My 6-year-old son finished a 4-week swim camp last week and the teacher said he’s ready for a more advanced class when he finished! We didn’t sign up for more swim camp though, and he starts science camp tomorrow. It’ll be the first time for him to eat lunch at school because his kindergarten was half day. I am looking forward to making lunch for him to bring. However, to be completely honest I am a bit nervous if I can wake up early enough to prepare his lunch, not sure exactly what to pack, and worried if he’s going to eat everything I pack in a short lunch break… I’m just a worry bug. I’m planning to pack Japanese bento for a couple of days a week and sandwiches in between. He had been enjoying nice warm lunch every day till now so hopefully, he’ll be able to adjust to lukewarm or cold lunch. Although it’ll be fun for him to eat lunch with his friends, I’ll miss our lunchtime… well at least I still have my daughter to eat lunch with me. Anyway, let’s move on as I will have to go sleep right after writing this, so I can wake up early to prepare! My husband thinks I am really silly – instead of worrying about whether he’ll understand the subjects being discussed at camp, I am worried about his lunch! Now today’s recipe. Japanese loves seafood and it seems like we eat almost everything from the ocean. One of the more common seafood ingredients we enjoy is squid. Squids are served in many ways, as sashimi, and on sushi, deep-fried, baked, grilled, and even sold dried as a snack. Although squids seem less popular in the US, besides deep-fried calamari, they have great health benefits. They are low in fat and calorie and high in protein, and they also reduce cholesterol in the blood. Maybe fresh squids look too intimidating for you to prepare and cook? Well, focus on the end product and hopefully, you won’t mind. 🙂 One of the more popular squids is Spear squid, we call it Yari Ika in Japanese, and the meat tastes sweet and it’s soft and super delicious. The dish I am sharing today can be served as an appetizer or side dish, and it goes well with alcoholic drinks. The sauce I used to compliment squid is Miso vinaigrette, which is sweet and tart from mirin and rice vinegar. The miso flavor provides a nice body to the vinaigrette. If you are not a fan of squid, you can simply use this miso vinaigrette for blanched vegetables, sashimi, shabu shabu pork, etc. Hope you will give it a try!
Wish to learn more about Japanese cooking? Sign up for our free newsletter to receive cooking tips & recipe updates! And stay in touch with me on Facebook, Pinterest, YouTube, and Instagram.
