Excellent Rice Ball Workflow

I think I've done an especially good job on my lunch today.  I'm using up leftovers efficiently, packing a variety of things, and making sure everything tastes fresh at lunch time.  Here's what is in there:

1. Miso soup -- the last ladlefuls of the miso soup I made for lunch yesterday got packed into our lunches for today.
2. Seth's green beans with miso and cucumber salad/pickle -- I'm getting very near the end of those party leftovers.  That's good because I can't imagine they will stay good forever, but also bad because they are perfect lunch side dishes.
3. Rice balls!  I had been waffling about the best way to put rice balls in a lunch, since the rice quickly loses its awesome texture if refrigerated.  My solution is to make the fillings in advance, run the rice cooker while I'm in the shower, and make the rice balls fresh the morning I pack them.  They didn't take long at all, especially since all the other lunch components were done in advance (no apple or carrot slicing).  I marked the rice balls to make sure that we each got one of each flavor: ume-shiso (1), negi-miso (2), and seaweed (3).
4. Roasted nori squares -- I like to wrap rice balls in nori, but I was concerned that it might get soggy if I wrapped them right away.  This way, the nori will be crispy and fresh and can be eaten on the side.
5. Lemon cookies -- the last three!  I really enjoy clearing things out of the pantry.

Excellent Bento

Our friend S.'s birthday was this weekend, so F. and I threw a party at our house.  S. likes Hayao Miyazaki's movies, so we showed a couple of them and made some Japanese-style food: rice balls, various vegetable sides, and taiyaki.  Today I've got an assortment of the party leftovers in my lunch.

This lunchbox has shiso tofu, green beans in miso-based dressing, gobo (burdock root) in sesame dressing, spinach, cucumber salad, broiled shiitake mushrooms, and rice (under the mushrooms).  I also packed an apple but it's not in the picture.
I have to admit that I didn't help with a lot of this cooking.  I'd just been at jiujitsu practice, so I took a shower and a nap, and when I woke up F. and S. had done everything already.  I did make a lot of rice balls (ume-shiso, miso eggplant, seaweed, and avocado), but those were all eaten at the party so I've got none to pack in bloggable lunches.  I should report, however, that rice balls were quite good when filled with this miso-roasted eggplant.  I think the eggplant would also be nice on its own, or over rice in non-ball form.
I've been thinking that I like rice balls quite a lot, but they're not really the same after they've been refrigerated.  Instead, I might consider keeping appropriate rice ball fillings on hand, starting some rice in the rice cooker while I'm in the shower, and packing fresh rice balls in the morning instead of the night before.  They're about as quick to make as a sandwich, and so much tastier.

Lunch This Week: Sweet Potato Mole Chili

I spoke with my brother today about what to have for Thanksgiving dinner, and he brought up a sweet potato chili I made a few years ago. I have no idea what recipe I used to make that one, but the discussion put me in the mood for chili again. I wound up adapting this Epicurious recipe to use sweet potatoes and cauliflower instead of zucchini and sqaush. I estimate that I must have made a double batch, because I wanted there to be enough for us to eat the rest of the week. The bottom shelf of the fridge is now 100% full of small tupperware dishes full of chili.

Good thing it was delicious, because we're stuck with it for a while.

Here's what happens when I run out of pre-made leftovers

Today, I hadn't brought any pav bhaji up from the downstairs freezer, I had forgotten to make rotli last night, and there was only about half a serving of leftover soup.  Sometimes this happens.  I just made a lunch out of all the standby side dishes, instead of only packing one or two. 

F. and I each get arugula salad with fresh mozzarella, apples & peanut butter, and carrots & hummus. If I'd been thinking, I'd have thrown some chocolate in there too, but I forgot. It's a light lunch, but we had pizza and drinks for dinner yesterday so I'm not going to be starving.

Excellent Lunch at Home: Put an Egg on Top

Since I became vegetarian, I've stumbled upon a little-known secret of cooking: nearly everything is better with a fried egg on top. Even non-vegetarian foods are better with an egg. Consider: potatoes, rice (bi bim bap), hamburgers (this is big in Australia), sauteed greens of all kinds, salads, roasted veggies. If you allow the egg to be cooked by any appropriate method, instead of just fried, the list expands further to include stir-fries, desserts (hello custard), tacos, and even more. I am a great advocate of putting eggs on top of other things.

