Bento Life

Main: Lemon chicken
Sides: Glazed carrots, spicy bean salad, mayo and black sesame spinach
Plus: Shiso tsukemono (pickled Japanese cooking herb), brown and white rice

Everything in today’s lunch is things that you don’t require specialty ingredients, aside from the pickled shiso. And actually, the shiso is from my little window garden, so I didn’t have to go to the Japanese grocery store to get it either. I bought the seeds from Kitazawa Seed Company and with nothing other than remembering to water them, they’ve been doing fine in my window. However, I also planted some mitsuba and it didn’t grow at all. This is my sad face!

Recently, Slashfood has started running a bento segment. So hoorah for more bento exposure! However, they’ve (so far) only featured bento with some character or figural element to it. So boo for perpetuating the misconception that all bento have faces. There’s lots of really good bento makers out there that don’t make kyaraben, so why not feature one of those too? (And while I’m being nit-pickery, why is bento tagged “food oddities”?)

Main: Bacon-wrapped green onions
Sides: Stir fried broccoli stems, carrots with sesame, spicy bean salad
Plus: Brown and white rice, umeboshi

I feel like I should be starting this post with "Boy, it’s been a long time!" The heat, adjusting to my new aparment life and work all seem to be taking it out of me lately.

I guess one of the things I’ve been thinking about lately is the direction I want to take this blog in. Therefore, I think it’s time to address a topic that I’ve never really covered before - my personal bento aesthetic. I think it’s safe to say that I’m influenced by traditional rice-based bento in terms of presentation. After all, I originally got into bento because I thought they just looked cool. (Don’t most of us though?)

Recently, I seem to also have become attracted to the craftier aspects of the zakka movement. I think this shows itself in the color palette I tend to use as well as my general intent to make my lunches look imperfect and handmade. An important part of bento, for me, is the process of creation and I want that to show in my lunches.

So what do you think? Do you want your bento to look perfect and polished or do you like things a little rough around the edges?

Enough philosphical stuff. Let’s talk about bacon.
(Recipe under the cut.)
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Main: Teriyaki chicken
Side: Simmered cabbage with chikuwa, spinach namul, carrot sticks with miso-sesame dip
Plus: Brown and white rice, umeboshi, shiso furikake

The simmered chikuwa may look good, but uh… I’m just not cut out for mushy cabbage!

For some reason, I feel disqualified for sharing main dish recipes. I haven’t really done much cooking for myself until the past few years or so and somehow if I post them my inexperience will show. Right? Er, so I’ll take steps forward in overcoming my paranoia by sharing this recipe, because it’s too good not to share.

This recipe is teriyaki chicken and I actually make it for my lunches with some fair frequency. In non-Japanese cuisine, teriyaki often refers to meat cooked in a vaguely Japanese flavored sauce. However, in Japanese cooking, teriyaki is a specific cooking technique in which meat is cooked in a sweetened sauce to create a glaze. This is a rather simplified version that creates a very light glaze.

(Recipe under the cut.)

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I had a request for the recipe for the Japanese potato salad recipe from my last bento. It’s really easy to make and has become a favorite bento side dish of mine.

I have to admit I’m not a big fan of American style potato salad. If I see it at a picnic or a barbeque, I’m passing it right on by. Japanese potato salad is a different thing, however, and lacks the vinegar taste that American potato salad has. This is a very simple Japanese potato salad that uses just corn, although certainly other vegetables such as carrots or onions could be added. Use of the microwave makes this a speedy recipe, but I like to make it the night before because it tastes better cool or at room temperature.

(Recipe under the cut.)
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Main: Chicken katsu
Sides: Miso and mayo shiitake, Japanese potato salad with corn, soy and ginger cucumbers
Plus: Brown and white rice with carrot furikake

I made this lunch before I moved, so I was cleaning out my freezer. I had the last of a batch of chicken katsu and some carrot furikake (recipe from Just Bento) that I’d frozen as well. Usually if someone posts a picture of a bento with that much furikake on it, I think "oh my, how can you taste the rice?" But you know what, I was cleaning out my freezer so I’m unaplogetic about the mountains of furikake on my rice. Besides, this furikake is more spicy than salty.

