Bento That Still Tastes Good Cold: Carrot and Green Pepper Tuna Kinpira

Made on a Sunday evening, eaten a little at a time from Monday to Friday. Carrot kinpira is that kind of dish.

Carrot gives up very little water when fried, so even on the third day nothing pools in the bottom of the container. Add green pepper and tuna and one dish settles both the colour and the flavour.

Turn off the heat, then shake on Dish Symphony No.4. It is the coarsest of the five Dish blends, so it does not dissolve — the grains stay whole. A cold lunchbox blurs the aroma, but where you bite, a pink peppercorn pops, and that becomes the doorway to the flavour.

Pink pepper has "pepper" in the name, but it is not hot. It has a pine-like freshness and a faintly sweet scent. It is fine in a child's portion.

Total time: about 10 min

Add 15 minutes on top to cool it completely.

Ingredients (Serves 4 · a convenient batch)

• Dish Symphony No.4 1 tsp
• Carrots 2 (about 300 g)
• Green peppers 3
• Tinned tuna in oil 1 tin (about 70 g)
• Vinegar 1 tsp
• Soy sauce 1 1/2 tbsp
• Mirin 1 tbsp
• Sesame oil 2 tsp
• Toasted white sesame seeds 1 tsp

The soy sauce is a touch heavier than for an everyday stir-fry. A cold dish gives the tongue less saltiness to pick up, so the amount is set on the assumption that it goes into a lunchbox. If you are eating it warm, straight from the pan, 1 tbsp is enough.

Preparation

1. Peel the carrots and cut them into 5 cm matchsticks. Do not soak them in water. Water taken on now does not fully leave, even with frying.
2. Halve the green peppers lengthways, remove the stems and seeds, and cut them lengthways into 5 mm strips. Cutting along the grain keeps the bite.
3. Drain the tuna in a sieve, getting the oil off thoroughly. Oil carried in separates to the bottom once it cools.
4. Combine 1 tsp vinegar, 1 1/2 tbsp soy sauce and 1 tbsp mirin in a small dish.

Instructions

1. Put 2 tsp of sesame oil in the pan over medium heat, add the carrot and fry for about 3 minutes. Not until limp — once the edges turn translucent, that is enough.
2. Add the green pepper and fry for about 1 minute.
3. Add the tuna, breaking it up, and mix it through.
4. Pour in the combined seasonings, turn the heat to high and fry for about 2 minutes until no liquid is left in the pan. Liquid left behind travels to the other dishes inside the lunchbox.
5. Turn off the heat, shake in 1 tsp Dish Symphony No.4 and 1 tsp sesame seeds, and toss it through with the residual heat. Adding it after the heat is off is what keeps the coarse grains from dissolving.
6. Spread it out on a tray and leave for about 15 minutes until completely cold.

One more shake, for the adults only

Dish Symphony No.4 is salt-free, additive-free and 100% plant-based, so a shake added at the end does not move the seasoning. Pack the children's portions first, then give only the adults' boxes one more shake, and the same dish becomes two flavours.

Making ahead and packing

• Cool it completely before moving it into a dry, clean container. Put the lid on while still warm and the steam turns back to water at the bottom
• In the fridge, eat it within about 3 days including the day you made it
• Use dry, clean chopsticks every time you take some out
• Put it in a disposable cup before it goes into the lunchbox. Dishes touching each other pass on both flavour and moisture

To make it last until Friday, freeze it

If it has to carry into the back half of the week, portion it into bento cups one serving at a time once it is cold, line the cups up in a container and freeze them. They keep for about three weeks.

In the morning it goes into the lunchbox frozen, cup and all. By midday it has thawed. The condition is that the liquid was driven off in step 4 — if moisture is left, it gathers in the bottom of the cup as it thaws.

A night's rest carries the flavour further into the carrot than it goes straight out of the pan. Make it on a Sunday evening and the best box of the week is Monday's.