Japanese with Manga

Just fry it all in oil with 油で炒める

Vocabulary Explanation: Collocations for cooking

A diagonal line splits the panel. On the right, a hand chops vegetables on a cutting board with a kitchen knife, while a tiny, nervous Neko peeks out beside the speech bubble. On the left, a bottle of cooking oil glugs into a frying pan, and a tiny, smiling Neko looks on.
現代魔女の就職事情 » Volume 2 » Page 191

Neko puts on an apron and declares that today she’ll make a meal all by herself. She has rehearsed it in her head and pictures a perfect dish, one tasty enough to show up “that shrine maiden”.

禰子(ねこ):
「…えーっと　まあ　とりあえず　野菜(やさい)と肉(にく)を切(き)って」
“…Um, well, for now, I'll cut the vegetables and meat...”
「それを油(あぶら)で炒(いた)めれば何(なん)とかなるでしょ」
“...and if I fry it all in oil, it'll work out somehow, right?”

Key Points

1油(あぶら)で炒(いた)める = to stir-fry in oil
  • 炒(いた)める means to cook food in a pan with oil, stirring or tossing it. It covers both stir-frying and sautéing. 野菜炒(やさいいた)め, stir-fried vegetables with a bit of meat, is exactly the dish Neko is improvising.
  • で marks the means: the oil is what the food cooks in. You’ll also hear バターで炒(いた)める, “sauté in butter”.
  • Deep-frying is a different verb, 揚(あ)げる. Neko pours oil in by the glug, as if she’s about to deep-fry, and that’s where the trouble starts.
2野菜(やさい)と肉(にく)を切(き)って = cut the vegetables and meat, and
  • 切(き)る is the general verb for cutting food. The て-form 切(き)って links her steps in order: cut first, then fry.
  • それ in the next line points back to the cut vegetables and meat.
3〜ば何(なん)とかなるでしょ = if I do ~, it’ll work out somehow
  • 炒(いた)めれば is the ば-conditional of 炒(いた)める: “if I stir-fry it”. The ば clause names what she thinks will make everything turn out all right.
  • 何(なん)とかなる means things will somehow work out. It’s an optimistic shrug, often said when someone has no clear plan.
  • でしょ is a casual でしょう. Said to herself, it’s a confident guess: “surely, right?”
4えーっと　まあ　とりあえず = um, well, for now
  • Her image training was perfect, but at the cutting board she hesitates. えーっと buys time, まあ settles for something, and とりあえず means “for now” or “to start with”. She goes for the simplest plan she can think of.

Vocabulary

(Well)

まあ is a soft “well” that eases into what the speaker says, or accepts something half-heartedly. It also shows mild surprise, like “oh my”.

(For now)

とりあえず describes doing something first, as a temporary step, before dealing with the rest.

(Vegetables)

野菜(やさい) is the general word for plants grown to be eaten, such as cabbage, carrots, and onions.

(Meat)

肉(にく) is meat, the flesh of animals eaten as food. It also means the flesh of the body or the soft part of a fruit.

(To cut)

切(き)る is to cut something. It also means to end a phone call or turn something off.

(That)

それ points to something near the listener, or to something just mentioned.

(Oil)

油(あぶら) is oil, such as cooking oil or fuel oil. In talk about food, it also covers the fat or grease in a dish.

(To stir-fry)

炒(いた)める means to cook food in a pan with a little oil, stirring or tossing it, as in stir-frying or sautéing. 野菜炒(やさいいた)め is stir-fried vegetables.

(To work out somehow)

何(なん)とかなる means that things will somehow turn out all right, even without a clear plan. It is often said to reassure someone or to shrug off a worry.

See Also

現代魔女の就職事情 © its respective creators. It is used here for educational commentary.