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Bento filler: Green asparagus and scrambled tofu

When I woke up this morning, it was snowing heavily! By mid-afternoon the sun was shining brightly and the snow had completely melted. Such is early spring. And speaking of early spring, it's asparagus time! The ones we are getting in the markets here now are from Spain, which is not totally local, but at least they're coming to us from on same continent.

Asparagus goes very well with eggs and egg-based sauces like hollandaise and mayonnaise, and scrambled eggs and asparagus is a classic dish. This is a vegan version, using scrambled tofu. Don't scoff at it until you've tried it - there are some ingredients in there that make it taste creamy and just slightly tangy, a perfect foil to the asparagus.

For speed purposes, use just the tips and tender stalk parts of fairly skinny spears for this.

Eggs in treasure bags (Tamago no takarabukuro)

Takarabukuro (宝袋) is a treasure bag. In food terms, it's a small parcel that is cooked in a fried tofu skin (aburaage 油揚げ）bag - the one that's used for _inarizushi_. Here an egg is dropped gently into the bag, and then poached - so, an egg in a treasure bag! It is delicious hot or cold, and is very nice in a bento box as a main or secondary protein.

Basic meat and tofu mixture for mini-burgers, meatballs and more

I spent about an hour on Sunday making and cooking up a big batch of a basic burger mixture. The mix is very versatile, so I made four different things from it. Now I have enough mini-burgers, meatballs and more in my freezer for at least 20 or more bento portions. It was an hour well spent! I love just knowing that my freezer has a nice stock of ready-to-go bento items - it takes the pressure off considerably on busy mornings.