It's reassuring to have precooked dishes waiting in the fridge for a quick easy meal. Megumi Fujii introduces two such dishes using in-season vegetables.
“It may look unspectacular, but it goes well with rice,” she says of the bean dish.
The bean dish lasts three days in the refrigerator, the cucumber dish lasts four. Both serve four.
INGREDIENTS
Bean stir-fry with pork and bean noodles:
400 grams green beans (ingen)
150 grams slice of pork loin
1/2 green onion
Piece of ginger (half the size of thumb)
30 grams bean noodles (harusame)
1 Tbsp sugar, 3.5 Tbsp soy sauce, 2 Tbsp sake, 2 Tbsp cooking oil, 1 cup water
Cucumber stir-fry:
6 cucumbers
1 pod chili pepper
Piece of ginger (half the size of thumb)
Seasoning (4 Tbsp each of sugar and vinegar, 2 Tbsp soy sauce, 1/2 tsp salt)
1 Tbsp cooking oil
METHOD
To make bean stir-fry, immerse green beans in hot water for 10 minutes. Drain off water and cut. Remove stalk end and string from beans. Do not cut. Cut pork into bite-size pieces. Chop green onion. Thinly slice ginger.
Heat oil in pan, stir-fry green beans over high heat until they turn bright green. Add green onion and ginger and stir-fry until aroma rises. Add pork. After color changes, add water, sugar, soy sauce and sake. Once it boils, remove scum and reduce to medium heat. Place lid and cook for 20 minutes while stirring occasionally. When a small amount of liquid is left, add bean noodles. Turn up heat and stir-fry until noodles absorb liquid and become transparent.
To make cucumber dish, cut cucumbers lengthwise in quarters, remove seeds and cut into 4-5 cm pieces. Cut chili pepper in half and remove seeds. Cut ginger into strips.
Heat oil in pan, add chili pepper, ginger, cucumber and stir-fry quickly. Add seasoning and mix so it coats cucumber. Place in dish. When cool, place dish in fridge.
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From The Asahi Shimbun's Kashikoi Okazu column
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