Bento Box #2: Edamame Salad with Rice

Bento Box #2: Edamame Salad with Rice
Ingredients

• 1/2 cup of dry rice
• 1 package of Trader Joe's Edamame 
• 2 avocados, diced
• 3-4 bulb of green onions, sliced
• handful of baby carrots, sliced, or shredded carrots
• handful of cherry or grape tomatoes
• 1 Gala Apple, diced
• 1/2 or 1 bundle of celery
• 2-3 shallots
• 1/2 bulb of garlic
• 2 tbsp of lemon juice

1. Cook the rice according to instructions. In another pot, cook the edamame and set aside.
2. Fry the garlic and shallots together in a small pan for a few minutes and set aside.
3. Combine the avocado, carrots, celery, green onions, tomatoes and apple pieces in a large bowl. Add the edamame.
4. Pour the garlic-shallot mixture and lemon juice on top.
5. Portion out the rice and part of the salad into a bowl and serve cold.

Modified from http://www.traderjoes.com/recipes/recipe.asp?rid=191

This turned out better than I expected! The rice came out a bit harder than I wanted but that worked well with the veggies after a night in the fridge. Most of the preparation time (45mins or so) was spent chopping various types of vegetables and I wasn't sure if the combination would taste good. I'm happy to say it did.

The key I think is very ripe but too too ripe avocados. This wouldn't have worked well if the avocado was still hard. Shredded carrots probably would have worked better than sliced baby carrots.

The salad came out to about 5 servings so it will make a week of lunches if it came to that. Assuming I don't get tired of eating the same thing over and over again, this is a keeper.

Verdict: Yes, if a bit time consuming to make.

Nishiki Rice (one serving), 1/50 of a large bag at $12.79/bag = $0.26 at Fred Meyer

1 bag of Edamame: $1.69 at Trader Joe's

Avocados, 1/2 of a bag of 4 at $2.99/bag = $1.50 at Trader Joe's

1 Gala Apple: $0.38 at Trader Joe's

Grape Tomatoes, 1/8 of a carton at $4.99/carton = $0.63 at Fred Meyer

Carrots, 1/5 of a bag at $2.84/bag = $0.59 at Target

Celery, 1/4 of a bag at $1.79/bag = $0.45 at Trader Joe's

Green Onions, 1/2 of a bag at $0.99/bag = $0.50 at Trader Joe's

Shallots, 1/2 of a bag at $0.99/bag = $0.50 at Trader Joe's

Garlic, 1/2 of a bulb at $1.29/bag of 2 bulbs= $0.33 at Trader Joe's

Lemon Juice, 1/10 of a bottle at $1.49/bottle = $0.15 at Safeway

Total Cost: $5.98 for 5 servings or $1.20 for one serving

Total Cost for one serving: $1.46

Other entries in this series:

Bento Box #1: Sushi Rice, Stir Fried Broccoli, Carrots and Water Chestnuts, Grape Tomatoes and Tamago