from moms garden

My in-laws have a big vegetable garden. They even have a ricefield. And so me and hubby dont buy rice anymore , lucky no?! And during summer , I dont have to purchase some vegetables. Like this recipe , I only bought the chicken.

The eggplants , tomatoes and onions are from my dear mom. We also receive loads of potatoes and carrots and some other vegetables. Sometimes its even difficult for me and hubby to eat them all. If only my sister lives near me, I could share with her.

This is an easy dish , definitely not japanese. Italian maybe ??
If you wanna try here is the recipe.

Ingredients :

eggplants ( slice into bite pieces )
tomatoes ( big slices)
chicken ( small bite pieces )
onions ( sliced )
olive oil
salt
pepper
soy sauce
basil

how to :

* In a skillet, pour enough of the oil and saute chicken until a little brown.
* Add the onions , saute until onions are slightly cooked.
* Now add the eggplants , stir well. Pour a little bit of water , cover the pan and simmer for a few minutes until eggplants are soft.
* Lastly add the tomatoes , season with salt and pepper to taste. And drizzle a small amount of the soy sauce. Sprinkle with dried basil and serve .


Note : You can use garlic too, I just skipped it coz my hubby dont like garlic much!

soboro bento

I always make obento for hubby. His friends and co-workers teased him that " it will just be for a couple of years, and your wife will no longer make your lunch or else she will pack those frozen, ready to eat food. " Well, we've been married for 4 years but I still make obento for him. And I'm proud and so is my hubby that never for once did I put something in his lunch box that I didnt personally prepare.

Of course, I get sick , tired or sometimes , who doesn't ? Those day he buys obento at the various convenience store near his office. I think thats ok too. So he also gets the chance to choose what he wants for lunch .

This soboro bento is one of the lunches I prepare for him during my " a liitle lazy " days. Very easy , quick and delicious too.

Ingredients :

eggs ( in this case 2~3 )

ground pork meat ( 100~150 grms. )

soy sauce

mirin ( a sweet cooking wine )

cooking sake ( wine)

grated ginger

sugar ( 1 teaspoon )

How to :

1. Beat the eggs until fluffy, sprinkle salt or a little soy sauce. Japanese people put cooking wine to their eggs but I prefer not to. Salt is ok for me.

2. Prepare 5 cooking chopsticks.. . or if you dont have , use thick barbacue sticks. Not the pointed sides coz it will scrape your skillet.

3. Heat oil in a skillet , pour the beaten egss and immediately mix it with the chopsticks, quickly just like you would when making omeletes. Keep on stirring until the eggs become course and dry just like in the picture. Set aside !

4. On the same skillet, put a little oil then put the ground meat. Squeeze the juice of the grated ginger to it.

5. Now, this is important, in a bowl put the same amount of the soy sauce, mirin and cooking osake. In this case I used 1 tablespoon each. Now measure 4 tablespoons of water, add it to the mixture, put the sugar and mix it well. When the sugar is dissolved, pour it to the skillet, simmer and cook until the liquid is all gone.

6. Now put freshly cooked rice on your bento box and top it with the egg soboro and meat soboro and voila....

easy , isnt it?? I think this will also be good for sandwiches. Try it!