Spring
>_< I really miss posting to the BentoChallenge community and I wanted to post for the "spring" theme but XD Alas I was too late (I was out of the state for a few days and missed the deadline). ^___^ For me spring is the cherry blossoms... which I miss dearly but was lucky enough to see while I was visiting in Washington.
Lunch is : Rice with sanbaizu, a cherry blossom tree made of kanpyo and home made sakana no oboro (recipe below), pickled lotus root, yet more snow peas (I bought waaaaay too many, thank goodness they are almost gone), carrots, shibazuke, blood orange, takuan and fresh shiitake mushrooms simmered in water/ponzu. >_< My tree looks terrible but it was fun to make.
Homemade Sakana No Oboro
Mine looks terrible since I dont have a mortar and I added too much coloring but it tastes good... its a lot like sakura denbu but not as fine. More like "flakes" rather than powder. I also apologize that there are no measurements here. I rarely measure when I cook.
piece of white fish (any white fish will do, I used an ANCIENT piece of frozen halibut.. even odds and ends of various white fish will be sufficient, shrimp and prawns as well)
soy sauce (may be omitted)
mirin
sake (may be omitted)
sugar
coloring
1. Boil the fish till cooked through. Remove all fat, skin and dark flesh. Chop it finely.
2. Put the fish in a paper towel or clean kitchen towel and rinse with hot water. Squeeze and repeat. (This is supposed to get rid of additional fat in the fish, which would prevent it from drying properly.)
2. Heat a dry pan.
3. Mash the fish in a mortar. I didnt have a mortar so I shredded it as fine as I could.
4. In a small bowl mix a small amount of sugar, mirin, sake (may be omitted), red or pink coloring and a tiny splash of soy sauce. Not enough soy sauce to change the color but enough to give a little balance to the sweetness of the mixture.
5. Mix the fish and the sauce and put it in the dry pan. Stir constantly until the fish flakes are completely dry.
6. Cool in a wide, flat dish.
Store covered in the refrigerator and use within two weeks or freeze.
Crossposted from my journal to BentoLunches