Eggplants in miso sauce
Milky sweet potato
Poached salmon with lemon soy sauce
Seaweed miso soup
I wanted to cook something with eggplants today.
I have some leftover red bell pepper (1/4), 1/4 bunch of chives, and oyster mushroom.
Oh, and I have some bamboo shoot that I got from Korean market...
I thought eggplants might go well with miso sauce with touch of sweetness.
Here's the recipe of the day...actually recipes of the day;
Eggplants...2 med size
Bamboo shoot...1/2 pkg
Oyster mushroom...1
Red bell pepper...1/2
Chives...1/4 bunch
*miso...2tbs
*cooking sake (or white wine)...1tbs
*sugar...2tbs
*mirin...2tbs
*dashi (if you have)...1/2 tsp
Japanese (or Korean) Sweet potato...1 lrg size
Bacon...2 slices
*milk...300cc
*sugar...2tbs
*soy sauce...1tsp
For eggplant
1) Cut up any sizes and shapes you prefer. But make sure all the veggies are about the same sizes so they cook evenly.
2) In a large frying pan, put 1 tbs of sesame oil and cook eggplant on a high heat.
3) Then add the rest of the vegetables except for bell pepper and chives. Stir fry for 5 to 8 min on a med heat.
4) In a small bowl or measuring cup, put all the sauce ingredients (*) and mix well.
5) when the eggplants get tender, add the remaining veggies and cook for 2min.
6) Add sauce and stir fry until all the veggies are cooked.
For milky sweet potato
1) Slice sweet potatoes in a 1/2 inch thick.
2) Cut up bacon about the same size or smaller as potatoes. (When I buy bacon, I usually cut them up and freeze them in individual Ziploc bags for easy use. Contains maybe 2 - 3 Bacon worth in each bag.)
3) In a med. pot, cook bacon until crispy. I use a paper towel to get most of the oil out from the pot. Add sweet potatoes, milk and sugar.
4) Once it starts to boil, lower the heat to med and add soy sauce.
5) Cook until all the liquid vapors.
Just to be sure, these recipes are not my original. I might have modified them a little, but I got these recipes off of http://cookpad.com
For tonight's dinner,
prep time - 10 min
cook time - 20 min
And THIS is going to be my husband's bento tomorrow;
I want to share some of my key ingredients (must have items in the kitchen) today.
(sorry this image is kind of blurry ;p)
From left: Sushi vinegar (little sweeter than regular rice vinegar), Hon dashi (bonito stock powder), ketchup, soy sauce, mirin (sweet seasoning), Chicken bouillon, Tori gara soup stock (chicken stock powder), cooking sake (or white wine is a good substitute), Worcestershire sauce, Japanese mayonnaise, and tonkatsu sauce (it tastes kind of like A1 sauce)
Oh! and add miso paste to the list. Making miso soup is super easy if you have miso paste and hondashi (even without hondashi).
Many people ask me about my bento boxes. And the insert cups.
Where do I get them?
Well, unfortunately to those who live in the US (probably most of my blog readers)...
I bought them in Japan. But if there's any Asian or rather Japanese markets in your neighborhoods, try check! Usually Japanese grocery stores sell bento boxes in the kitchen goods isle.
Actually I bought one of my bento boxes from The Container Store!
But by all means, you can use regular tupperwares, shallower the better in that case :)
As for the insert cups, again, you can try various Asian stores (I know Korean markets sometime have them). Although if it's too much hustle for you, use those foil cups you use to bake cupcakes. To be more creative, you can make your own foil cups by shaping tin foils!
*If you use foil cups, not recommended to microwave before eating...
Those colorful cups in the bottom of the picture above are reusable silicon cups. Those are awesome!
Also you can purchase bento boxes and insert cups online here.
If you live in the Southern California area, try these Japanese markets as well.
Marukai Market
Nijiya Market
Mitsuwa Market
Picture of the day;
My 3 year-old son is an apple addict. I think we go through 10 or more apples a week. Some days, he eats 4 apples!!! I can't live without Trader Joe's fruits, thank goodness they are so cheap!
The whole thing above cost me $17.76.
To be honest though, if I want to eat really good quality fruits and vegetable (meat and seafood too) I prefer going to Whole Foods. Also I like the fact that Whole Foods carry a lot of Japanese products! I guess Japanese food is concider as a healthy cuisine? I live about 5min walk from both Trader Joe's and Whole Foods...
Maybe if I raise my budget up one day, I will switch to Whole Foods all together,,,that's like dream come true :p
