Bentoism

Shortly after we got home this evening, my hubby marched into the kitchen, announcing that he shall pick the ingredients for tonight's dinner. Amused, I waited to see what he would pick-a sack of baby potatoes, frozen ground beef from the freezer, box of Japanese curry cubes, a whole onion, a bottle of hot sauce and a packet of frozen puff paratha. I supposed he had just placed an order into my kitchen for Japanese Ground Beef Curry with Roti Prata.

Japanese Ground Beef Curry
1 lb of lean ground beef (any other meats can be substituted)
1/2 a yellow onion, diced
3 garlic cloves, minced
10 baby potatoes, quartered or cut into eighths depending on size. (If you have regular yellow potatoes, just use about two to three.)
1 box of Japanese curry cube
1 tbsp cooking oil

1) In a heavy pot, sweat the onions and garlic in 1 tbsp oil over medium heat for 4-5 minutes, or until onions appear translucent. Transfer to holding plate.
2) Turn the heat high and brown the ground beef, breaking it into smaller bits as it cooks with the spatula. When the beef is broken up, add potatoes and other vegetables if you have them. (This can be peppers, zucchinis, mushrooms, or any hearty stew vegetables.) Sautee over high heat for a minute before returning the garlic and onion mixture
3) Add 3 cups of water and let the mixture come to a boil before turning the heat down to medium.
4) Break up the Japanese curry cubes and add one piece at a time, stirring continuously to make sure the curry cube is fully dissolved before adding another. Take the time to check that you don't have lumps of undissolved curry cube by stirring and looking out for brownish lumps; you don't want to bite into that later.
5) If you like more greens, now is the time to add them. You can add chopped broccoli florets or sweet peas and let them cook for two to three minutes until they reach that vivid green before turning off the heat.

My husband and I like our curries best with roti pratas. The curry is fine with steamed rice but I went with frozen puff parathas tonight. The best way to enjoy a roti prata is with your fingers. Tear off a piece, and fold it around a piece of meat or potato, or even dip it in the thick curry, before popping it into your mouth.

These frozen puff parathas can be found in most asian supermarkets at the frozen section, and they are one recent food innovation I'm really grateful for. Without any roti prata man to flip my pratas, frozen pratas allow me to continue enjoying curries the way I like best.

And I get to take some of my curry with a few pieces of prata to work tomorrow. This time, I packed some brown rice and freshly steamed broccoli to go with the curry.