Too much dirty rice, and too many beans

[venta]

Following a suggestion from mr_tom, I pottered up to a Japanese tableware shop in Harrow at the weekend. As well as stacks of exciting plates, bowls, cups and teapots they had a tiny shelf of tiny bento boxes.

But they're tiny! I read the labels... oh. Actually, they're only very slightly smaller capacity than the box I've been using. They just look tiny. Well, so long as I don't try to use them for any of the meals I thought didn't fit well into the old box, I'll be fine.

My box says "le bois"[*] on it, and is a rather acid shade of light green (alternatives were baby pink or baby blue). Its separate sections have lids, each section has a divider, and the whole thing is held together with an elastic band. The lids don't really seal properly, but they are reasonably close-fitting and I reckoned it was "good enough for now" so long as I wasn't actually transporting soup or something.

Today was my inaugural lunch-in-a-new box. Despite what I wrote above, for some reason I decided today that I'd have one of the lunches which (I now recall) was slightly too large to fit into the old box:



I'm sorry, that photo really is quite poor. In my early-morning stupor, I didn't notice. And now I've eaten the evidence.

That's white basmati rice (near-panic this morning when I realised I had eaten all the pre-made frozen bento-intended rice, but turned out to have this lurking in a forgotten corner), carrot and broccoli-stalk kinpira, beetroot and white bean korokke, and white beans in soy and honey.

I put three of the korokke in the oven to crisp up, but couldn't get them to fit in the box (so had one with my breakfast). The trouble with these korokke is that they're not hugely filling, but they take up quite a bit of space and don't tesellate well. And they are, quite frankly, a bit of a faff on to make if you don't have a food processor - pureeing beetroot and cannelini beans with nothing but a fork, a blender, and some bloody-mindedness takes forever. However, they are tasty, and the insides are the sort of shockingly cheerful colour that normally screams "E numbers" at you.

I'd never have thought of cooking broccoli stems once you've eaten the business end of the broccoli, but Bento Lady says you can and she's pretty reliable.

The box, ready to go:



Of course, because I was worried that my lunch was going to be too tiny, Murphy's Law said that today I would be inexplicably starving come lunch time. It was a bit too tiny. I think the box will still work well for denser lunches, and it certainly did fit in the bag much more comfortably than the usual takeaway box. However, the box hunt continues :)

[*] Which is, of course, exactly not actually French for "the box". I wonder if that's what they meant.

Comments

[undyingking.livejournal.com]

You should try braising them (florets + well-chopped stalk pieces) some time instead of boiling, is very nice.

And mmm, I don't think I've seen a ^H used for other than humorous purposes for upwards of 20 years… since I've been working on PCs rather than terminals, I suppose. I wonder if strikethrough will supplant it.

[venta.livejournal.com]

Braising them in what? I'm always confused by the word braise, as people seem to use it to mean different things.

[undyingking.livejournal.com]

Braising to me means: fry up some onion, with garlic/herbs/spices of choice, in plenty of oil; add [substance] and fry fairly briskly for a couple of minutes until bright and glossy; cover with lid, turn heat down, and allow to steam in its own water (or add some if required) until [substance] is soft and delicious.

[substance] is canonically savoy cabbage, although really it works well with any brassica, and also with things like runner beans if they've got a bit tough.

A sauté pan (large frying pan with vertical sides and a lid) is a convenient vessel for the purpose.

I think 'official' braising has more to do with meat, but this version works well for veggies.

[venta.livejournal.com]

Ah! Yes. I think the confusion may be that "braise" means slightly different things depending on whether you're braising meat or veg.

However, method duly noted, and I shall try it out next time I'm cooking broccoli. I mostly either boil, stir-fry or roast it so this will be a new venture...

[undyingking.livejournal.com]

Ooh, I've not tried roasting it; must give that a go.

[venta.livejournal.com]

I roast sweet potatoes with sage, and then for the last ten-fifteen minutes or so through chopped red pepper and tiny broccoli florets in with them :)

[undyingking.livejournal.com]

yum! T is a bit wary of sweet potatoes, but it sounds like it should still be pretty delicious with savoury^W ordinary ones?

[venta.livejournal.com]

I should think so... I've never tried, because sweet potatoes are so lovely :)