In honor of eggs, and because I went on a business trip in the first half of this week and I've got the day off, I'm posting a lunch with an egg on top today. I made garlic-lemon quinoa with spinach and a fried egg.

The quinoa was languishing in my pantry, since F. nearly always defaults to basmati rice. The spinach had been bought last weekend in anticipation of making a lot of salad, but then I wasn't here to eat any salads. It needed to be used up. As far as eggs and garlic... if I didn't have eggs and garlic in my kitchen it would be because I didn't have a kitchen.

1. Throw some quinoa in the rice cooker.  Remember salt.
2. Sautee some spinach in butter or olive oil with chopped garlic.  
3. Mix the spinach and cooked quinoa together, spoon some into a bowl, and squeeze a slice of lemon on top.
4. Fry an egg in the spinach-garlic pan and put that on top of the whole thing.

Excellent Blurry Lunch

F. has the wild idea to throw a party at which everyone can fry anything their heart desires: avocados, chocolate bars, hot peppers, buffalo tofu wings... anything.  That is Fry Fest, and it has not happened yet.  But we did get together with a few people to fry some things for dinner, and I did go to the grocery store that evening and buy everything that seemed like a good idea, even if it wasn't.

I had a few bell peppers and tomatillos lying around on Wednesday after a little bit too much exuberance at the grocery store in preparation for "Fry Fest: the Prequel."  I don't even really enjoy bell peppers most of the time, so I was at a loss regarding what should be done with them.  That's how they lasted until Wednesday.  But then I thought, "OK.  I don't like bell peppers, except when they are roasted until burnt and/or spiced with lots of cumin and garlic.  Let's go with that."  I broiled the peppers and tomatillos until their skins were substantially blackened, chopped half an onion and some garlic, and went to the basement to get my secret stash of cumin in the Big Jar so I could refill my common-knowledge stash of cumin in the Small Jar. 

I ate this roasted pepper soup with cheese & crackers, spinach salad with mustard vinaigrette, dried cherries & almonds, and my favorite weird green Naked Juice smoothie.  

Here's how it's done.

3-4 bell peppers
about 6 tomatillos
half a large onion
4 cloves of garlic
a teaspoon of cumin seeds
butter
4ish cups veggie broth
yogurt

1. Halve the peppers and tomatillos, lay them cut sides down on a baking sheet or broiling pan, and broil them until their skins are blackened enough for you.  I went for about 15 minutes. 
2. Chop the onion and garlic.
3. Melt the butter in a big soup pan, and throw the cumin seeds in there.  You could add a chopped jalapeno here too if you like.  Or a chipotle!  That would be great.
4. When the cumin seeds are sizzling, add the onion and garlic.  Cook them until they're cooked.  You know how long to cook onions and garlic.
5. Add all the stuff from the broiler.  Maybe give it a few chops with a knife first, because you're going to use an immersion blender on it and that'll make it go faster.
6. Add the veggie broth.  You could just add enough to allow blending and keep the rest aside, if you would like to control the thickness of the soup.
7. Will it blend?  Blend it.
8. Stir in some yogurt until the soup is creamy enough for you.  Check for salt.  It might be good to add ground chile powder here, especially if you have ground dried chipotles or something smoky like that.

Principles of Lunch: Reduced Fat Foods are a Waste of Time

I have already discussed why I can't stand packing sandwiches in my lunch.  My rationale was mostly a matter of taste; sandwiches suffer from refrigerator storage more than most other lunch-appropriate foods.  Now I have to confess my other dark secret: I also despise "low fat" and "low sugar" foods, including yogurt cups.  Blasphemy!  Yogurt cups, that other lunchtime staple, accused of treason!

I'm not saying I don't like how yogurt tastes.  Yogurt is delicious, and even most low-fat and low-sugar yogurts taste pretty good.  I just think they're treacherous.  They're not filling.  Worse, they taste like something that is filling, which makes it even more disappointing not to be full after eating them.  Then you eat more of them, or of something else, and the whole intent of having your snack is thwarted.

