Chicken Franks and Zucchini in Japanese Instant Tomato Sauce

In my city, quick doesn't cut it. We want things instant.

Instant noodles, ding-a-meal (to ding = to heat using microwave, Hong Kong slang), fast food restos which slam your orders down the table even before you finish uttering them (except KFC. Hong Kong KFC is slow), MTR trains arrive and gone before you figured out where you're going....they're beyond fast, they're instant.

Good for me, as I am one good ol' impatient bitch.

There are so many obvious reasons why I should love instant sauces, but there is one reason why I hate some of them. I hate it when flavors had been compromised too much, it diminishes the benefit of convenience.

I've bought a pack of Japanese Instant Tomato Sauce, let's see how it did.

The packaging does look appealing....plump, shiny, dewy red tomatoes glistening in front of some cute Japanese fonts. I was so sold!

All I did were chopping up some chicken franks (I allowed 2 chicken franks per person), a large zucchini and slicing an onion. I sauteed the onion in olive oil, add chicken franks until they are browned a bit, add zucchini, add hot water as instructed in the package, add the instant sauce cubes, sprinkled some freshly ground black pepper and served the dish with steamed rice.

It looked gorgeous, didn't taste that bad....but I can't get over its corn starchiness and the deep red stain it left on my bento box.

Hello, food coloring. Goodbye, not looking forward to see you again anytime soon.