For a side dish tonight I made "hijiki no nimono". Hijiki being seaweed and nimono meaning various simmered things. While I didn't add many things to my hijiki (due to an empty fridge) it was delicious. It is one of my favourite Japanese side dishes. Hijiki is labelled a sea vegetable and while it contains a delightful array of vital minerals, it also contains traces of arsenic. My opinion is that you would have to eat a truckload of hijiki everyday for a year in order to build up detectable levels of arsenic, but Canadian Food Regulations deem otherwise. Though I am not 100% sure, I do not think Canadian retailers can import hijiki seaweed. I have yet to see it anywhere. My supply comes directly from Japan, thanks to my mother-in-law. Again though I am not sure, I think you can buy it in America. ANYWAY...I re-hydrated the hijiki and simmered it in the standard Japanese ingredients: sake, mirin, soy sauce and sugar. I added a bit of carrot to it, but in an ideal world, I would have also added shiitake mushroom, burdock root, fried tofu, konnyaku and edamame. Unfortunately, financial circumstances being what they are, carrot was all I had on hand. See the re-hydration process below:
Almost all hijiki is sold in dehydrated form and must be soaked in water for about 15 minutes before simmering. A quick rinse through cold water before simmering eliminates excess salt. I have had success freezing cooked hijiki for a quick bento addition. Also, simmered hijiki added to rice is amazing and can be eaten as is, or shaped into onigiri (rice balls). An interesting note: while hijiki seems to not be imported by Canadian retailers, it was served to us on our Air Canada flight from Japan...makes you wonder.
The main dish of the evening was an ume shiso ground pork donburi. You may notice we ate a lot of ground meat this week... Ground meat is very inexpensive and versatile. Since I lost my job we are really having to be economical...thus ground meat. Luckily it is used extensively in Japan and so I have lots of ways to use it. In this dish, ground pork was simmered with...you got it--a certain ratio of soy sauce, mirin and sugar...no sake this time. I should mention the Japanese use sake, mirin, soy sauce and sugar in varying concentrations for almost everything! It is the basis of true Japanese flavour. Items such as miso, ginger, garlic, dashi and sesame oil are also key. After simmering the pork I added green onion, mitsuba, shiso leaves, ume boshi (pickled plum) and ume su (ume vinegar). This mixture was used to top steamed rice. Very delicious!
We also have a cucumber tomato vinegar dish, salad and the ever present miso soup. And of course the forbidden seaweed. ^_^
Tamago update! This is the miso egg I made yesterday. You can see how it absorbed the miso and took on a nice golden colour. The flavour actually penetrates the yolk and needs no other seasoning. I made my husband's egg with spicy korean paste and put it in his bento, along with some spicy sausage:
Because the egg is sort of pickled from the salt in the miso, it keeps very well in a bento. When we go on road trips, I always pack us a bento lunch of onigiri and these miso eggs.
Tomorrow I will head over to Superstore and buy some food. I have my list and I am on a mission! ^_^
The hijiki looked so scary at first! Unfortunate that it's got arsenic in it, but I suppose if you're eating it every now and then, then you're probably building up a tolerance! Candace, are you trying to turn you and Shuji into superspies? Everyone knows that's a superspy quality!
ReplyDeleteThe eggs actually look really yummy, now that they're done. I'm not much for eggs by themselves, but with all that sauce and such, it looks delectable!
What, exactly, makes something a "bento box"? Is it just a lunch box, or is it the specific kind of box? I'm just curious if there's an actual difference.
Good luck with your shopping!
I never thought about building up a tolerance to arsenic, but that is an interesting point. The Japanese eat hijiki regularly and they live forever, so I figure it must be okay. ^_^
ReplyDeleteYou don't need a bento box to make a bento. Any sort of plastic container that seals decently will work. I used to use a rectangular tupperware container for bentos. You just need to be creative about adding little things here and there. Silicon baking cups are great for dividing things up and keeping flavours separate. You can even make a sandwich bento if you are feeling particularly creative. I bought my bento boxes at the Daiso store in Richmond BC (it is a Japanese chain dollar shop and is FABULOUS!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!).