January 2009

All the content on this site by month.

Bento Challenge Week 3: My Report

Bento Challenge Week 3 Day 1Bento Challenge Week 3 Day 2 Bento Challenge Week 3 Day 3Bento challenge Week 3 Day 4Vegetarian Cake Provençal My Challenge Week 3 in a nutshell: Did pretty well, but exercise remains an issue. Spring couldn't come fast enough for me!

Week 3 Report! Excuses excuses...

  • Posted on: 31 January 2009
  • By: Eleven Clovers
Previously, on Eleven Clovers vs Bento Challenge (still need to work on the title): "For this week: -Keep up the pace of last week, 4-5 bentos. -Consistently keep bento preparation time short -Exercise of course. It's also getting warmer now, so I might get some walking in. -Use previous week's calorie counts as a sort of guideline to keep bentos under 500cal (Mondays and Wednesday excluded, because I know I need extra food when I stay behind for rehearsals). -Resist the temptation to snack on toasties! They're not even that good >.<" And now, the results will be made public for the first time...

I know that quite a lot of people who follow Just Bento and/or Just Hungry are interested in Japanese culture in general. So, this is a very-infrequent plug for my Japanese language mini-lesson blog and Twitter account. The Twitter account is separate from my main chatty Twitter (@bentotips, where I actually rarely tweet any bento tips...); it's at @mainichinihongo. There is also a companion blog, Hungry For Words, which has longer lessons on occasion. The lessons are not very structured or anything - I just talk about words or phrases that pop into my mind.

So, if you are studying Japanese, or just interested in nihongo, take a look! It's all part of my mission to spread Japanese culture over the world, like gomashio on rice ^_^.

(Cross-posted to Just Hungry and Just Bento.)

Vegetarian Cake Provençal With Kinako

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Throughout Provence, especially in the colder months, you often encounter stalls at the markets selling golden loaves of goodness called Cake Provençal. They look just like pound cakes or what we might call in the U.S. 'quickbreads', but they are made with savory ingredients. They usually contain cheese, olives, sautéed vegetables, ham, sausage, herbs and so on. They are great at dinnertime,for picnics and of course (since it's on this site) for not-Japanese bento lunches. Here are some that were on sale at a market in Nyons (in the Drôme Provençal) last December.

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They are made exactly like sweet cakes, but this being the land of olive oil they use that instead of butter. My version here is a bit light on the olive oil (some cakes that I've tried are almost dripping with oil). I've added a very non-Provencal ingredient, kinako (toasted soy bean flour), to add nuttiness as well as protein. You could use chickpea flour instead of the kinako. A piece or two, or three or four, of this cake makes a great vegetarian bento, on its own or with a salad or raw vegetables packed along. You can also make very interesting sandwiches with it. (Try Boursin cream cheese with watercress.)

I made mine in a square baking or brownie pan instead of the traditional loaf pan, since I like to cut it into little squares, but you could make it in a loaf pan too. It freezes very well, which makes it a great 'freezer stash' item.

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Bento Contents:

Breakfast:

  • 1/2 cup muesli, 150 cal
  • About 2 Tbs. dried cranberries, 60 cal
  • 1/2 container (90g) Greek yogurt, 75 cal

Total calories for breakfast (approx): 285

Lunch:

  • 6 Spicy Lentil Snacks, 270 cal
  • Carrot sticks from 1 medium carrot, 30 cal
  • 1/2 container (90g) Greek yogurt with spices, 75 cal
  • Some greens, 5 cal

Total calories for lunch (approx): 380 (how calories are calculated)

Time needed: 5-10 minutes in the morning - mainly just packing things up (You could pack the whole bento the night before; this bento will not suffer much in quality.)

Type: Vegetarian, not Japanese, 2-in-1

Currytime!

  • Posted on: 29 January 2009
  • By: zora
Today's bento contains leftovers from last night's dinner; I made Maki's recipe for curried kidney beans and vegetables, adding a sweet potato that was in danger of shriveling up if I didn't use it. I also threw in extra garlic and cayenne at my husband's request, as he is fighting off a cold and it is said that garlic and spice is good for that sort of ailment. Plus, we just love things extra hot and spicy, so it was quite delicious!

