Bento 6: Tri-Color Bento

Today's bento was a tasty treat. Eat each part separate or mix them all together. It tastes great either way. Good hot or cold. Which is good, because you'll end up with leftover soboro for days (I am already eagerly anticipating this...).

Turkey and Beef Soboro
(makes too many servings to count)

1 lb ground lean turkey meat
1 lb ground lean beef
1-2 tbsp sesame oil, divided
1/2 cup green onions, chopped, green and white (~2 stalks)
1 clove garlic
2 tbsp sugar
2 tbsp mirin
3 tbsp soy sauce
4 tbsp thai fish sauce

Heat 1 tbsp sesame oil in pan and stir fry green onions. Add meat; brown. Add sugar; caramelize. Add mirin; evaporate. Add soy and fish sauce; simmer. Taste for seasoning.

Now you can end there, and just enjoy it. It's very tasty at this stage. Or you can go a step further if you have a meat grinder (I used my attachment to my mixer):

Pour contents through a strainer, saving the juices in a large bowl. Then put all the meat/garlic/green onions through the meat grinder until it comes out in teeny tiny mushed up bits. Collect these bits in the bowl with the juice, stir well to coat, and refrigerate.


Carrot Brown Rice
1 cup brown rice
1/2 cup carrot juice
water

Using a rice cooker, put 1 cup brown rice in with 1/2 cup carrot juice and then fill to the 1 cup line inside the bowl. Cook like normal brown rice. It will come out orange and mildly flavored. So good!


Asian Pickles
(This recipe was donated by Abby Palanker, who made these delicious pickles and kindly agreed to give me the recipe when I begged.)

2 boxes persian cucumbers (TJ's)
1 tbsp salt
4 garlic cloves minced
1 tsp crushed red pepper
3 tbsp rice vinegar
2 tbsp sugar

[Note: I made a half of this recipe and it's still a lot. I replace the sugar with brown sugar, halved the salt, and left out the crushed red pepper. Very tasty both ways.]

Slice cucumber 1/4 inch thick. Mix with rest of the ingredients.
Leave on counter for several hours, stirring now and then. Refrigerate.


And that is it. All together, it was so good! Yum yum yum. Nom nom nom.
Go on! Have a peace!

Bento Box 5: 'What's in my fridge?' Bento

I had planned on making beef soboro and sweet potatoes, but got too bogged down with research for my new acting project to make it out of the house (I'll make this on Friday). The result?

'What do I have in my refrigerator?' Bento: Tamagoyaki, brown rice, miso soup, and a dessert of a small no-pudge brownie slice and 2 strawberries. Aww. My lucky roommate.

What is tamagoyaki, you ask? Have you ever been to a sushi restaurant and gotten that delicious sweet egg omelet along with your fish sushi? That egg is tamagoyaki. I followed the recipe on Just Hungry, cutting down the sugar they used and replacing what remained with date sugar. They have an excellent, step-by-step pictorial guide through this if you need it.

Tamagoyaki
(makes 2 servings)

4 large eggs
1 tsp date sugar
1 tsp mirin
1/4 tsp salt
1/2 tsp soy sauce
oil for cooking (I used olive oil)

Prepare a small bowl of oil and a heat-resistant brush.

Heat a small, pre-oiled pan on medium-low heat.

Beat together the ingredients with a fork and then run it through a mesh strainer.

Brush the heated pan with a little oil. Put in about 3 tbsp of the egg mixture. Cook until the egg has not quite set. Roll up with a fork to one side of the pan.

Brush the expose part of the pan with a little oil.

Put another 3 tbsp of egg mixture into the pan. Spread it evenly and make sure some of it gets under the cooked, rolled egg. Cook until this layer is almost set, then roll the whole egg to the opposite side of the pan.

Repeat until you've used up all the egg mixture.

Moisten a sushi rolling mat and roll the cooked egg (it looks kind of like a burrito) in the mat. I thwak'd it a couple times with my rice mallet to really squeeze it together.

Then leave the roll in the mat over a raised rim plate. Allow to cool, then slice and enjoy. :) I served these over some brown rice in the bento.

