Mister Ajikko 37

Mister Ajikko Volume 5 Chapter 2 The Rice in Bento

Page 24

Youichi: The main dishes are... / tonkatsu!

Youichi: And foil-roasted salmon!

Youichi: Also, we have tamagoyaki and salad. / We've come until this far!

Youichi: Moreover, by using quicklime... / the bento can be reheated anywhere anytime!

Youichi: With these, Kikuchi-Ya's new Maku no Uchi bento is nearly complete!
Youichi: What's left to finish is the rice and the drink!


Page 25

Youichi: First, we'll deal with the drink...
Youichi: How would we go about it?

Mum: Hmm...the drink that's most commonly matched with bento...
Mum: would be tea, right?

Dad's Acquaintance: Yup! After having your belly filled by eating the bento...
Dad's Acquaintance: there's nothing better than having some hot tea!

Dad's Acquaintance: Okay! I'll ask one of my manufacturer friends for a cheap, tasty tea!
Dad's Acquaintance: We'll be able to present an awesome tea with the bento!

Youichi: Hmm...

Youichi: That sounds fine, but...
Youichi: I didn't say "tea", I said "drink"!

Youichi: Other than tea, there's something else.
Youichi: During mealtimes, there's a drink that absolutely must be present, isn't there?!

Dad's Acquaintance: What's that?

Youichi: Miso soup!
Youichi: Yup, it's miso soup!


Page 26

Youichi: Normally, tea and miso soup are indispensable at mealtimes, right?
Youichi: In fact, here at the Hinode Eatery, our set meals, such as our donburi, are always served with miso soup and tea.

Youichi: Let's not differentiate between bento and normal meals.
Youichi: That's why, let's add miso soup along with the tea!

Dad's Acquaintance: Miso soup?!
Dad's Acquaintance: Adding miso soup to our bento?!

Dad's Acquaintance: That's impossible! Our bento is quite big already...
Dad's Acquaintance: Making people carry two additional containers is a big mistake.

Mum: Also, if we use a separate container, when they want to eat the bento, the soup would have cooled down already.
Mum: Miso soup must be hot in order to be enjoyed. Once it's cooled, it's not tasty anymore!

Youichi: Hehe---
Youichi: Don't worry!

Youichi: We'll invite a new method...
Youichi: to bundle everything together!


Page 27

Youichi: Hmm...

Youichi: Hmmmmm....

Dad's Acquaintance: Haha...
Dad's Acquaintance: Such determination...


Page 28

Signboard: Kikuchi-Ya

Youichi: It's done!!
Youichi: My hard work has paid off with this invention!

Dad's Acquaintance: What's this?
Dad's Acquaintance: There's a container embedded in the bento box!

Dad's Acquaintance: But, there's just one container...
Dad's Acquaintance: There's no way this can hold a lot!

Youichi: Hehe, looks can be deceiving!
Youichi: Using this container, a person can drink both miso soup AND tea!


Page 29

Youichi: Don't believe me?
Youichi: Well, look at this!

Dad's Acquaintance: Ehh?!


Page 30

Dad's Acquaintance: Wha...
Dad's Acquaintance: What's this?!

Dad's Acquaintance: How did you fit such a tall cup...
Dad's Acquaintance: into the shallow bento box?!

Dad's Acquaintance: !!

Dad's Acquaintance: This container...
Dad's Acquaintance: goes all the way into the bottom layer!

Youichi: Well, Mister!
Youichi: Try out the tea!

Dad's Acquaintance: Yum!
Dad's Acquaintance: The tea is good!

Dad's Acquaintance: But...
Dad's Acquaintance: this cup...

Dad's Acquaintance: only half of it is filled with tea, right?
Dad's Acquaintance: Where's the all-important miso soup?


Page 31

Youichi: Of course, it's in the other half of the cup!
Youichi: Try unfastening the lid!

Dad's Acquaintance: The lid?!

Dad's Acquaintance: It can't be!

Dad's Acquaintance: Wha...!!

Dad's Acquaintance: You put a partition inside the cup!
Dad's Acquaintance: One container can hold both miso soup and tea!


Page 32

Youichi: Mister, taste-test the soup!

Dad's Acquaintance: Eh?
Dad's Acquaintance: Ahh, of course.

Dad's Acquaintance: Delicious!
Dad's Acquaintance: The flavor, the richness, everything is marvelous!

Dad's Acquaintance: But that's not what surprises me!
Dad's Acquaintance: This...this contraption!

Dad's Acquaintance: Such a compact container to be able to store two liquids...
Dad's Acquaintance: Using both layers of the bento container so that a tall cup can be used and so, hold more liquid!

Dad's Acquaintance: Furthermore, this flippable lid!
Dad's Acquaintance: Using this, when one takes a drink, the liquid on the other side won't spill out!

