The Urban Dao Child

Yang Dao stood in the kitchen and with him stood a few professional chefs hired by the Orlenko’s. Outside the kitchen, all the cycling club members were gathered. They all wanted to watch Yang Dao cook for them.

The boy shook his head with helplessness. He sighed and took an apron from the chef. He tied it up neatly and processed the ingredients. He washed the vegetables in slow running water, then he peeled them off. He diced some potatoes and chopped some onions.

The chefs saw the boy handling the knife so nicely they could not help but nodded in admiration. After the vegetables were done, Yang Dao turned and asked, “Icarus, do you want sweet and sour chicken?”

The boy who was busy gazing at Mina Orlenko sneakily yelled, “YES.”

Yang Dao said, “Then go gather some firewood, we cook it old-school.” then he turned his head to the chefs and asked them to help him prepare some chicken. The people nodded. Orlenko’s family raised their own poultry animals to eat.

Five people took five freshly slaughtered chickens. Suddenly Yang Dao looked at the chefs processing the chicken and said, “You seniors are too careful.”

Then he closed his eyes, and laid his hands on the chicken, and said, “To legs.” holding the two chicken legs. The next moment ‘click click’ with two clicking sounds, the boy dislocated the legs and with a quick knife he took them off. The crowd was shocked. They all saw his eyes closed.

He held the wings, then using the same method, he processed the whole chicken quickly. Then he smiled. The boy processed fifteen chickens, considering all the people inside the house. Then he marinated the chicken with lemon juice, chili pepper, some salt, and other condiments.

He let it rest for a bit. His eyes fell on a big grinder and he took a lot of tomatoes and put them inside along with two handfuls of ginger and green chilies. The boy smiled, and said, “I wonder how technology is making things easier.”

Ray chuckled and said, “Says the inventor of driverless cars.” the rest of the people started laughing as well.

The people all laughed around and joke with each other after half an hour when Icarus came back they all moved into the backyard. Yang Dao went to the side and used some bricks to set up a temporary stove. Then he placed in the firewood and started the fire. Two chefs carried a big vessel and placed it on the fire carefully.

The boy poured in half a liter of oil inside the vessel. The chefs had already carried out the prepared vegetables. Yang Dao put the onion inside and let them saute slowly. The fire was not too strong. He used a stool to stand on, and with the help of a big stirrer, he shoveled the onion constantly. He was sweating from the heat originating from under the vessel.

Then followed in the tomato puree, he patiently cooked it till the water evaporated and the edges revealed a slight glaze of oil. He had the chefs pour in the marinated chicken. Then after the mixture boiled once, he put in a lot of water and covered the vessel with a big tray. He said to Icarus. ρꪖꪕᦔꪖꪕꪫꪣꫀ​ꪶ​

“I am going to prepare another dish so you watch the fire. Maintain it at this intensity. And send someone to call me after twenty minutes, remember twenty minutes or this dish will go to waste and you will be blamed.” and he rushed back to the kitchen.

Yang Dao asked a chef to help him in cooking rice for everyone. As he prepared a dessert. He took some cottage cheese, first he mashed it all, mixed some refined flour in it, and then he made small bite-sized balls of it. He poured some water into a pan and after adding a bit of sugar to it, he let it boil.

He set another pan where he put in jaggery and let it melt slowly as the pan heated. The chef asked, “Young Master, why not use sugar?” as a high-level chef he was aware of the dish Yang Dao was about to make.

The boy smiled and said, “This is an improvisation, Jaggery is a healthier substitute of sugar. The old madam of the house is advancing in age, and my team is filled with athletes. Too much sugar is harmful. Yet the sweetness of jaggery is not too hard.” his words made the chef smile.

The person said, “I apologize, for testing you just now. But Young Master you surely have high attainment in the art of cooking.”

Yang Dao chuckled and said, “My attainment comes from my greed for food.”

The chef said, “All the chefs are foodies.” the two people laughed. The boy boiled the cheese and flour balls in the boiling water. This trick would cook the cheese ball without blackening or browning it.

After this, the chef dipped the boiled balls in the jaggery syrup and placed them all under the fan to cool down. After they finished cooking all the balls. The jaggery syrup was diluted even more and after a boil, it was poured into a wide container.

The cooked balls were also placed inside the container, and they carried it outside carefully. The temperature at nights in the diamond desert was chilling enough to slowly cool down the dessert.

It was this time when Icarus sent a maid to call Yang Dao over. The boy nodded and walked over. He had some sweat on his forehead. Yang Dao wore mittens and uncovered the container. He added the spices inside the container. Used the giant stirrer to give it a final stir. Then after adding some jaggery syrup, he closed the vessel again.

After fifteen minutes, with the help of the chefs, he took down the vessel from the fire and said, “Food is ready.”

The chefs became his loyal fans as soon as the vessel was uncovered. The sweet and sour aroma from the vessel was enough for them to salivate at the dinner. Yet just as they were about to eat, a strong roar shook everyone.