I am also suspicious that tricking your body like this isn't healthy in the long run.  It probably trains you to eat fewer fruits and vegetables, for one.  Expecting calories when there are none to be had probably just makes your body hungrier, too.  Why not just have a little bit of the real thing, and actually be satisfied? 


So I scour the supermarket for full-fat yogurt cups and "whole milk" plain yogurt.  (Trader Joe's has some tasty greek yogurt cups, FYI.)  I drink whole milk too, and I cook with butter.  I don't drink soda often, but when I do it's the sugary kind.  When I eat dessert, I choose the richest and most satisfying one (I've got a soft spot for custards).  I look at it as the culinary equivalent of "quality over quantity."

Excellent Lunch this week: Pav Bhaji

The best way to describe pav bhaji is "Indian-spicy vegetarian sloppy joes."  It's not eaten in sandwich form, though -- instead the mashed vegetables are scooped up with toasted pieces of bread. 

We make a ton of pav bhaji at a time and then freeze it in smaller containers.  It's just as good after defrosting, since it's basically stew.  Here's how it's done:

1. Steam all these vegetables until they're mushy enough to mash with a potato masher:
   
   3-4 potatoes, peeled & chunked
   1 eggplant, peeled & chunked
   1 cauliflower, chunked
   4 large carrots, chunked
   3 green peppers, chunked
2. In your largest pot, heat about 2 teaspoons each of mustard seeds and cumin seeds in about a stick of melted butter until they start to sizzle and pop.
3. Add a chopped onion and 5ish cloves of garlic.
4. When they're translucent, add 2-3 chopped tomatoes.
5. Mash all the other vegetables that you've steamed, and add them to the butter with the onions and tomatoes.  If you don't have a bowl big enough to mash them in, you can add them to the pot and then mash them.  An immersion blender also works for this.
6. Add a whole package of pav bhaji masala.  If you don't like spicy food, you can add the masala a little at a time until you get the spice level right.
7. Add salt to taste, more butter if you like, and ground chiles & black pepper to get the heat where you like it.  Add a little lemon juice here or save it for serving time, either way.
8. Serve with buttered toasted buns, chopped raw onions, cilantro, and lemon wedges.

I should note that these vegetables and quantities are pretty rough.  If you've got extra carrots or not enough green peppers, don't fret.   You can add pav bhaji masala to a wide variety of vegetables with excellent results.  Once it's all mashed, no one will be able to tell you added a turnip.

KC's Excellent Onigiri Adventure

Inspired by Just Bento and the ume-shiso roll at Genki Ya, I decided to experiment with making onigiri this week. My friend M. helpfully shared this instructional video from cookingwithdog, too.  That was especially useful, because I also have a dog and I pay a lot more attention to videos if there's a dog.  Armed with no shortage of resources, I assembled all the ingredients and enlisted my long-suffering husband F. to take some photos.

These are the fillings. I used ume-shiso (pickled plum and shiso leaf) and negi-miso (green onion mixed into miso paste). I'm still not sure about umeboshi on their own, but I definitely like them with shiso leaves.

Down to Business

Start by wetting your (clean!!) hands in some salt water.

Put some rice into the palm of one hand and make a small divot for the filling.

Add about a teaspoon of filling. This one is an ume-shiso onigiri.

Add a bit more rice on top to close it off, then use your hands to shape it.

The triangle shape is not mandatory; I made ume-shiso onigiri triangle-shaped and negi-miso were barrel-shaped.

Lovely!

Wrap a little nori around it. Nori tastes good and makes it look pretty. I bet it also has vitamins or something.  It sticks best if the rice is still a little warm when you wrap it.

My first two onigiri. The barrel one was a little too big, I think. I made them smaller after that.

That's F's hand, hovering over the plate until the picture has been taken so he can eat one.

I wrapped these tightly in plastic wrap while they were still warm and put them in the fridge. Rice tends to get a little weird in the fridge because it dries out, but the plastic wrap should help.

Excellent Lunch 2: Cold Soba Noodles

Yesterday F. and I stopped by Reliable Market to pick up some groceries, but we'd just been at jiujitsu practice so we were tired, hungry, and impulsive.  At the store they were giving out samples of kimbap and cold soba noodles, both of which were delicious.  We took some kimbap home to eat for lunch right away, and bought some soba noodles, which we cooked up this afternoon.  The bottled soba sauce they had wasn't vegetarian, so we made some of our own.  The noodles were great with the sauce, ground radish, green onions, tofu, wasabi, and shredded nori.

