Pasta lunch and sanbaizu recipe

Morning prep time: 3 minutes. These were all leftovers, and I pre-packed the pasta the day before for speedy morning prep.

• Sanbaizu broccoli: broccoli made in the microwave steamer and tossed with a sweet vinegar dressing that I keep on hand for speed (“sanbaizu”, recipe below)
• Shell pasta and cheese with tuna fish, green onions, spaghetti sauce and yellow bell pepper (microwaved in a covered dish with a little water, then drained)
• Chicken salad

I keep a bottle of homemade sanbaizu dressing in the refrigerator as a quick flavoring for vegetables and throw-together vinegared salads (like thin-sliced cucumber). It’s also excellent with seafood (especially as a dipping sauce for steamed or boiled crab). I brought some along to a Dungeness crab boil a while back, and it was a big hit even among people who don’t care about Japanese food one way or the other.

Sanbaizu (three-flavored vinegar) is one of the four main vinegar dressings in Japanese cuisine, made with rice vinegar, soy sauce, dashi (bonito stock) and sugar. The other vinegar dressings are:

Nihaizu (two-flavored vinegar) with vinegar, soy and dashi
Amazu (sweetened vinegar) with vinegar, dashi and sugar
Ponzu dressing with citrus juice, vinegar, soy, mirin, bonito flakes and konbu

Sanbaizu #1 (sweet vinegar dressing)
3 Tb rice vinegar
1/4 tsp soy sauce
2 Tb sugar
1/2 tsp salt
1.5 Tb dashi (bonito stock — instant hon dashi is fine)

Sanbaizu #2 (sweet vinegar dressing)
1/3 cup rice vinegar
1/2 tsp soy sauce
1.5 Tb sugar
1/4 tsp salt

* Recipes adapted from Quick & Easy Japanese Cuisine for Everyone , Yukiko Moriyama.

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READ MORE:

• Need for speed: A mommy’s lunch manifesto
• Food safety for packed lunches
• How to pack a bento lunch and use “gap fillers”
• Choosing the right size bento box
• Biggie’s list of top speed tips, tutorials and equipment reviews