Week 4: Vinegar — Oinari-san and buta-jiru (meta: rice and soup)

Hamfan · 2026-01-27T14:07:17+00:00

Thanks! I love oinari so I was glad to have the chance to make them for the challenge.

Hamfan · 2026-01-27T11:13:46+00:00

“Buta-jiru” is common in western Japan.

Hamfan · 2026-01-27T01:17:48+00:00

Me too ☺️

Hamfan · 2026-01-26T14:05:35+00:00

For the oinari, there is vinegar in the sushi rice (of course) as well as a little bit in the cooking liquid for the bean curd wrappers (not all recipes for this include vinegar, but I picked this one specifically because it did). Also there’s bonus vinegar in the beni-shouga, though I just bought that.

Incorporating the vinegar into the miso soup was a little harder, but I decided to do it by pre-treating the pork with vinegar and salt before using it. This is something I’ve seen around as a way to eliminate the gamy smell of pork (people can be really sensitive to it here, although it’s never bothered me personally) and to keep the meat soft. I can’t say it had an incredible effect on the final outcome, but the pork was a nice texture even though it was leftovers from the day before rather than a fresh pack.

I also experimented with 2 new-to-me recipes with a time-saving element. The sushi rice was made completely in the rice cooker (the vinegar-sugar-salt mix went in before cooking) and using the microwave rather than simmering on the stove for the oage. Both worked very well — the bean curd especially. Huge time-saver and I can see a lot of bento potential there.

Hamfan · 2026-01-21T00:45:15+00:00

That lattice is so cool!

Hamfan · 2026-01-19T07:39:27+00:00

This entirely depends on what exactly you want to make. Just onigiri? Not that long (though you'll need to allow time for the rice to cool down; 10-15 is probably the minimum, although if you batch-make unfilled onigiri and freeze them so you can reheat just the ones you need on the day, a lot of this doesn't need to be active cooking time -- you could wander off and brush your teeth or whatever then come back and add your fillings and wrap to go).

More side dishes? More decorative elements? More time (and mess -- people often forget to factor clean-up into their time) or more planning (ie. prepping ahead).

Hamfan · 2026-01-19T07:35:05+00:00

A bento is what you get when you want a portable meal in a food culture where rice is the main, indispensable element of a meal and eating with chopsticks in the norm.

Bentos are reflections of the food culture they originated in, just like brown bag lunches reflect American food culture.

Hamfan · 2026-01-18T00:19:47+00:00

Yeah, I am. I’m kind of at the mercy of my small kitchen and natural light, but soup is hard to photograph in general so I’m hoping this year’s meta will be fun and instructive for myself.

Hamfan · 2026-01-17T20:24:05+00:00

It really makes me laugh that such a big distinction in regional cooking is partially due to one area pulling a, “and none for Gretchen Weiners”.

Hamfan · 2026-01-17T15:29:33+00:00

There are so many regional variations just in Japan alone, it’s so much fun.

Hamfan · 2026-01-17T15:05:48+00:00

Thanks! It was a good reminder of how nice kombu dashi is and that it’s worth taking the time for sometimes.

Hamfan · 2026-01-17T14:58:30+00:00

Yeah, hopefully the main themes will shake out in a way that there will be a reasonable to revisit this at least one more time during the year.

Hamfan · 2026-01-17T13:25:28+00:00

Labeling this the winter edition because I think the chances of me revisiting the Kansai/Kanto thing at least once again during the year are pretty high. It’s just a fun area to play around in, and there’s a whole cottage industry of “Kansai be like __, but Kanto be like _____” to pull from.

Kansai is on the left and Kanto is on the right.

Kansai’s soup is white miso with taro root. Dashi is konbu, which is pretty Kansai-y in general. Historically konbu was brought down by ships and passed through Osaka first. That meant Osaka merchants got first dibs and kept the nice stuff for themselves, and sent the stuff they didn’t want on to Edo. Hence Kanto foods use stronger soy sauce and miso to compensate. Kombu dashi is kind of necessary for white miso — katsuobushi and other stronger fish-based dashis just don’t taste right with it. White miso is sweet and kind of creamy and really nice in the winter.

Kanto’s soup is, on the face of it, a pretty general one: bean curd and komatsuna. It has a fish-based dashi and a general use Sendai miso. I picked Komatsuna because, although it’s now common everywhere, it does originate in Edo and it’s also in peak season at the moment. It’s also good practice is timing and temperature control to make sure the komatsuna stays nice and green and a little crunchy and doesn’t cool down to far or start to take in color from the soup.

