2/25/2011

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In the bento: couscous (beneath the food), braised pork, miso marinaded egg, stir-fried cabbage with mushroom, grapefruit, orange.
I got home very late after the gym, too hungry to think cooking for tomorrow. Glad I have prepared egg a day ahead so there is something tasty here with the least effort of cooking.

2/24/2011

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In this bento: couscous, pickled ginger, purple potato, stir-fried cabbage with carrots, mushroom omlet, shiitake.

2/23/2011

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In this bento: couscous, shiitake, stir-fried turnip with mushroom, purple potato, poached egg, bamboo.

2/22/2011

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In this bento: leftover chickpeas and rice, carrots, stir-fried cabbage with shiitake, poached egg, shiitake mushroom, braised pork.

2/21/2011

In this bento: daikon rice, butternut squash and chickpea salad, char siu, pickled ginger, stir-fried cabbage with shiitake mushroom.

Cumin Roasted Chicken Legs

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After watching videos about food mass production, chicken is never shown on my table. But I do like thighs and drumsticks. Very occasionally, I will have some to stop the craving.
This dish is made from scratch. Asian usually use soy sauce, garlic, ginger, sugar to make the marinade sauce, that is what I did. No measurement, as I said, from scratch. But I did add cumin, 'cause I love the unique fragrant of it. The drumsticks were marinaded in the sauce overnight and baked in the oven for about 50 minutes.

Daikon Rice

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There are several blogs that I follow. Interestingly, the Daikon Rice is mentioned by many of them. Cooking rice with other veggie is not something I will usually do, but it's fun to cook differently once a while. The difference between this rice dish and regular rice cooking is that the rice is stir-fried raw with daikon and then cooked in the rice cooker. So that makes the cooked rice smell more fragrant. I love daikon and it's the perfect season to eat it. As the saying goes: Winter daikon summer ginger (冬吃蘿蔔夏吃姜^^).

Butternut Squash and Chickpea Salad

I am not a salad lover, but this recipe is an exemption. I came across it one day and noticed its easy preparation and beautiful color. And I had all ingredients at hand, why not gave it a try. After that, this is the 2nd time I made the salad. it's hard to believe that butternut squash, chickpeas and onion could taste so good when put together. I guess the Tahiti dressing gives the kick. The nutty taste works perfectly with the sweetness from the squash. It's simple to make, taste great, good for health and I will make it again. The recipe is here.

2/17/2011

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In this bento: pink grapefruit, leftover mashed potatos, woodear, char siu, cabbage, carrots.
This is another new bento box I got. It is divided into 2 parts, one smaller side and a bigger side. In general, it is the biggest size among the 3 boxes I have, though you can't see how deep it is from this picture. I will be pretty stuffed after eating what's in it.

2/16/2011

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In this bento: cheese stuffed onigiri, broccoli, poached egg, ginger pork, carrots.
Recently, I have been cooking all my lunch in broth, which means I didn't stir-fry a single ingredient in my lunch box. Everything in the bento is poached, like the poached egg, broccoli and carrots. It's much easier than stir-fry, which I have to cook things in different batches. Now, I just need to put all the stuff in the broth and let them cool aside then sample them together. I made my own broth using pork bones. It tastes great!

2/15/2011

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In this bento: brown rice, bamboo, poached egg, carrots, broccoli, ginger pork.

2/14/2011

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In the bento: couscous, pickled ginger, braised pork, broccoli, shiitake, cabbage, poached egg.

2/11/2010

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In this bento: couscous, shiitake, cabbage, braised pork, carrots, broccoli, shrimp.

2/10/2011

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In this bento: potato, poached egg, char siu, carrots, shiitake, shrimps, broccoli.

Pickled Turnip

When I was at home, I ate a lot pickled turnip mom made. I like turnip, prepared in various ways. Mom usually cook fresh turnip with soup, when it is in season, she will pickle them, some leave for own, some give others as a gift. My family love mom's pickled turnip. After coming back, it becomes one of the tastes of home. I tried to copy the way mom used to make it, but it's just not the same.
I sliced the turnip and literally salted them. Let them sit overnight and get rid of the water from the salted turnip the next day. Then mix big amount of sugar and vinegar to cover the turnip. Let them sit in the fridge for 3-4 days. The longer they sit, the better the taste.

Japanese-style Char Siu

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One day I was looking around for some pork recipe and picked this one for its easy preparedness. Char Siu, aka Chinese-style barbecued pork, is somehow difficult to make to me, while this Japanese-style does not have too many ingredients and simple to cook.
I salted two pieces of pork and let them sit overnight. Then tie them tightly with kitchen string. I then fried the pork in the pan until just brown outside. Meanwhile, boil a pot of water with ginger and green onion; put the browned pork in and shimmer for half hour. Let them cool aside while I prepared the marinade sauce. Mix soy sauce, mirin, rice wine, sugar, ginger and garlic, put the pork in and sit overnight. Slice the meat on the next day. These char siu are perfect with a bowl of noodle.

2/9/2011

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In this bento: couscous, carrots, shiitake, Japanese-style char siu, shrimps, broccoli, pickled ginger.

2/8/2011

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In this bento: couscous, shrimps, cabbage, carrot, braised pork, woodear, broccoli, and pickled ginger.

2/7/2011

I am back! It's sad to say goodbye to the family, and that makes it feel miserable to come back. On the other side, I am also glad to be back since I can continue conduct my cooking project. While I was at home, mom gave me two new bento boxes, I can't wait to use them! One is made of stainless steel, which shows in the picture. I filled it up with the left over from last night's school event: stir-fried noodle, shrimps, broccoli and boiled egg.The picture below is the bento box bag I made. Yes, I M-A-D-E it last night spending 2 hours on that. My bento box fits in it perfectly. How cute is that!