lunch box: egg fried tofu and carrot rice

contents:

egg fried tofu
carrot rice
red cabbage and apple slaw
cucumber kimchi (bought pre-made)


My lunch only looked exactly like this for one day last week, because I discovered the pre-made kimchi had fish oil in the seasoning. After 18 years how do my taste buds know what fish even tastes like? Who knows, but I took a bite and knew instantly that something in there tasted alien to all the foods I eat. I stopped eating it right away (I always follow possible meat-in-food leads seriously because I get really sick if I do accidentally eat something) and sure enough when I asked the lady at the produce place where I bought it, she told me they use fish oil in the brine. So-- no more pre-made cucumber kimchi for me (or at least not from there and without asking ingredients first). I've been trying to talk James into eating it since it's basically a spicier version of pickles, but so far I'm not winning the argument.

The rest of lunch was successfully delicious and lasted me well through the week. This was sort of a "clean out the refrigerator" lunch since I had some leftover carrots, red cabbage, and a bag of apples from my visit home to NJ.

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The egg batter for the tofu was 1 egg plus 2 tbs flour whisked together. Make sure to drain the tofu before you batter and fry it since the water makes it crumble.

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The rice I made by adding 1 shredded carrot in the last few minutes of cooking my brown rice then recovering the pot to let it soften. For seasoning I mixed in some sesame seeds, sesame oil, and a little curry powder.

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The red cabbage is actually equally good hot or cold. I had maybe 3/4 of a head of red cabbage leftover, but most recipes call for a full head. Cook the chopped cabbage with a little olive oil in a thick sauce pot. Once the Cabbage softens and starts to turn that amazing bright purple color, add 1 shredded apple, 2 tbs water, then cover and simmer for a half hour. Once its cooked you can add brown sugar and vinegar to taste. Apple cider vinegar would have been ideal, but I didn't have any at home so I had to use white wine vinegar.