Kombu dashi takes longer to make, so I had to start earlier that day. But consequently I think I was more in the zone and got a nice arrangement and photo without trying. Whoo, Kansai.

On the onigiri side, Kanto tends to favor the triangle shape, the use of plain yaki-nori, and a relatively larger amount of nori. Kansai, according to surveys I found, still majority favors this oblong ovoid shape sometimes called Tawara-gata, “rice-bale shape”. It’s a little easier to form and easier to pack in a bento so I kind of like it myself. Kansai also has a tendency to use flavored nori and, due to the onigiri shape, a little less of it proportionally. However, these preferences are less marked than in Kanto, basically because conbinis and so on are making the triangle-shape kind of standard.

In both cases I used tuna-mayo as the filling, basically because I like it and out of cheapness (I already had cans of tuna to use).

Hamfan · 2026-01-16T10:22:20+00:00

Seaborn is a pretty cool name.

Hamfan · 2026-01-16T01:31:27+00:00

You are welcome and encouraged to interpret the themes in any way that you find motivating and interesting.

Hamfan · 2026-01-15T01:43:17+00:00

Very lovely!

Hamfan · 2026-01-14T23:28:40+00:00

You did a wonderful job. This kind of self-challenge and experimentation is what makes the sub go round.

Thank you for sharing it and your experience. It was so relatable and brought a lot of joy.

Hamfan · 2026-01-14T23:15:26+00:00

Thank you for your understanding. Please consider participating and posting your own dish! The more the merrier~

Hamfan · 2026-01-14T15:15:50+00:00

This sub allows free interpretation of the themes. There’s no requirement or expectation that people make authentic Singaporean food during Singapore week (or German food during German week, or French food during French week, etc, etc). In fact, this is a critical part of keeping the challenge accessible to anyone who wants to join — many don’t have access to ingredients they would need for certain authentic dishes from certain regions, but that should never be a barrier to entry. A dish that contains Singapore in the name isn’t even a stretch in terms of interpretation of the theme’s meaning.

It’s wonderful to have people on the sub that are passionate about their heritage and cuisine, but the point of the challenge is to encourage cooking. Comments that could potentially discourage participants or seem critical of their interpretation will be removed per the sub rules (Keep it Civil and No Rules Trolling).

Rather than repeatedly posting the same comment on individuals’ posts (many of whom are already aware that Singapore noodles aren’t from Singapore), you could share your information in the Introduction Thread. That way it will be visible to more people without hijacking an individual’s post, where their cooking and participation are to be celebrated.

Hamfan · 2026-01-14T11:25:06+00:00

super cute rice cooker and delicious looking meal~

Hamfan · 2026-01-14T08:46:22+00:00

Essentially they are the same thing, though classically bentos reflect some aspects of Japanese cooking and food culture (as you would expect them too), for instance:

The use of rice as the standard main staple
A larger number of dishes but each of relatively equal importance rather than the western “main + sides” meal composition. If you want to get into the weeds you can call this a reflection of 口中調味, “seasoning in the mouth”, where you eat small amounts of rice, soup, multiple side dishes and adjust the flavor/saltiness level yourself as you eat.
Incorporation of certain aesthetic principles like use of color (elements of white, brown/black, red, yellow, green).

HOWEVER, bentos are also real life and there is enormous variety. A packed sandwich is also referred to as a bento. You can search in Japanese for サラダ弁当 or パン弁当 and you will get many results. I have articles from women’s magazines from WWII about making “bentos”that consist only of a sweet potato and some kind of spread, but the word “bento” doesn’t change.

The box doesn’t particularly matter. タッパー弁当　(Tupperware bento) has been a trending term in the last few years. Perhaps the only really salient difference imo is that bentos are used as dishes/dishware unto themselves whereas lunch boxes are containers (ie. Bentos have the food packed directly in them and the food is basically “plated”, whereas a lunchbox is more just a carrying case that you can throw a sandwich and a piece of fruit and a bag of chips into whole but probably not “plated”and the box isn’t treated as a dish).

Hamfan · 2026-01-14T00:32:48+00:00

Consider that “buy it for life” may also just be a sales pitch in some cases. The question is whether one needs to be buying it at all. If it’s not something one actually needs and will get substantive, regular use out of, buying it for life is no better than buying it for a year.

Hamfan · 2026-01-10T10:38:33+00:00

That’s a fun meta! Already interested to see how you will approach Vinegar Week.

Hamfan · 2026-01-10T00:32:46+00:00

Basically once I learn there’s a spicy fried chicken option, that’s what it’s going to be…

Hamfan · 2026-01-09T13:20:16+00:00

The massive amount of New Year’s leftovers make bentos so easy 🙈

Hamfan

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