Revamping Dinner: My Favorite Thing To Do

If anyone knows me, they know that I hate to waste food. When I was teaching, I would cringe every time I saw the students throw out their uneaten or packaged food. I understood that they had a very short time to eat it and weren’t allowed to take it out of the cafeteria but I couldn’t understand why we were so ok with letting them throw it away when some would not be able to eat dinner later. Maybe it’s because I was raised by my grandparents, but I was always taught waste not want not and how to make something from nothing in the kitchen. I think the Japanese are the same way and have an expression of mottainai or wasteful that they use when someone tries to throw perfectly good food away.

Anyways, since we had a ramen weekend, I had quite a bit of ramenesque foods and two bellies that were so over it. Soooo, what did I do? I revamped it of course! I, in turn, made a stir fry with the chashu, “tare” and “menma”. And boy, did they want more! So much more that I ran out of food! Read below to see how I did it.

Ingredients

Chashu (pulled apart or shredded) 2 c

Green Bell Pepper (sliced or squared) 1

White Onion 1/2

Menma 1/2 c

”Tare” 3 tbs

Cooking Sake 3 tbs

Mirin 3 tbs

In a fry pan or wok, whichever you prefer or have on hand, cook the onion, chashu, bell pepper and menma in cooking sake and mirin til the alcohol evaporates. After the alcohol has evaporated turn down the heat to a low simmer and add the “tare”. You can add minced garlic or sugar if you‘d like. It is more of a personal taste adjustment at that point.

Since it is stir fry and because most of the ingredients have already been cooked and prepared, it is a quick dish. Cooking should only take about 10-15 minutes total. We like our vegetables less soggy and more crisp so I don’t cook them that long. Again, personal preference.

Since, this is stir fry, add anything you want to get rid of in the fridge like carrots or cabbage. It’s an easy way to turn your almost wilted vegetables into a delicious feast. Just try not to add anything spoiled which I’ve accidentally done a few times. Oops, haha! Anyways, 召し上がれ！！！