As for the rest of the bento box, I'm just not going to tell you. :) The miso soup recipe is available here. And the no-pudge brownie recipe is available on the back of TJ's No Pudge Brownie Mix. Yeah, I cheated. *hangs head impishly* Forgive me?

Bento Box 4: Sweet Sesame Bento

Another Monday, another bento!


When I was growing up, the only thing I would eat at chinese restaurants was sesame chicken. I loved it! To be honest, I still do, but most of the time when you get it, it's covered in breading and thick syrupy sauce. That's just no good.


Here's an alternative, along with some delectable spinach. Enjoy!

Sesame Chicken

(makes 2 servings)

meat of 4 chicken thighs, skin and fat removed, cut into bit size pieces

1 tbsp soy sauce (+ more to your discretion)

1 tsp mirin

2 tsp sesame oil, divided

1 tbsp balsamic vinegar (use a nice thick one for this)

1 tsp honey

toasted sesame seeds

Mix the seasonings together in a bowl and marinate the raw chicken in it for 10-20 minutes, making sure the chicken is well-coated. Spray oil on a non-stick pan and pour 1 tsp sesame oil into the pan. Heat to medium heat. 

Lay out the marinated chicken on a piece of wax paper and shake sesame seeds out over the chicken and press them into the meat with a fork. Turn them over and sprinkle sesame seeds over the other side. Press them into the chicken again. Then transfer the chicken to the pan and cook until both sides get a nice, delicious seared brown color (took me about 4 minutes a side). As always, make sure your chicken is cooked all the way through!!

And you're done in no time. So good!

Marinated Spinach

(makes 2 servings)

~4 generous handfuls of baby spinach, roughly chopped

1 tbsp mirin

1 tbsp soy sauce

toasted sesame seeds

Blanch the spinach. [Boil it for 3-4 minutes, then take out, drain, and douse in cold water.] Mix the seasonings in a small tupperware container. Add spinach in, mix. Sprinkle in a generous portion of sesame seeds. Cover. Shake to really soak the spinach. Set in your fridge and chill for 15 minutes to overnight. 

Go on! Have a peace!

Q&A: What is Mirin?

Mirin is a Japanese cooking wine, or 'seasoning wine', made from glutinous rice. It has a low alcohol content and a very sweet taste. You should be able to find it in the liquor department at your local supermarket, or at a wine and spirit shop, even though it's extraordinarily low on the tipsy scale. (Manufacturers of Mirin only ferment it long enough to achieve the proper sweetness, without an eye for alcohol content.)

Mirin has a golden hue, sort of like the color you find in Tej or mead - very pretty. It is generally used as an additive in sauces and can even tone down the tastes and odors of a variety of meats (like fish). Apparently it is sometimes brushed onto fish and roasts to give these dishes a "sheen". In Japan, pleasantness of presentation is half the battle.

So that's my little expose on Mirin. Use it in very small amounts - a little goes a long way. :)

Bento Box Day 2: Down Home Bento

Day 2 of my bento box experiment. For the history of this experiment, see Bento Box Day 1 and Little Tokyo. Today's bento box was for those without an asian market (see! I read my comments!): one pan soy-fried beef tip steak, brown rice, roasted corn, snow peas, and shiitake mushrooms.

Soy-fried Steak, with roasted corn, snow peas, and shiitake mushrooms
(Makes 3 well balanced and filling servings. Takes ~ 15 minutes.)

1 thin beef tip steak, in 1" slices
sprinkle of salt
sprinkle of pepper
~2 tbsp soy sauce, divided
6 tbsp corn
handful snow peas, sliced
2 shiitake mushrooms, sliced

Oil a pan and turn on high heat. Add the steak slices into the pan, sprinkle with salt and pepper. Brown well on both sides until it gets those tasty little dark brown crispy bits; pour in 1 tbsp soy sauce. Stir to coat.

Remove meat.

Add corn and snow peas to the same pan, stir in with additional .5-1 tbsp soy sauce, over medium-high heat for about 3 minutes. Last, add the sliced mushrooms in and stir for another minute or so.

Remove. And you're done. Yum yum. :)

Enjoy!