply energy. A simpler option is to place them into a bowl of warm water and let them sit for around 5 minutes.”

Fu Chen waited for Fu Lian to digest the information before continuing, “I’m going to show you how to crack an egg one handed.” 

He held up one of his hands that had an egg in it. 

“You want to grip the egg with your thumb along the side and your index finger holding the top. The rest of your fingers will press against the other end of the egg. Now, lightly tap the center of the egg on a flat surface or on the edge of a surface to make a crack.”

Fu Chen lightly tapped the egg onto the kitchen surface.

“Crack”

A thin line near the center of the egg was created.

“The final step is to separate the top half of the shell by pushing forward with your thumb and index finger while your other fingers hold the bottom half of the shell back against your palm.”

His fingers pushed the top half of the shell forward to reveal the insides of the egg. A clear and viscous liquid surrounded an orange orb and fell into the bowl below Fu Chen’s hand. 

“plop”

Fu Chen repeated the actions several more times and slowly showed each step for Fu Lian to memorize. “Now I’ll be mixing the eggs and seasonings together.” 

He held a pair of metal chopsticks in one hand and began gently mixing the eggs. 

“You want to “cut” the eggs with your chopsticks by making zig-zag motions. Mix the eggs well, but gently because using too much force will introduce a lot of air into the eggs which isn’t something we want for this rolled omelette dish.”

Fu Lian tilted her head at Fu Chen’s advice.

[Why can’t there be a lot of air in the egg mixture?]

“Air bubbles will form inside the egg mixture and the air will turn into steam after coming into contact with heat once you cook the omelette. That causes the omelette to become filled with holes and have a pockmarked appearance.”

Less than a minute later, the egg yolks and egg whites had combined together into a homogeneous yellowish-orange liquid. 

“Once your eggs look like this, start combining your seasonings in another bowl”

Fu Chen began pouring the seasonings while whisking and naming each one, “The two dry ingredients are cane sugar and salt. This dark brown liquid is a simple soy sauce which is made from a fermented paste that uses soybeans, roasted grain, salt, and water. It’s going to add some saltiness and also increase the umami of the omelette.” 

He held up a bowl that held a liquid that had an amber color and slowly combined it with the other seasonings.

“Along with the umami from the soy sauce, this sweet cooking rice wine will help increase the umami and balance the saltiness.”

“After combining the seasonings, gently mix them into the egg mixture.”

Fu Chen carefully stirred the seasoning mixture into the eggs in order to avoid introducing large amounts of air.

Later, the egg mixture was placed to the side and Fu Chen took out a narrow tool that had a metal surface covered with small square holes. The holes were edged by slightly raised cutting edges. Holding it up with his hand gripping the black handle, he showed it to Fu Lian, “This is a microplane grater. It’s good for grating hard cheese very finely. You can also use this for hard spices, nuts, garlic, ginger, and citrus fruits.”

Fu Lian watched Fu Chen gently slide the block of cheese against the raised cutting edges. The finely shredded cheese fell down into a bowl forming a small mound that was off-white. 

“Most of the preparations for the omelette are complete. All we need to do now is heat up the pan and cook our rolled omelette.” 

Fu Chen placed a shallow rectangular pan onto the stove and turned on the heat. “The pan should be preheated over medium-low heat until it becomes sufficiently hot. I’m using a rectangular pan because it’s ideal for creating the omelette’s bar like shape”

He explained the process of cooking the omelette while the pan heated up. 

“This type of pan hasn’t been coated so you need to make sure it’s oiled well and hot in order to prevent the eggs from sticking onto the pan. Then, you need to cook a thin sheet of egg and roll it up before it’s fully cooked because there will be carryover cooking that will continue cooking the eggs after it has been rolled.”

Fu Chen looked at the pan and took out his chopsticks. He held a folded up paper towel that was lightly soaked in oil with his chopsticks and quickly greased the hot pan. A layer of shining oil could be seen coating the inside of the pan afterwards. 

“I’m going to pour in the first sheet of the egg mixture now.”

“hissss”

The hot pan sizzled as Fu Chen poured in the egg mixture. He stopped when there was enough of the egg mixture forming a thin sheet that evenly covered the bottom of the pan. Small bubbles began rising out of the bottom of the sheet which Fu Chen popped with his chopsticks.

“The eggs shouldn’t be too dry. You need them to be wet in order to form a glue.” 

The layer of eggs had turned into an even lighter yellowish-orange color as they were heated by the pan. A thin layer of the finely grated cheese was sprinkled onto the egg layer before Fu Chen used his chopsticks to pick up one end of the sheet and folded it over itself. After repeating several times, a log of eggs was formed.

“Repeat the cooking and rolling process until you run out of the egg mixture.”

Fu Chen continued cooking and rolling till there wasn’t a drop of the egg mixture left in the bowl. The rolled omelette had greatly increased in size. He transferred it to a cutting board and proceeded to cut the omelette into evenly sized pieces which were placed onto a plate. Cheese could be seen oozing down the sides of the rolled omelette portions. 

“gulp” 

Fu Lian swallowed her saliva as she stared at the plate.