bento, minus the box

For dinner tonight, I assembled a bento box meal of shiozake (salted salmon), asparagus in dashi broth with egg, and steamed rice topped with furikake (rice seasoning). Of course it would have been more authentic if everything had been nicely compartmentalized within a cute bento box, but alas, none to be found in my kitchen amidst all the packing.

I salted the salmon yesterday, a fresh wild-caught piece from Whole Foods, with a generous rub of sea salt. I prefer it not overly salted, so instead of letting it sit any longer than 24 hours, I cooked it up tonight. The skin was delightfully crispy and the flesh was subtly salted and somewhat sweet. I rinsed off the rest of the pieces, patted them dry, and wrapped them in wax paper and a freezer bag to be frozen and eaten later on.


The asparagus is my take on a vegetarian donburi, steamed rice covered in a pork/rice/shrimp and simmered egg mixture. The ultimate comfort food. I flavored the broth with a mix of dashi, mirin, soy, sake and sugar. The combination of all these ingredients make a umami experience that's mind-blowing. Like a savory flavor explosion in your mouth. Good dish to down rice with.

The furikake, that I bought from the asian store. If you aren't familiar with this flavoring, it's a dry mix of seaweed, bonito flakes, sesame, soy and sugar. It adds another level to the taste and texture of just plain rice. Furikake comes in all sorts of fun flavors, like salmon, nori, wasabi, or nuts, and is sometimes even colored a pale pastel of green (wasabi) or pink (salmon).

It was really the perfect dinner for one. Just me tonight, as Mr.S is off far far away in new-job-training-land. So I kind of stunk up my small apartment with the smell of pan-fried fish, but it was worth it for a meal that really hit the spot, and was even well-balanced and quite healthy!


Asparagus-Don (Asparagus simmered in dashi with egg)
serves 2

1 small bunch asparagus, trimmed and cleaned
1 small onion, slivered
3 stalks scallion, chopped on the bias, green and white parts both
1 Tbsp slivered ginger
1/3 cup dashi broth
1 Tbsp soy sauce
1 Tbsp mirin
1 Tbsp sake
1 Tbsp sugar
1 egg, beaten

1. Heat 1 Tbsp of oil in a wok, and add scallion, ginger and onion. Cook for 1 minute, until fragrant. Add the asparagus, cooking for another 2 minutes or so until they become slightly tender and bright green.

2. Meanwhile, in a small bowl, mix together the dashi, soy, mirin, sake, and sugar. Add this mixture to the asparagus. Simmer over low heat for about 5 minutes to thicken the broth.

3. Stir in the beaten egg to incorporate into the broth. It will start to curdle, and look like egg drop soup. Cook for another minute, until the strings of egg have set up and somewhat solidified. Serve over steamed rice.

curry tuna salad with grapes

Tuna salad is just good stuff, anyway you make it. Except for the mushy kind at the grocery store salad bar, sitting there with that ominous looking dried, crusty layer on top. My mom used to make tuna salad for me all the time since it was cheap, fast, and really good. Weekends only though, because she put a lethal dose of chopped onion in hers, which would have made me the least popular kid in school, if I'd brought that in my lunchbox.

This is tuna salad for grown-ups since it's flavored with many spices- curry, cumin, and turmeric. Originally I had wanted to add golden raisins, but opted instead for plump and juicy red grapes. The pineapple chutney gives the salad a final oomph of flavor. I used store-bought chutney, but since creating this recipe, I've made it again with my own homemade chutney. The recipe is below.


Curry Tuna Salad with Grapes
yields about 2 cups

As a shortcut, I used store-bought pineapple chutney in this recipe to add another layer of sweet and tartness. Mango and pear chutneys would also work well as a substitute.

2 6-oz. cans tuna (packed in water), drained
1/3-1/2 cup mayonnaise (depending on how creamy you prefer it)
half red onion, diced
1 stalk celery, diced
1 Tbsp pineapple chutney
2 tsp curry powder
1/2 tsp ground cumin
1 tsp sugar
20 red seedless grapes, sliced in half
salt, to taste

1. In a bowl, flake the tuna fish with a fork. Add the remaining ingredients, except for the grapes, and mix well. Be sure not to overmix. Stir in the grapes at the very end, and season with salt and pepper to taste.


Basic Pineapple Chutney
yields 3/4 cup

1/2 cup pineapple chunks, diced up
1 Tbsp leftover pineapple juice
2 Tbsp diced onion
1/2 tsp fresh minced ginger
pinch red chili flakes
1/4 tsp garlic powder
1/4 cup white vinegar
1/8 cup + 2 Tbsp brown sugar

In a small saucepan, add all ingredients and mix well. Simmer over medium-low heat for 20-30 minutes, stirring occasionally, until the pineapple and onion have cooked down. The chutney should be a deep golden brown, with a sticky consistency. Let cool.

"red cooked" fish

Hong Shao Yu, literally means "red cooked fish." This method of cooking, one of the oldest and more familiar ones in Chinese homestyle cooking, describes the way in which meats are slow braised in a broth of dark soy sauce, sugar, cooking wine, and aromatics like star anise, cinnamon, and peppercorn. The smells that fill the kitchen permeate each corner, reminding me at least, of afternoons pacing as a greedily hungry little girl, waiting in anticipation for my dad's or grandpa's red-cooked chicken or pork belly. Red cooked anything is meant to be eaten with a big bowl of rice, since the starchy globules soak up all the delicious broth, and serve as vehicles of flavor. Red cooking is as commonplace and nuanced as American style pot roasts or crockpot cooking. It stirs up just as many memories as it does feed a hungry stomach or a lonely spirit.

After hours of cooking, the meat falls off the bone, all tender and infused with spices and soy. The most common proteins used are whole fish, usually freshwater fish, whole chicken (the better if you can find an old rooster), slabs of marbled pork belly, and cubes of tofu and mixed vegetables. You can red cook anything though. I'm sure you can red cook squabs or a porterhouse if you really wanted to. It only describes the method by which meat is cooked.

I used several cuts of wild salmon. Chinese, unlike Americans, prefer salmon well done. I also added slivered onions, very unconventional for this dish, well, because I just felt like eating some onions. Fish takes less time to cook than say, chicken or pork belly which do well with stewing. The broth, as a result, becomes enriched with the proteins, calcium, and collagen of the protein and bones, making red cooked dishes not just comfort food, but also hearty and nutritious food.

Hong Shao Yu - Red Cooked Fish

1 whole freshwater fish, scaled and cleaned
or 4-5 fish filets
1/4 cup dark soy sauce
1/2 cup Shaoxing cooking wine
3-4 Tbsp sugar
1" piece ginger, sliced in rounds, on the bias
2 stalks scallion, cut into 2" pieces
3 whole star anise
1 stick cinnamon
1 tsp whole Sichuan peppercorn
flour, for dusting
oil, for frying

1. Dust the fish on either side with a light coating of flour. In a large wok or pan, heat enough oil to cover the bottom. Fry the fish on both sides, about 1-2 minutes each. Remove fish to a plate. Drain most of the remaining oil from the wok.

2. Add the soy sauce, cooking wine, sugar, ginger, scallion and spices to the wok. Add about 1 cup of water to this, let come to a boil, and simmer for about 5 minutes. Place the fish in the broth, cover, and let simmer for 10 minutes.

3. Pick out the pieces of ginger and scallion, and any aromatics. Serve the fish with the broth, along with a bowl of rice.