Bento contents:

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  • 1 1/2 cups (approx.) <a http://justbento.com/handbook/recipe-collection-mains/natto-or-tempeh-fried-rice">Natto Fried Rice with gomashio, 340 cal
  • About 1/2 cup Carrot and broccoli stalk kinpira using the Forgotten Kinpira method, 40 cal
  • About 1/2 cup blanched chard, 10 cal

Total calories (approx): 390 (how calories are calculated)

Time needed: 10-15 minutes in the morning

Type: Vegan, Japanese, rather macrobiotic

Week 3 begins...

  • Posted on: 28 January 2009
  • By: zora
How fitting that the focus for week 3 of the Bento Challenge, saving money, should coincide with the realization that I hardly had any money left to feed myself and my husband for the rest of the week. So, I sat down with the weekly meal planner, determined to stretch my dollars by using as many on-hand items as possible, planning for leftovers, and repurposing bits of food that I might normally let go to waste (I'm looking at you, broccoli stalks...formerly destined for the trash, now on deck for kinpira! Yes!).

Spicy Lentil Snacks With Sesame Seeds

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A variation on an old personal favorite, these lentil snacks are packed with protein and are a great vegan item for non-Japanese bento boxes.

Natto or Tempeh Fried Rice

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This week, I'm aiming to make all of my bentos vegan or vegetarian. One reason is simply to have more vegan/vegetarian bento recipes up here! But the other more personal reasons are that, first of all, vegan/vegetarian meals often cost less than meat-centric meals, especially here in Switzerland where even the inexpensive cuts of meat and poultry are not so. The other is just for health; I often feel so much better when I've had a vegan bento.

This fried rice is a meal unto itself. There are some finely chopped vegetables as well as hijiki seaweed, and high quality protein in the form of brown rice and natto, those infamous sticky fermented soy beans. I have been hesitant about featuring natto-based recipes here or on Just Hungry, but I was pleasantly surprised to learn that quite a few people actually do like it. Natto is an excellent and easily digestible source of protein, and when it's cooked like this all of the gooey stickiness of it disappears. If you prefer though, you can substitute crumbled tempeh or even shelled edamame.

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Week 2 Wrapup Report

  • Posted on: 25 January 2009
  • By: Eleven Clovers
Previously, on Tracking Eleven Clovers’ Challenge Progress… (need to think of a better name <_<) “My goals for Week 2: 1. mise en place, reducing bento making time to 20min (I don't even cook much! Why is it taking me so long??) 2. reduce carb content and try to squish in more nutritious veggies 3. exercise! Booo 4. keep track of calories, maybe by means of a food diary? Hmm sounds a wee bit ambitious to me. Well, we'll see how badly I fail by the end of the week ;)” How did I do?

Get Started Bento Challenge: Week 3

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Welcome to Week 3 of the 5 week Getting Started Bento Challenge! This week's topic is Money Saving Bentos.

Bento Challenge Week 2: My report

My Week 2 in a nutshell: I was fairly happy with my bentos. I'm progressing at bit on my fitness goals - at least I did some exercise! And on the one day when I didn't have bento, I really felt it.

Root vegetables and tofu stewed in miso sauce (a vegan one-pot meal)

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(On the forum and elsewhere, I frequently hear vegans lamenting the lack of vegan protein-rich dishes. Such dishes do exist in traditional Japanese cooking, and I try to introduce them to you. Not all dishes are that simple to make, though if you read through the recipes they aren't really that hard. Anyway, here's one vegan one-pot dish that is good hot or cold, so is very suited to bentos.)

There are all kinds of stewed dishes in Japanese cooking, called something-ni (煮). Collectively these are called 煮物 - ninomo. This is sort of a vegan variation on a classic nimono called chikuzen-ni (筑前煮), which is a staple of the New Year period and the winter months.

