In an instant I remembered everything

[venta]

A couple of people have asked of late whether I'm still doing my bento lunches, which I am. I just thought that perhaps I shouldn't tell you about my lunch every day.

Anyway, this post is primarily aimed at ebee, who was watching me making some bits for it last night and expressed interest.




So, what have we in there? Some pork and prawn shuumai, some inarizushi, a dollop of Japanese-style potato salad and some stir-fried carrot and beansprouts[*]. The weird thing in between the potato salad and the beansprouts is a lettuce heart which I had leftover and it seemed about the right size to act as a handy barrier.

This morning, all I had to do was get the inarizushi out of the freezer and defrost (in the microwave), heat the shuumai dumplings through (in the microwave), fry the carrots and beansprouts (not in a microwave, in a wok), and dollop the potato salad out of the box in the fridge.

Japanese-style potato salad is great, by the way. I'm a big fan of pretty much any kind of potato salad; this isn't any better, it's just interestingly different - mainly on account of the hardboiled egg and cucumber in there.

The shuumai dumplings... well, I'm not sure they've been a success. When I cooked them, they all slithered around in my steamer and stuck together. And stuck to the steamer. And then their sides tore when I tried to separate them. Ordinarily, I've defrosted them overnight in the fridge and heated them through and they've been "ok". Today I overdid it (I think I must have absent-mindedly put the microwave on the wrong setting) and they ended up a bit crispy and charred in places. I'm not sure I'll be making another batch of these once I've eaten my way through the current freezerload.

I ate it all outside, in the sunshine.

This is one of my shiny new bento boxes, by the way. Here it is, all packed up ready to go:



This came from the lovely Bento&co website. Be aware that if you order from that site to the UK, you will be charged import duty at 20% on your order (and unlike many overseas vendors, Bento&co do actually write the correct valuation on the form).

[*] Why is there an international conspiracy only ever to sell beansprouts in massive bags? I bought some for a recipe I was trying out last night (which was also pretty good, if you doubled the sauce quantities) and now I'm going to have to have beansprouts with every meal for about a week.

Comments

[exspelunca.livejournal.com]

Grow your own in a jar, in small quantities (does involve some planning ahead!). We used to do this when you were small.

[venta.livejournal.com]

Did we? Sometimes I wonder if you were a secret hippy in the 70s ;)

What sort of beans do you use? I mean, I know you can sprout all kinds of beans, but what sort results in generic beansprouts?

[phlebas.livejournal.com]

Mung!

[venta.livejournal.com]

Is that correct, or did you just want an excuse to shout "mung"?

[phlebas.livejournal.com]

Both, I think.

[venta.livejournal.com]

A link I just followed turned out unexpectedly to be in German, which means I have now learned the awesome-sounding word "Mungobohnensprossen".

Much more satisfactory than "beansprouts".

[exspelunca.livejournal.com]

Mung. Not a hoppy. Just seriously skint.

[exspelunca.livejournal.com]

Ooperator finger trouble : not a hippy

[bateleur.livejournal.com]

Ooperator

That's a fantastic word for a person who commits typos - I'm stealing it! :-D

[feanelwa.livejournal.com]

I suspect you will actually have beansprouts with every meal for about 2 days and then they will turn to a smelly slimy mess in the fridge. This is what always happens when I have them.

I think they come from adzuki beans.

[venta.livejournal.com]

Actually yes, you're right. Beansprouts don't so much have a shelf-life as a half-life.

[feanelwa.livejournal.com]

Also when I hear that lyric in my head it sounds vaguely like The Cure's There Is No If.

[venta.livejournal.com]

You're close, it is a Cure song. Called, um, The Walk I think. I don't think I know There Is No If by name - is it from a recent album?

[feanelwa.livejournal.com]

It's on Bloodflowers. But it isn't the song I thought I meant! That is Cut Here. Which is also not the right song.

[venta.livejournal.com]

I don't think I've heard anything post-Wild Pants Mood Swings. Would you recommend Bloodflowers ?

[undyingking.livejournal.com]

I saw you look like a Japanese baby lunchbox!

[venta.livejournal.com]

I'll set 'em up, you knock 'em down ;)