Asian Night
Cat is responsible for tonight's meal. She asked me to make some kind of Japanese Steamed Bun. She called it Nikuman.
This steamed bun is filled with ground pork (TVP) and Japanese spices - ginger, tamari, etc. I was very happy to make this for her since what teenager is not immersed in the Japanese culture in some way thanks to video and computer games. That is all very well, but I needed something else to make with it since steamed buns just didn't seem to be enough.
Caramelized Japanese Noodles with vegetables also came to the meal. Now caramelizing something that is moist is a little challenging and while given more time I'm sure I would have been able to get the job done better, three hungry kids just wanted food - caramelized or not!
The buns weren't all that difficult to make, but when there is a dough involved it can seem a little much. What is easy about this dough is that it comes together in a bowl and doesn't need to be rolled out, just spread out with your hands, sort of like a pizza dough being worked by hand.
The noodles were very easy - soba, broccoli, mushrooms, carrots (or any vegetable you want), and the caramelizing sauce - sesame oil, vegetarian stir-fry sauce, rice vinegar, ginger, garlic and brown sugar.
Everyone loved tonight's meal.
Cost Breakdown
oil, stir-fry sauce, vinegar, tamari: $1
bamboo shoots, ginger, garlic: $1
broccoli, carrots, mushrooms: $4
flour: $.75
nut milk, brown sugar: $1
TVP: $.75
noodles: $2
Total to feed a family of 6:
$10.50
