Prep: Some veges.

My aim for this week is to eat up some of the protein-type bento stash I have that's taking up too much room in the freezer, and to concentrate on vegetables if I feel like cooking.

Well, I felt like cooking when I got home from work tonight, so I whipped up something that is a cross between Maki's "Cooked to Death Hot and Sweet Peppers" and her kinpira. as well as a mushroom combo and some beans from the garden.

The beans need no explanation - pick, slice, boil 5 mins. Done.

Then I sliced four of these little cuties (two red, two yellow),:


… a couple of carrots, and the end of a red onion which had been sitting in the fridge getting ready to sprout. A quick sauté in sesame oil, …


… then some chili flakes, mirin, soy sauce, brown sugar and water. Boil the liquid away and you have this:


The capsicums are not "cooked to death" but they're pretty soft, and it tastes yummy.

On to the mushrooms. While the peppers and carrots were cooking, three dried shitake mushrooms were soaking in a cup of hot water. I retrieved them, squeezed them, and sliced both them and a few fresh brown button mushrooms:


I threw the fresh mushrooms into a hot pan with a dribble of olive oil and some salt, and cooked them until their juices started flowing and they were getting limp:


Then I added the shitake mushrooms and stirred them all around for a bit before adding the shitake soaking water:


And evaporating it off; hopefully leaving all the yummy flavour behind on the mushrooms:


Each of these dishes will probably go into about 3 bentos, so that should keep me going for the rest of the week while I use up sausages and meatballs and whathaveyou from the freezer.