Bento no. 18: 3-color soboro bento

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Bento contents:

  • 1 cup (about 220ml) brown rice (220cal)
  • 2 Tbs. beef sorobo (80cal)
  • 2 Tbs. iri tamago (70cal)
  • Blanched Swiss chard leaves (5cal)
  • Swiss chard stalks sautéed in butter (30cal)
  • Hijiki with bean curd (50cal)
  • 3 fresh lichees or litchi (15cal)

Total calories (approx): 475 (how calories are calculated)

Time needed: 15-20 minutes in the morning, 20-30 previously

Type: Japanese

This bento relies on two staples (plus premade frozen rice): meat soboro, and stewed hijiki seaweed with carrots and tofu.. 3-color soboro (sanshoku soboro 三色そぼろ) is a classic bento combination, and as you can see it's quite colorful. To eat it yo mix the toppings into the rice. You may want to bring a spoon along to make eating the mixed rice easier.

This is the man sized version of the bento. It just has a bit more rice (about 1 1/2 cups) and a bit more topping.

The 'green' part of the 3-color can be something else, such as finely chopped green beans, green peas, and so on.

bento_18b_450.jpg

Ingredients

Per bento:

  • 2 to 3 Tbs. premade meat soboro
  • 2-3 leaves of Swiss chard or bok choy (or 4-5 leaves for two portions)
  • 1/2 tsp. butter (or 1 tsp. for 2 portions)
  • 1 cup or 1 1/2 cups rice (frozen or cooked on timer in a rice cooker)
  • Iri tamago made with 1 egg (or 2 eggs if you're making for two people, as I did)
  • Some premade stewed hijiki with carrots and tofu
  • 3 fresh lichees (litchi) or other fruit

Steps

You'll be using three burners on the stove.

  • Pack the rice in the bento box (if it's frozen, de-frost first) and let cool. Be sure to leave enough space on top for the toppings.
  • Boil up a kettle full of hot water.
  • Cut the green leaves off the chard. Chop up the stalks.
  • Heat up a non-stick frying pan. Add the chard stalks and a little hot water. Sauté until the stalks are tender. Sprinkle a little salt and pepper, and add the butter.
  • Add boiling water to a pan, and put in the greens.
  • Mix the iri tamago mixture together. Heat up another saucepan.
  • Drain the greens and refresh with cold water.
  • Make the iri tamago.
  • Squeeze out the greens. Chop finely. Put in the pan that you cooked the stalks in (push the stalks to one side) and stir around briefly to dry out.
  • Pack the stalks and the hijiki in the bento box. bento_18_soboro.jpg
  • Arrange the soboro, iri tamago and chopped greens neatly on top of the rice. If you have trouble keeping it neat, use a piece of clean paper folded in half (for stability), and use as a guide. Any soboro that spills on top of the paper can be tipped over on top. The red stuff on top of the soboro is pickled red ginger (ben sho-ga).
  • Pack a few lichees or other fresh fruit (a small apple is good, or a clementine, etc.) If you haven't tried fresh lichees, please try to find them - they are delicious! You can usually find them at Asian groceries. (Swiss shoppers can find them at larger Migros stores.)

Timeline

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It actually only took me about 15 minutes to assemble this bento, but I allowed for a bit more time to arrange the 3 colored toppings on the rice.

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