I pretty much decimated my freezer stash during the move, so I’m trying build it up again. I try to limit the amount of foods I have on hand that are eaten fried, but sometimes it’s nice to have chicken katsu or korokke (Japanese croquettes) on hand for a treat. When I make either of these, I do the breading stage in big batches and freeze it. The best way I’ve found to freeze kastu and korokke to keep the breading from getting mashed is to freeze them on a metal cookie sheet. So long as you don’t let them defrost at all while you do it, you can chuck them in a bag once they’re frozen. Then they’re all ready for lunches later and no worrying about making a mess trying to bread anything.

These remind me of eating a sandwich, only without the bread! The best part is that no specialty ingredients are required to make them.

Ham Onigiri with Lettuce Wraps
Adapted from Onigiri Cafe 2

To make the onigiri:
1 cup to 2 cups of cooked rice
3/4 to 1 slice of deli ham

Increase or decrease the portions according to your needs and tastes.

First, start by dicing up the ham into small pieces. The smaller the better.

Mix the ham in a bowl with the rice. If you’re going to use an onigiri mold instead of using salty palms to mold your rice, add in a little bit of salt to the rice as you mix. Divide the rice in half and form each half into a triangle, using the salty palms method or an onigiri mold. Bob & Angie has a tutorial on making onigiri shapes, and I don’t know why, but it makes more sense to me than other illustrations I’ve seen.

(Lettuce wraps and additional notes on rice under the cut.)
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Main: Gochujang Chicken
Sides: Soy and Ginger Cucumber, Blanched Gai Lan, Carrot Stick with Miso Sesame Dip
Plus: Brown and White Rice

If you’ve read my about page, you will note that I state my goal is to make "balanced" bento. For me, an ideally balanced traditional-style bento would include rice, veggies and protein of the following approximate proportions:

Rice: Slightly less than half of the bento. In double-tier bento, I fill the smaller tier with rice. In single-tier bento, I usually just go by a visual measurement.

Next, I divide the remaining space roughly in half.

Veggie: Half (or more) of the remaining space. I like two or three small veggie dishes to fill up this space. If three dishes sounds like a lot of prep work in the morning, let me assure that they are usually simple dishes or things that I can make ahead of time.

Protein: Half (or less) of the remaining space. One protein, or main dish, consisting of meat, fish, eggs, tofu and so on.

Extras: Sometimes I will include items that don’t fall into any of the above groups. This includes items like fruit, cheese, furikake and so on.

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Main: Beef topped red pepper
Sides: Soy marinated broccoli, garlic lotus root
Plus: Brown and white rice, umeboshi, black sesame seeds

You can’t tell with this lunch, but when I moved a bought a toaster oven. Now I use my real oven to store my pots and pans. It’s great for bento because it heats up in no time at all!

I shall leave you this thought: Everything tastes better when it’s sauteed with garlic.

Main: Egg and cucumber salad
Sides: Baby green salad, curry carrots and bacon
Plus: Herb bread, raspberry vinaigrette for salad

I’m back! Did you guys miss me? Geez, over a week without the internet is too long. (You know you’re an addict when…)

I have to admit that I wasn’t making bento much over the move, if not mostly due to the fact that I lacked for food in the house. Even if I’m walking distance from work now (and how awesome is that!), I’m still planning on taking bento everyday since it’s a touch too far to walk and make it back in time for the end of lunch.

Speaking of things that are awesome, Biggie from lunchinabox.net was interviewed for an article in Newsweek about bento! As Biggie mentions in her post (not the interview), I’m not entirely convinced that bento are becoming as trendy outside of Japan as the article makes it out to be. However, bento does seem to be a happy confluence of several things that do seem to be popular right now - eating healthier, being greener, and all things Asian - which could very well propel it into popularity. I don’t think I’d mind seeing bento become commonplace, I’m just sure it’s a trend. Yet. (Also, not all the people who make bento are making them for their kids…)

Main: Tarako tamagoyaki
Sides: Mayo dressed cucumber, carrot kinpira
Plus: Brown and white rice with hijiki, shirasu and umeboshi

I’m moving this weekend, so understandably I’m a little crunched for time! I shall return after I secure an internet connection at my new place. Until then, I leave you with this lunch.

If you have any questions or comments, feel free to leave a comment here. I’ll be able to see them, but I won’t be able to make any new posts until I have my new ‘net connection.