The Onion-Cutting Ninja's Secret Crush

15 Every Dish a Piece of Art

Xiao Ming started to open the bowl that he had pulled closer before while continuing to explain. "There are several different ways to present your dish in an aesthetically-pleasing way. I will demonstrate them according to today's dishes and try to point out what you should take note of. What I want to start with is the dish itself. You might think that I'm exaggerating but every dish can be a piece of art."

Back on their channel, some of the viewers were expressing how excited they were about what he would come up with but Qian Huang didn't read them out this time. Right now, Xiao Ming was still explaining. It was best not to disturb him and wait for him to have some down-time instead.

On the other hand, Si Shi Wu didn't need to pay attention to that and could talk freely. "I agree with what he is saying. I'm quite curious as to how he is going to show that though and what else he will include. From what I understand, the live streams sometimes last for several hours which is both the time for cooking the dishes, answering the questions of the audience, and tasting the dishes.

"Actually, I'm not quite sure if I should be regretful or not that I have decided to see 'Bright Yellow Water' today of all days. On one hand, I likely won't get to see this anchor Xiao actually cook which is a pity. On the other hand, this is an important topic, and even one that many people will gloss over. So seeing how he handles this specifically is quite interesting as well." He fell silent again while Xiao Ming continued to explain.

"Maybe you have already guessed it but the first dish we'll finish up will be the figurative buns. Looking at the ingredients, these buns aren't any different from regular baozi. The difference is that you shape the dough into something that's, well, figurative." He smiled at the camera when he said so. "One thing that is important here is that not only can you make different figures, you can also make the dough in different colors."

He turned the bowl slightly and several balls of dough could be seen inside, each of them in a different color. "This is usually done by using juice instead of water. Alternatively, you could use some food coloring or spices if it fits with the rest of the dish.

"For figurative buns, I would actually recommend using colorful dough. While it's not a prerequisite, I think it adds a nice touch and makes them look more lifelike. If you do decide on doing this, make sure that your hands are clean whenever you touch a new part of the dough so that it doesn't smudge."

He took the dough balls out and then started to knead them again while continuing to explain. "Now, since the dough is already prepared, we can start to turn it into the right shape immediately. As for what you can choose here, you are actually only limited by your own imagination. It could be an animal shape, some type of flower, maybe even an item that you would use in your everyday life. You could even make it look like another dish if you want to." He smiled again and then started to form the first bun.

"Personally, when I make figurative buns I like to with some kind of theme that connects all of them together. Since I mentioned animal and flower shapes just now, that could be a zoo with an assortment of different animals or maybe a bouquet of different flowers. Today, what I'm going to make is a bunny in a field of sunflowers." He winked at the camera and picked the dough for the sunflower, shaping it quickly. He would have liked to explain more closely but since there were several dishes and a lot of things he wanted to say, there really wasn't too much time.

"I think the sunflower is quite nice because there are three different colors that work well together, with the bright yellow making a very friendly impression, the brown being kind of neutral, and the green making for a good background." He finished shaping the sunflower and then added another one before picking up the dough of a different color. "Now, we have already shaped two of our sunflowers, so what's missing now is our bunny." He shaped that bun as well and then stopped for a moment, turning back to the camera. "I said before that it is supposed to be a sunflower field but we don't have as much time so I will make the rest of the dough into round buns for simplicity's sake." Saying so, he already picked up the rest of the yellow dough, made it into small wraps to put the filling inside, and then shaped it in a few seconds.