Chikuzen-ni gets its umami from chicken pieces and a rich dashi made from konbu seaweed and lots of katsuobushi, dried bonito flakes. Here I've skipped the dashi (though you could use vegan dashi for even more flavor), but I've used one of my favorite vegan proteins, atsuage or thick fried tofu, and added a lot of umami by using shiitake mushrooms, leek, and miso to finish. There are three kinds of root vegetables in this: taro root (satoimo 里芋 in Japanese), lotus root (renkon 蓮根)and carrots, so it's full of fiber and nutrition and is a fairly complete vegan meal. I used it for a bento last week, and found it very filling. (I meant to use the leftovers for another bento round at least, but it got eaten up by someone...)

If you can't get a hold of taro roots or dislike the slightly slimy texture, substitute boiling potatoes (the kind you use for potato salad, not baking potatoes). If you can't get lotus roots, just leave them out and use more carrots.

This is not a quick recipe, but you can make a potful of it and can last you for several days of bentos and other meals.

Ham Negimayaki (Green Onions Wrapped in Ham and Panfried)

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Negimayaki (ネギマ焼き) or negima as it's often abbreviated, is scallions or green onions wrapped in thinly sliced meat and pan fried. It's usually made with thinly sliced beef or pork in Japan. The thing is though, while very thinly slice meat is a standard cut available at any supermarket in Japan, here in Europe it's not. If I want that cut I have to ask the butcher to do it for me, or slice it myself.

However, ham and cured meat slices of all kinds is very easily available here, so that's what I use for this version of negima. The advantage of using ham, besides its availibity and handiness, is that it's already flavored, so you don't have to add any more seasoning. The saltiness of it flavors the green onion inside too. These cook up very quickly.

Bento Challenge Week 2, Day 1 (Jan 19 2009)

Bento contents:

  • 100g / 3 oz (approx.) Grilled Garlic Chicken, 120 cal
  • Yogurt dressing from same page, using 2 Tbs. Greek (thick) yogurt, 40 cal
  • 2 small bread rolls, 90 cal
  • Steamed broccoli, shredded carrot, lettuce, arugula (rucola or rocket), total about 60 cal
  • 1 fairly large orange (not seen in photo), 80 cal

Total calories (approx): 390 (how calories are calculated)

Time needed: 10-15 minutes in the morning (you could cut this down by making some things in advance)

Type: Salad!

Grilled Garlic Chicken Tenders and Yogurt Dressing

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Chicken tenders, or thin pieces of chicken breast, cook up very fast and are low in fat. They are a bit more expensive than chicken dark meat, but otherwise are perfect for bentos.

This marinated and grilled chicken really just takes minutes to prep and to cook in a grill pan. They go well in a rice-based bento, in salad, sandwiches and more.

There's a bonus just-mix yogurt dressing or sauce recipe below too!

Get Started Bento Challenge: Week 2

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Welcome to Week 2 of the 5 week Getting Started Bento Challenge! This week's focus is Healthier Bentos.

Bento Challenge Week 1: My report

Week 1, Bento 1 of the Bento Challenge Bento Challenge bentos, Week 1 Day 2 Bento Challenge Week 1, Day 3 Bento Challenge Week 1 Day 4 Bento Challenge Week 1 Day 5

My Week 1 in a nutshell: I met my bento-oriented goals for Week 1, but failed to meet my fitness goals.

The Weekly Menu Planner With Bento Lunch Box - now with Weekend Page 2

[Update:] Now with a second page for the weekend plus expanded shopping list! See below.

Last year I introduced the Weekly Bento Planner, a simple form to plan your bento lunches. It's been very popular, and both files have been downloaded thousands of times.

One comment I got several times was that the form was fine for mapping out the week's bento plans, but what if you wanted to plan all of your meals for the week too? To address this need, after a lot of thinking and testing - and just in time for the Bento Challenge! - I present you the Weekly Menu Planner With Bento Lunch form.