Youichi: Ehehe!
Youichi: The invention isn't limited to just the cup!

Youichi: Because the cup reaches into the bottom layer of the bento box, it touches the quicklime...
Youichi: Therefore, the miso soup and the tea can be heated up as well!


Page 33

Dad's Acquaintance: This is amazing!
Dad's Acquaintance: An ingenious invention!

Mum: To come up with something like this...
Mum: As expected, Youichi!

Youichi: Ehehe---

Youichi: Well, we can't rest just yet!
Youichi: We still have the rice to think about!

Youichi: Oikawa's rice was...
Youichi: not just fluffy, but it's not very sticky, and had just the right firmness for a Maku no Uchi bento.


Page 34

Youichi: It goes without saying that the tastiness of the rice comes from its springiness.
Youichi: The trick is to make the rice reach just the right firmness!

Youichi: Without the firmness, the steam that comes from the rice will move to the other dishes.
Youichi: The steam would make everything damp, and because of that, the dishes would lose its flavor.

Youichi: So, to make the rice as well as possible...
Youichi: I'll use less water to cook it!

Youichi: Okay.


Page 35

Mum: ...

Youichi: Hmm...

Youichi: The rice is producing less steam, quite firm and not sticky, but...
Youichi: the rice is a bit too hard and isn't fluffy or glistening at all.

Youichi: It's not good!
Youichi: We can't possibly sell rice like that!

Youichi: Okay, this time...
Youichi: we'll use more water!


Page 36

Mum: The rice is good!
Mum: Compared to before, the rice is fluffier!

Youichi: ...But, look!

Youichi: It's not good at all!
Youichi: Look at that, Mum!

Mum: Ah...!

Youichi: The steam from the rice is condensing on the dishes and making them soggy!
Youichi: Even if the rice is delicious, it'll cost us the tastiness of the dishes!


Page 37

Youichi: Dammit!

Youichi: Using more water is no good, using less water isn't good either!
Youichi: I can't believe that cooking rice could be this difficult!

Youichi: Oikawa has many years of experience to fall back on...
Youichi: Plus, the probably use a special rice cooker pot and charcoal fire the cook their rice!

Mum: Is there a way to may fluffy rice without using a lot of water?

Dad's Acquaintance: Fluffy rice with less water?
Dad's Acquaintance: That's impossible!

Dad's Acquaintance: Gah! After coming so far!

Youichi: Fluffy and sticky rice grains... / sticky...
Youichi: Sticky...?

Youichi: !


Page 38

Youichi: That's it!
Youichi: I got it!

Youichi: We use this!
Youichi: THis is the secret to fluffy rice while using less water!

Mum: What was that, Youichi?!
Dad's Acquaintance: What did you use, Youichi-kun?!

Dad's Acquaintance: It doesn't look any different at all!
Dad's Acquaintance: What did you add to the water?!


Page 39

Mum: This is...
Mum: tasty!

Mum: It's fluffy, springy, and it's better than the previous batches of rice!
Mum: On top of that, it's not overly sticky and there isn't much steam coming out!

Mum: How did you do it, Youichi?!
Mum: What on earth did you use?!


Page 40

Youichi: I used...
Youichi: this!

Dad's Acquaintance: Rice?!
Dad's Acquaintance: Wait!

Dad's Acquaintance: ...This is stickyrice!
Dad's Acquaintance: You added one sake cup of sticky rice!

Dad's Acquaintance: So that's how you did it!
Dad's Acquaintance: It's amazing that just one small sake cup of sticky rice could make such a big difference!

Mum: Hmm...
Mum: Fluffy, springy, and sweet...this is the first time I've tasted rice as delicious as this.

Youichi: Also, the other other dishes aren't getting soggy at all.
Youichi: This is the perfect rice for the Maku no Uchi bento!



Page 41

Mum: Even when using slightly less water than usual...
Mum: the sticky rice brings out the fluffiness and springiness!

Dad's Acquaintance: Wow, I'm shocked!
Dad's Acquaintance: The glutinous rice that's usually used in making sekihan* and mochi is being used in this way! What an amazing idea!

T/N Note: Sekihan is red-tinged sticky rice cooked with azuki beans, usually eaten during celebrations.

Youichi: Hehe---

YOuichi: All right! Tomorrow's the day of the match!
Youichi: Let's put all our effort into tomorrow!


Page 42

Competitor: Fufufu...I've been waiting! / I'll show you the full extent of Oikawa's technique and talent!

Competitor: FOr this match, we've prepared three thousand bento and hired some part-timers!
Competitor: We'll win this match in one stroke and you'll be handing over your shop to me by the end of today!

Youichi: We won't lose!
Youichi: If we lose, Mister's shop will be taken away and Dad's bento will be lost!

Youichi: There's just one more hour till the first train arrives!

Youichi: The match...
Youichi: starts at that moment!