January 2008

All the content on this site by month.

Basic meat soboro, a great bento staple

niku_soboro.jpg

A soboro is rather like furikake, except that it's moister. It's used like furikake in many situations - sprinkled onto rice, folded into other things like eggs, and more. Soboro can be made of ground meat, flaked fish (though fish soboro is often called oboro instead), or egg (egg soboro is often called iri tamago, just to keep you confused!) Meat soboro (niku soboro) keeps for about a week in the refrigerator, and freezes beautifully, making it a great bento johbisai or staple for the omnivore.

bento_16a_450.jpg

(click on image for a bigger view)

Bento contents:

Total calories (approx): 400 (how calories are calculated)

Time needed: 10 minutes in the morning, a bit of this and that previously

Type: Japanese, vegan, gluten-free

Stewed hijiki seaweed with carrots and fried tofu

hijiki_nitsuke_450.jpg

This is a very classic Japanese staple dish. More often than not, I have some variation of it in my refrigerator. The base is hijiki seaweed, which is soaked and reconstituted then cooked in dashi with various other ingredients that give it flavor. It's great to add to a bento box.

This version has carrots and fried tofu in it. Cutting them into fancy shapes is totally optional, but it does make your bentos a bit more fun.

I've used me-hijiki for this but you can use the regular long branch hijiki too.

Homemade furikake no. 5: Sweet bacon

furikake5_sweetbacon450.jpg

I've neglected the furikake series for a while, but it's back!

And what better way to return, than with bacon.

I have bacon on the mind recently for some reason. I'm not overindulging in it, but it's fun trying to figure out different ways of incorporating bacon in one's life.

Bacon goes with everything, including rice. It's salty and bacon-y. I've souped it up by adding some Japanese flavors sweet-salty flavors. The result is almost like bacon candy. A little goes a long way.

It's great sprinkled on just about everything. Besides rice, you could sprinkle it on eggs, vegetables, your tongue...

In case you read Just Bento but not Just Hungry - I'm finally embarking on a project I've always intended to tackle, but never got around to: putting together a good listing of Japanese grocery stores around the world. I'll include bento supplies too, since many people who are interested in bento making are also interested in Japanese cooking, and vice versa.

If you have any stores, mailorder sources, and so on to recommend, please head on over here. With your help I'm hoping to assemble a really useful list!

bento_15_450.jpg

(click on image for a bigger view)

Bento contents:

Total calories (approx): 495 (how calories are calculated)

Time needed: 15 minutes in the morning, 20+ minutes make-ahead

Type: Japanese, mostly make-ahead

This bento uses a lot of staples and make-ahead items. This is really the key to assembling a varied bento lunch box without having to wake up an hour early in the morning to do so! The only thing that is made from scratch in the morning is the bacon wrapped tofu, and even that can be made the night before if needed (though it's best if you make it in the morning.) Johbisai or staples are really great: I got six total bentos out of one batch of the pepper and onion confit, and I'll get at least 2 or 4 bentos out of the 3 remaining tea eggs.

The star of the bento though is the bacon wrapped tofu. It's delicious hot or cold. For a bento, the salty-sweet variation is particularly good. Be sure to use an extra-firm tofu.

Lazy easy tea eggs

easyteaeggs.jpg

This is a sort of short-term storage staple. It only keeps in the refrigerator for about 3 or 4 days, but you can make them at any time and they are handy for filling a corner of a bento box.

There are many more complicated recipes for tea eggs, a traditional Chinese recipe. The boiled eggs are usually meant to be kept in the tea-based marinade with their shells on, carefully cracked all around so that a lovely marble pattern is revealed when the eggs are peeled.

My method is way simpler, and is motivated by the fact that I don't really want to be fiddling around with peeling eggs in the morning. Since the eggs are totally peeled, the marinade will penetrate it faster and deeper, so you can start using them just an hour after you've put them in the liquid if you like.

hashikit1.jpg

This week's focus is on non-disposable chopsticks that enhance your bento eating experience, as well as being a bit kinder to the environment.

The Weekly Bento Planner

weekly-bento-planner-pic.jpg

The Weekly Bento Planner is a simple one-page form that I use to plan out my week, bento-wise. I don't really bother to plan out my other meals, but since time is at such a premium in the morning when I'm assembling bentos, I spend a few minutes on the weekend writing out what I intend to make for bentos during the upcoming week.

Downloads

This section contains the downloadable bento-related forms and other materials available on Just Bento.

Keep reading Downloads →

bento_14_450.jpg

(click on image for a bigger view)

Bento contents:

  • Baked carrot slices with miso-nut topping (230cal)
  • 3/4 cups white rice (130cal)
  • 1 Tbs. edamame (20cal)
  • Broccoli with wasabi sauce (10cal)
  • 1/2 cup Pepper and onion confit (60cal)

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

Time needed: 30-40 minutes total (20-30 the night before or earlier, 10 in the morning)

Type: Japanese, vegan, mostly make-ahead

henohenomoheji_bento.jpg

This week for a change the bento box featured is one you can buy easily online on eBay. I've chosen it not because the bento box itself is special, but for the design on top, which makes me smile.

