✨ Meal Prep Blog

Prepping Lunch and Dinner

This afternoon, I’m prepping dinner and making several days’ worth of side dishes.

For lunch, I completely forgot about the **insunaba (fudansou)** I meant to cook for Lunar New Year, so I boiled it today and ate it. It’s a vegetable cherished in Okinawa for ages; when boiled, it has a slight bitterness that makes it go great with rice.

First, I boiled the insunaba, cooled it in water, chopped it finely, and squeezed out excess moisture.

I heated oil in a frying pan, stir-fried the insunaba, then added tuna (canned in oil) and stir-fried some more.

I mixed miso and dashi stock, added it to the pan, simmered it while stirring to blend the flavors, and it was done.

It made for a delicious lunch.

After lunch, watching a friend’s livestream, I heard that children tourists were swimming in the Okinawan sea.

“Several families are swimming,” they reported, and I couldn’t help but laugh.

The forecast was 25°C, but it felt even warmer—a pleasant temperature where opening the window didn’t feel cold.

Now it’s time to prepare dinner and some staple side dishes.

🥗 Snap Pea Prep

Trim the ends, remove the strings, and blanch them briefly in a pot with a pinch of salt.

Immediately cool them in water to set the color. The vibrant green is beautiful.

They’re sweet and delicious even plain, so today I simply enjoyed them boiled.

🫘 Preparing Green Beans

Blanch them briefly in boiling water. Once they turn a deep green, plunge them into cold water to stop the cooking and preserve the color.

I’ll cook them wrapped in pork before dinner.

Today’s main dish is **Pork-Wrapped Green Beans**.

Cut the beans into thirds, then wrap three beans together in a thin slice of pork.

Coat with potato starch, pan-fry, then add sake, sugar, soy sauce, mirin, and dashi stock. Simmer until thickened.

The rich flavor soaks in, making this a dish that goes perfectly with rice.

🥦 Cauliflower

Separate into small florets. Thinly slice the core and add it to the pot first.

Boil the florets a little later. Once cooked, drain and let cool naturally.

Today, I also made **stir-fried pork ranchomi** in a frying pan.

Sauté in olive oil with a little salt and pepper.

The pork ranchomi itself has flavor, so strong seasoning isn’t needed.

🥔 Potatoes and Boiled Eggs (for Potato Salad)

Score the potato skins and boil them. Boil the eggs in the same pot.

The potatoes are done when a skewer pierces them easily. Peel and mash them while still hot.

Run the eggs under cold water while peeling for clean shells.

Once cooled slightly, mix in mayonnaise and season with salt and pepper to taste. Done.

Summary

Today I stayed home and enjoyed a leisurely cooking session.

I took photos too, so I plan to compile them into an article along with pictures of the finished dinner.

Prepping ingredients ahead makes meals much easier for tomorrow and beyond.