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“I can taste hints of coarse-ground cinnamon, cumin, cardamom and cloves!"
"Not only that, he used apple wood for his smoke chips! Compared to cherry and other fruit trees, apple wood gives off a milder, sweeter smoke."
"Aha! I see! So that's how he was able to smoke the ingredients without overpowering the curry spices!"
"Correct! That was the perfect wood to use to highlight the coarse-ground spices he chose."
"I added the spice mix to my curing compound too. You should be able to taste the curry spices in all of the smoked ingredients."
"The toppings also show an excellent hand! The smoked egg was soft boiled to perfection, its umami flavors delectably concentrated. The yolk is practically jelly!”
― Yuto Tsukuda, ʳꪤΥ½©`¥Þ 7 [Shokugeki no Souma 7]

“Hm. A dal bean curry, eh? It looks similar to Chana Masala, a Punjabi dish that uses chickpeas...
!
This viscous stickiness...!"
"It's Natto!"
Gooey texture and savory flavor are melding together inside my mouth! Was natto ever this delicious?
"Wait... this is no normal natto! Could it be..."
"Yes, sir. This natto I made by hand using charcoal smoke. It's charcoal-aged natto.
After I added the natto spores to a batch of soybeans, I stored them in an underground room. There I lit a charcoal fire and then kept the room at just the right temperature and humidity to ferment the soybeans.
As this process takes several days to complete, I prepared it ahead of time, over my summer break."
"The carbon dioxide generated by the charcoal fire impacts the maturation of the soy proteins. It gives the natto a richer flavor. It also halts bacteria death in the beans, preventing the typical smell of ammonia from developing!"
"Did you know all that?"
"I heard a little about it once. It's supposed to be a really hard process that takes loads of time to finish!"
"And she made it by herself?!"
"But that isn't all.
There's another flavor--- a deeper, more savory one that resonates across the tongue like a deep bass chord."
"Oh, that?
As a special hidden seasoning, I added shoyu koji."

SHOYU KOJI
Instead of salt, soy sauce is added to the koji bacteria and mixed with the rice until thick. Then it is left to ferment at a constant temperature for several weeks.

So that's the black stuff that was in that jar!
Shoyu koji has over ten times glutamic acid---an umami component--- than shio koji does.
I see. While the strong flavor of curry spices drowns out most other seasonings, shoyu koji's flavor is powerful enough to that it is instead a savory magnifier!
Her curry takes full advantage of her detailed knowledge of fermentation techniques! It is truly a magnificent dish!
"The creamy Japanese-style curry roux has blended in with the natto's gooeyness beautifully!"
"The mound of crisp, minced green onion on top is hard to resist as well!"”
― Y¨±to Tsukuda, ʳꪤΥ½©`¥Þ 7 [Shokugeki no Souma 7]