The Weekly Menu Planner With Bento Lunch form - example

Vegan Turnip Cake or Daikon Radish Cake

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Turnip cake or daikon radish cake (law bock gaw in Cantonese, called daikon mochi (大根餅)in Japanese) is a staple of dim sum. It's also part of the Chinese New Year feast. It is dense, a bit sticky, and very filling.

Traditionally it's made from shredded white turnip, or more commonly from shredded daikon radish, rice flour, various shredded or chopped vegetables, plus dried shrimp, Chinese ham or bacon and/or sausage and so on, and it's fried in lard. Given that it's pretty good to eat hot or at room temperature, I tried making a vegan version, which could be the main protein in a vegan bento, or a combination protein-carb. I am pretty happy with the results.

I'll show you two ways to make this. The first is the traditional method of putting the batter into a heatproof dish or mold and to steam it for about an hour, let it cool, and then slice the cake and fry the pieces. The second method omits the steaming stage and is a lot faster. Both methods yield little cakes that are dense, filling and mochi-like on the inside with a sweetness that comes from the shredded daikon radish, and crispy-salty on the outside.

It's not exactly a quick recipe, though the second method is a lot faster. But you can make a lot of them at once and freeze the extras. Weekend project perhaps?

Bento Filler: Orange Juice Carrots

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What, yet another carrot recipe? Well I do like carrots, and they are so handy - available year-round, cheap, and long-lasting in the refrigerator. This one may not look like much, but it tastes very interesting - a little sweet, a little sour, just a little bitter, with an underlying heat. This was originally presented as a dessert in one of my Japanese cookbooks (but I can't for the life of me remember which one); the original had I believe maple syrup and/or honey in it, which I have mostly omitted. Instead I've added salt and a little soy sauce. It makes a nice contrasting accent in a bento, like a salad. Cutting the carrot slices into odd shapes is strictly optional.

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Bento contents:

Total calories (approx): 450 (how calories are calculated)

Time needed: 15-20 minutes in the morning (you could cut this down by making some things in advance)

Type: Japanese, chicken, Bento Challenge!

Red Peppers With Maple Syrup and Chili

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This little side dish or filler is related to the Cooked To Death Peppers, but is a lot faster to make and less oily. It doesn't keep as long as Cooked To Death, but will be ok for 2-3 days in the refrigerator. It's a nice bright color and flavor accent in a bento.

Sweet-Sour Red Wine Vinegar Chicken

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Get Started Bento Challenge: Week 1

Welcome to Week 1 of the 5 week Getting Started Bento Challenge! If you're new to the site, see the overall objectives of this Challenge.

The Challenge officially commences on Monday January 12th (Joining in later is fine too - just catch up where you can!)

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Before we kick off Week 1, here's a quick outline of this and upcoming Challenge weeks.

  • Each week, we'll be focusing on a particular aspect of making tasty, healthy and cost conscious bento lunches as efficiently as possible.
  • There will be three task and goal levels: Basic, Going Deeper, and Weight Loss. Basic is what you should try to do at a minimum. Going Deeper is for people who are very motivated and want to take on more. Finally, Weight Loss is specifically for people who want to use the Challenge to kick start, or enhance, a weight loss plan.

So, on to Week 1!

Bento Challenges

This is the top page for all Just Bento Bento Challenges.

After many long late night hours of hacking away, the brand new forum is now up and running! It may be a bit wonky in places, and is quite minimalist, but should be functional. For the Bento Challenge, start here. Take a look around the rest of the place too. As I said before, you will need to log on and register to post to the forum. Suggestions for additional sections or improvements etc. are welcome!

You may have noticed that I've now made the user login form much more visible (it's right there, in the left corner of the page). This is to encourage you to register on the site. I have stopped short of requiring registration in order to comment and so on for now, but I have turned back on comment moderation for any unregistered commenters.
I'm still working on getting the forum up and running for the Bento Challenge, and some other things behind the scenes (you may have noticed the site has a slightly new layout/design, and new logo too). Please bear with me for a bit longer In the meantime, take a look at the Just Bento flickr group, already up to 174 members!