Salmon Zuke Ikura Don サーモン漬けいくら丼

Shinji marinated some of the salmon sashimi with some soy sauce and mirin overnight. We had it for dinner over a bowl of rice with some ikura (salmon roe). When we have the salmon sashimi we garnish it with the seasoned kombu, but as it has a lot of flavor from the soy sauce and mirin we put just a bit of nori underneath the salmon which gives the dish some earthiness. This same marinade can be used for tuna.

Atlantic Salmon

Ikura

Shinji's Bento 進児の弁当

Shinji's bento today:

Grilled teriyaki salmon and sauteed cabbage over steamed rice
bean sprouts with sesame dressing
steamed broccoli
kinpira gobo (burdock root) and carrots
sunomono of cucumbers and wakame (dressing is yuzu, soy sauce, and sesame oil)

Bento Box

Teriyaki Salmon

Sunomono

Shinji's Bento 進児の弁当

Today Shinji's bento is:

Salted, cooked salmon over rice
steamed broccoli
kinpira of gobo (burdock root) and carrot
bean sprouts with toasted, crushed black sesame seeds, sesame oil, and salt
gyoza of ground pork and wakame (a sea vegetable)

Bento Box

Burdock Kinpira (Gobo)

Gyoza

Shinji's Salmon and Ikura Don サーモンいくら丼

Shinji offered to make breakfast this morning. When he said he wanted to make a salmon and ikura donburi (rice bowl), how could I say no? Ikura, the roe from the salmon, is the perfect companion to the tender salmon. On the rice he puts a bit of aonori (a sea vegetable) that brings an earthiness to the dish. On top of the salmon is minced (mijin) seasoned kombu (another sea vegetable). Delicious and healthy.

Salmon

Ikura

Shinji's Tuna Donburi 鮪丼

The best part of being married to a fishmonger is when he comes home with seafood. Tonight Shinji came home with mebachi tuna, or bigeye. It was sashimi quality, meaning that it can be, and should be, eaten raw. Shinji sliced up the tuna and over the rice he put some aonori, or sea vegetable, topped it with the tuna, and then garnished the tuna with mijin kombu, another type of sea vegetable that is a bit salty.

Simple meal, but satisfying.

Tuna

Shinji's Bento 進児の弁当

Making bento outside of Japan may present itself as challenging if you do not have access to Japanese ingredients. Here is an example that not all things need to be Japanese. The first item on the left is simply a hard-boiled egg. The second from the left is steamed broccoli with mayonnaise.

Other bento items include:
salted, grilled salmon on rice
simmered hijiki (middle)
julienned daikon tossed with umeboshi and sesame oil (second from right)
thinly sliced pork and shirataki (konnyaku noodles) in a sukiyaki broth

Bento Box

Shinji's Bento 進児の弁当

Depending on what you have in your fridge, some bento dishes can be pulled together at the last minute. The item in the middle is exactly that. Chikuwa, which are fish cakes in a cylindrical shape with a hole in the middle, can be stuffed with raw vegetables, or Japanese pickles as a quick side dish.

The other items in this bento are from left to right:

salted and grilled salmon
seasoned ground pork and green beans
chikuwa fish cake stuffed with raw Japanese cucumber
simmered kabocha sweet potato and azuki beans
baked egg omelet

I had found at the 100 yen shop (dollar store) in Japan small plastic cups that can be used in bentos to separate different side dishes. These can be washed and recycled. Another great bonus is that they can be put into the toaster oven, baked, and then slipped into the bento. I tried making egg omelet with this, but the eggs were too dry and I prefer the dashimaki tamagoyaki.

Shinji's Bento 進児の弁当

Assembling Shinji's bento is always fun for me. If I am lucky, there are enough osouzai, or side dishes, in the fridge to just put the bento together. I try to put at least one type of protein in each bento. The rest of the components are usually vegetable or sea vegetable based. There are the usual suspects that you see in here like:

kinpira gobo, sauteed burdock root and carrots - 2nd from left
tamagoyaki - Japanese sweet omelet - 3rd from left
shioyaki shake - salted and grilled salmon - far right

After I have sorted out that these will go in the bento I then scan the fridge and freezer for what I have that I can quickly pull together. Raw vegetables can always be pickled in salt or in a sweet vinegar.

On this day I had some ground pork and some greens. From this I made two dishes.

The one on the far left is a simple stir-fry of the ground pork and greens, seasoned with salt, soy sauce, and sesame oil.

Then with the rest of the ground pork I made a seasoned pork burger. Add some minced onions, salt, pepper, and soy sauce into the meat and quickly fry.

Of course, it is better to organize the bento the night before. I put the dishes in different tupperware and then in the morning assemble the bento while I am cooking the rice.

Bento Box

Wakasagi Fry ワカサギフライ

These wakasagi (Japanese smelt) are best when dusted with flour and deep-fried. Just season with salt and pour yourself a glass of cold sake or shochu on the rocks. Rich in calcium as the whole fish is eaten, head to tail.