While in Japan, we ate at a quaint, sit-down restaurant where your entree is steamed in a bamboo box right before you. Strips of meat and vegetables, even lettuce, are put into this box. Is there a name for this style of cooking?
It sounds like nabe(鍋).
Usually its cooked in a pan or a pot. Nabe actually means pot.
I dont recall eating something like that steamed in a bamboo box though…
Did the bamboo stuff look like this?
Edit: YMMV, I eat a lot of stuff that I don’t know the names of!
I must confess I was in Okinawa, and their customs are differemt than mainland Japan. No, the bamboo box was made of tight-knit strands. It was about the size of school kid’s pencil box (like you probably had in elementary school). They could even stack so multiple meals could be steamed at the same time.
Was it circular or rectangular? These Chinese steamers stack up with several dishes in them. I have several, and they’re great.
Like this here?
http://www.dinos.co.jp/defaultMall/sitemap/CSfDetailGdsImage_001.jsp?GOODS_NO=676961&count=2
Its called an アルミ鍋と竹せいろのセット apparently.
Aluminum pots and bamboo steamer I reckon.