Making food for your bento that tastes good cold

One barrier to bentos for a lot of people might be the whole idea of eating cooked food that's cold, or at room temperature. The basic bento in Japan is meant to be eaten at room temperature, and is still very tasty (insulated/keep-hot bento containers are not that widespread in use, despite the efforts of manufacturers). Aside from some food that's designated otherwise, we are geared to thinking that food that's cooked should be hot. It's true that food that's meant to be eaten hot can taste blah when cold. There are some tricks to use when making food that you intend to eat in a non-heated bento though.

bento_13_450.jpg

(click on image for a larger view)

Bento contents:

  • Mixed capellini (angel hair) and shirataki noodles, about 1 cup cappellini cooked + 1/2 cup shirataki (220 calories)
  • Sweet pepper and onion confit, about 1 cup (120 calories)
  • 1 1/2 wiener sausages (200 calories)
  • 2 Tbs. tomato paste (25 calories)
  • Broccoli florets (negligible)

Total calories (approx.): 565 calories (how calories are calculated)

Type: Japanese, novelty

Bento decoration: Gerbera-like wiener flowers

flowerw_finished.jpg

(See the Bento Decoration master page for my general thinking on decorations.)

Japanese people love wiener sausages. They appear quite often in home cooking recipes. Wieners are the Play Doh of the bento making world since they are colorful and easy to manipulate.

I don't like to use wieners their relatives very often, though living in a Germanic area of Europe we can get pretty good ones that aren't dyed a bright pink and actually contain real meat. But once in a while they do appear in my bentos.

Bento decoration techniques

This is the master page for the Bento Decoration Techiques section. While decorative techniques can be time consuming, they can make your bento box a lot more fun to open.

Sweet pepper and onion confit

pepper_onion_confit.jpg

This colorful, healthy yet tasty all-vegetable mixture is a great refrigerator staple for using in your bentos, and is very adaptable. Depending on the flavors you can add later, it can taste Italian, Japanese, Chinese, or whatever suits your needs.

It's a mixture of thinly siiced onions, sweet peppers and a little garlic, sautéed over a fairly low heat until it's quite limp. It's only seasoned with salt, so that it's fairly neutral. You can then turn it more Mediterranean by adding some basil and oregano for example, or Japanese by adding soy sauce, or add some oyster sauce.

instant tsukemono mixI mentioned a few bento-oriented staples to keep around in my previous post about maintaining variety in your bentos. I've just done a quick look around my kitchen, and here are the things I have stocked as staples that I bought or made with future bentos in mind, besides the things I've mentioned already.

Getting started with bento making: Variety and saving money

A main reason many people like to, or want to, make bento lunches is for more variety, to save money, and to have some fun too. In my mind these aspects are quite interconnected.

There are three sources for filling your bento box. One is food that you make specifically for it, usually in the morning or perhaps the night before. The second is leftovers from other meals. The third is with stock or staple items (aka johbisai). The key to keeping a good variety in your bento meals is to use all three sources in in a smart way.

The raffle results for Menu For Hope have been announced on Chez Pim. This year, $91,188.00 was raised. Wow. Thank you to everyone who bought raffle tickets, and to my fellow food bloggers who offered such a great variety of prizes!

The winner of the Just Bento prize of a bento maker's dream package is Jennifer. (Check the list on Chez Pim to see if you are that Jennifer.) Jennifer, please get in touch with me at maki at makikoitoh dot com so we can discuss the where, how and what-goes-ins of your prize. My mom in Yokohama and I are poised and ready to fulfil your wishes.

hellokittyretro.jpg

Vintage/retro aluminum bento boxes from the '60s, '70s and '80s are popular as room accessories as well as for bento.

Getting started with bento making: Easy diet bento rules

slimbento1.png

Bento box lunches are a great tool to use within an overall weight loss program. Just the fact that the box is quite compact makes portion control a lot easier. However, just packing your lunch in a cute box doesn't automatically make it 'diet food' either. Here are some simple rules to follow to maximise the weight-loss benefits of your bento lunches.

Getting started with bento making: Aim for balance

To ease into the whole concept of bento lunches, try practicing your balancing skills.

Getting started with bento making

This is the start page for the Getting Started With Making Bento series for bento beginners.

nikko-maizoukinbento1.jpg

This is not your everyday bento for sure. Offered by a bento maker in the town of Nikko, the Nikko maizoukin (Nikko treasure) bento costs 150,000 yen, about US $1340 at today's exchange rates. It can only be ordered in Japan of course, and must be pre-ordered.

Posting here slowed down this past week, but never fear! Starting on the 2nd, I'll be kicking off a Getting Started With Bento Making series. If you're interested in incorporating bento lunches into your daily life, be sure to tune in.

In 2007, I made a series of resolutions aimed at improving my health and fitness, not to mention losing weight. I can't say I followed through on all of those resolutions, but one thing that did stick was making bento lunches at least a couple of times a week. As I wrote earlier, it has helped me to lose some weight, as well as eat healthier all around. I hope you'll join me as I continue my healthy-bento adventures in 2008!