20040812

name the picklethingy in today's bento



today's bento was okay, some pork and onion sticks covered in panko-style breadcrumbs and fried (not as interesting as reid's surprise bento, imo).

the reason i picked it over whatever else was there was because it had my favourite pickled item, some dense black threads of something. seaweed? fungus? fern? purple perilla stalks? it's not too salty, has a sort of seawater-y taste, and it's quite mild, with bits of something soft and sort of orangy yellow throughout. anyway, i'd appreciate it if someone let me know what it's really made of and what it's called....


inside a look at my cold black heart

5 comments:

Hi Santos,
From the picture I thought of hijiki, a kind of seaweed The thing in the picture looks very much like it, but you describe it as "pickled", and hijiki isn't usually pickled, although it could be found in salads. Another thing that came across my mind was fuki, or Japanese butterbur (that's what my dictionary says) - but I don't know. It could be stems of taro. Or it might not be Japanese dish at all. Mystery!

hi chika

i'm thinking it's hijiki also, but it's the juiciest i've ever come across. the pickle is exclusive to this particular bento place--it's v. lightly done, but there's a definite vinegar (or maybe lemon?) taste to it. perhaps there's some cross-contamination in the pickle pots? at any rate, it's quite tasty--all i need is this, a bowl of rice, and maybe an umeboshi on top!

Hi Santos,

Your bento looks quite good too! Like Chika, I think it looks like hijiki, especially in the close up picture. I love to eat chazuke with umeboshi and shiso leaf... =)

The main ingredient is hijikiseaweed but what you seem to have is hijiki no nimomo which is made from hijiki, fried tofu, carrot etc. and simmered in dashi, sugar, soy, and sake.

Much nicer is the pickled daikon on the left, if you don't want it...

hijiki no nimono, no pickle? hm. either i've got a wonky palate or these bento dudes are tweaking the recipe.

pickled daikon (daigo here on island), pah. that's kiddy breakfast--you see kids on their way to school with bags of this stuff, steeped in chopped donne' (boonie peppers).