Directions:

1. The dipping sauce I used is called tsukejiru. Here's the recipe I used, modified from The Japanese Kitchen: 6 tablespoons of soy sauce, 2 teaspoons tamari, 1 tablespoon sugar, 3 cups of mild veggie broth, and a chunk of dried kelp.  I put the kelp in there because the original recipe uses fish broth, and the kelp helps replace the ocean-y taste but is still vegetarian.  Let the sauce cool.
2. In a food processor, grind a daikon radish or one of those big Korean non-daikon radishes, depending on how strong you like your radish taste.
3. Slice some green onions.
4. Slice some nori into pretty shreds for garnishing.
5. Cut some fresh tofu into cubes.
6. Cook some soba noodles.  Run them under cold water immediately after they're done so they don't overcook.
7. I think the "official" way to eat this is to add wasabi, ground radish, green onions, and nori to a small bowl of dipping sauce and then dip the noodles in, but I couldn't find a logistical way to include the tofu cubes I wanted in there.  Instead, I topped the noodles with all the garnishes and tofu cubes, then poured a little sauce into the plate.

Excellent Lunch 1: Bi Bim Bap

Lunch packed for tomorrow: brown rice bi bim bap with carrots, broccoli, bean sprouts, enoki mushrooms, baby bok choy, shitake mushrooms, and fried tofu.

Directions:

1. Cook some rice.  I have a rice cooker, so that's all there is to this step.
2. Choose 4-6 kinds of vegetables, and slice them thinly or cut them into suitably small pieces.  
3. For each vegetable, you have two choices.  EITHER: blanch them in some boiling water, then toss them in a little sesame oil and salt, OR pan-fry them in some sesame oil.  This choice really depends on the vegetable.  I blanched the baby bok choy and carrots, but stir-fried the mushrooms.
4. If you like, fry some tofu.  Or cook some meat, if you swing that way.
5. For each serving, first scoop a good amount of cooked rice into the bowl.  Top with about 1/4 cup of each kind of the various vegetables.  It looks nice if you keep each vegetable in its own zone, like in the picture.  
6. Put the tofu in the middle.
7. Put a just-barely-fried egg.  You want it extra runny, because if you're packing this in your lunch you'll probably have to microwave it, and that will cook the egg a little extra.
8. Squeeze on some bi bim bap sauce (gochujang, which you can get at your local korean grocery).

Excellent Lunchtime at home

I'm working from home today because my officemate gave me his cold.  Yuck.  To console myself, I used up the last of the dosa batter to make an uttapam for lunch.  With chai and sambar, because I don't do things halfway.

winnar of the dinnar: Beet Salad

I invented a delicious salad: so delicious that I ate it all before I could take a picture of it. Instead let me record my deeds here so that our nation's children's children can hear the inspiring tale of KC and the Beet Salad. This day will be immortalized in song and poetry. And a major motion picture.

4ish small beets, cooked
1/2 tomato
1/2 cucumber
a sprinkle of chopped onion

Cut everything up into salad sized chunks, except for the onion which should be chopped really small already. Sprinkle chaat masala on top (not too much, it has built-in salt) and squirt it with lemon juice. This might also be good with yogurt, or with other combinations of vegetables, like potatoes or bell peppers. Eat this salad and you too can experience my immortal legacy. It was enough for two people to eat for second dinner.

Now I'm a believer

The first time I made this yogurt rice recipe, I got all evangelical about it and insisted that everyone had to eat it right away. I made it again for lunch today, and it is still delicious.


I have a lot of food to eat before I leave town this weekend; anybody want to come over?

salad update

I reverse-engineered this salad from the now-defunct deli at Strawberry Fields in Urbana.  Not quite sure that I've got their recipe, but what I do have is a delicious salad.

1 head of cabbage, sliced into shreds
1 jicama, cut into matchsticks
2 carrots, shredded
juice of 2 lemons
1-2 T sesame oil
2-4 T olive oil
salt & pepper
----------------------------

1 delicious salad