Cooking | Hijiki seaweed simmered dish without using a cutting board or knife

Today, I will share the
process-ignoring

hijiki simmered dish I usually make,
which doesn't require a cutting board.

Writing something like this
might make people suspect I'm a good cook,

but I'm not a good cook,
I'm just a lazy person.

It's not completely original,
but the seasoning amounts are from a recipe I saw somewhere once.

Some of you might say,
I do that too, making it without a cutting board or knife,
but I'm going to write about it anyway.
Please let me write it.

Please let me write it.

First, this is the hijiki
that I buy.

If you only have the dried type, please prepare about 20g.

Rehydrate it in water.

And, the things you will use are
a frying pan or a wok,
and kitchen shears and
a julienne peeler.

For ingredients,
deep-fried tofu, carrots, oil, soy sauce, cooking sake, mirin, and sugar are all you need.

If
you don't have cooking sake,
I don't think you need to force it in.

If you have some sake you're drinking for your evening drink,
please use that.

1. Put the hijiki into a frying pan or wok.

2. Using the serrated side of the peeler, julienne the carrots directly over the hijiki. (You can choose whether or not to peel the skin)

3. Cut the deep-fried tofu to your preferred size with kitchen shears directly over the hijiki and carrots. (Removing excess oil is optional. If you find it troublesome but still want to remove the oil, pressing it firmly with a paper towel works quite well.)

4. Add the seasonings. Add about 200cc of water, and the amount of oil you would normally use for stir-frying (I used 1.5 teaspoons).

5. Add 2 tablespoons each of soy sauce, sake, mirin, and sugar, cover with a drop-lid (aluminum foil is also fine), and simmer over low heat until the water is gone to finish.

I prefer it not to be too sweet, so
I use 2 tablespoons each of soy sauce and sake,
2 tablespoons of mirin using surface tension,
and 1.5 teaspoons of sugar.

I introduced a way to make simmered hijiki by skipping the sautéing step and just putting everything in to simmer.

I've heard that carrots have higher nutritional value when cooked with oil, so

even though I don't sauté them,
I think oil is necessary, so I add it.

This time, I used
thick fried tofu instead of thin fried tofu, and I also added shimeji mushrooms.

When shimeji mushrooms are added, they soak up the flavor and become juicy and delicious.

I set aside the portion to eat and froze the rest.

I made enough for 8 side dish cups.

I don't put shirataki noodles in the portion to be frozen (because they get rubbery),

so I add them to the refrigerated portion later and lightly sauté and simmer them.

Served over rice.

I used to keep simmered hijiki seaweed in the freezer

for my daughter's high school bento lunches because she was prone to anemia and had low blood pressure.
I always kept it stocked.

Making it for the first time in a while
has me feeling nostalgic for those days of making bento lunches.

Thank you for reading.

I would be happy if you came back to visit again.

See you later,
Katsubushiko