Food for the Week

Since the base of each meal I eat is rice, I often cook up a lot of little side and meat dishes to eat with it. It's not uncommon for me to just come home, grab a bowl, fill the bottom with rice, top it off with some sides, and eat that for dinner.

Here is a sample of this past week's little dishes, some of which you saw in my previously posted bentos.

Bellpepper stirfry with bonito shavings, sesame seasoned green beans, chicken adobo drumsticks, and egg omelette.

I also have mini meatloaf, congee, and chicken karaage in the freezer. More vegetable sides are made in the middle of the week when these have been consumed.

My Yummy Box

I recently purchased this box off ebay. With this box, my collection is pretty much complete. Each of my boxes serves a function from either capacity or shape. This little box is still under 600 ml, but it is deeper than any of my other boxes, which makes it perfect for dishes that have some sort of gravy or sauce that I prefer to serve over rice instead of in a separate container.

Rice with umeboshi, rolled egg omelette, and seasoned edamame (seeing more of these in the freezer section of regular grocery stores these days).

Food for a Co-worker

One of my co-workers was sick this week, so I decided to bring her some food. My mother always thought illness could be cured with something good to eat; I guess I picked up that habit.

My friend is a vegetarian but every blue moon eats a wee bit of fish, so I let her know beforehand that the miso soup was flavored with a small amount of bonito stock.

Tofu stirfry with cabbage, carrots, and snowpeas. Rice with black sesame seeds and an umeboshi. The smaller red container is mine and holds basically the same meal, sans umeboshi. The tall container in the back has miso soup for another colleague who had asked if I could make her some (she baked me some banana nut bread in return). The smaller thermos has miso soup that my friend could eat with her meal. And the container on its side is filled with Korean sesame and garlic spinach, which is her favorite.

Bento Lunch 11/13/15

Rice barrels with nori furikake, green beans with Kewpie sesame dressing, stirfried red bellpepper seasoned with bonito shavings and soy, and rolled egg omelette.

Bento Lunch 11/9/15

Bento lunch postings are getting a bit sporadic as not all my lunches are post-worthy. Some, like curry over rice or chicken congee with century egg, are just poured into a bowl-like Lock & Lock container. 

This is my small two tiered oval bento box and (to be frank) my least favorite. I'm just not into two tiered boxes and, in particular, hate oval shapes as I find them hard to squeeze food into. Rounded edges, yes. Completely rounded, no.

Bottom tier holds rice with black sesame seeds. 

Top tier has steamed green beans seasoned with bonito shavings and soy, chicken karaage, and spicy Thai red curry shrimp lay nestled against the lettuce. I absolutely adored the shrimp. Usually, the curry is used with coconut milk, but I don't like the slippery texture coconut milk gives to curry, so I just use the paste for stirfry. I recently made a batch with chicken, bamboo shoots, baby corn, bell pepper, and water chestnuts. I was sooooo good!

Bento Lunch 11/5/2015

Decided to use the divider inserts in my usagi bento box today. Egg omelette, cherry tomatoes, Japanese potato salad, rice with nori furikake, and some grapes for dessert. The barrel press that comes with this lunchbox is what I used to shape the rice into those nice little cylindrical shapes. The shape isn't purely aesthetic either. It actually comes in really handy because it allows for easier pick-up of the rice, with each barrel being a perfectly little compact bite.

Bento Side - Flaked Salmon

Not a big fan of this. Basically, it's baked salmon that is stirfried until a lot of the water is evaporated, and what's left behind is a dry and flavorful flake. However, I probably won't make this again. It's a bit too fishy tasting for me, despite the ubiquitous addition of sake and mirin. I can't deny that it's very pretty though. The delicate pink color reminds me of cherry blossoms.

Thought I'd still include it here in case anyone else might be interested. The video on how to make this will be posted below.

A colorful lunch

Over Rice

Salmon Flakes Recipe

My Usagi Box

Usagi, the Japanese word for rabbit, is both a favorite animal of mine as well as the year I was born, according to the paper place mats found in Chinese restaurants. As such, I'm drawn to bento boxes featuring the cute little buggers, this red usagi decorated box being my absolute favorite and the one I use the most often. It's a single tier (I've found I prefer those) side snap case that's supposed to be waterproof, but I don't carry watery items, so I don't really know if that's the case. It comes with dividing containers and a cute little barrel rice press, but I don't use those often. I love that it's quite roomy but not so that I have to worry about overfilling.

Here it is holding two onigiri and a few pieces of green tea and Flower Kiss candies. One of the onigiri is filled with a tuna/mayo/wasabi combo. The other has a pitted umeboshi. The onigiri wraps are a favorite way of preparing a quick lunch, but I'll discuss those more in a later post.

The tuna onigiri for me; the umeboshi version is for a vegetarian friend at work. Candies for the both of us.

Here it is another day with a delicious salad.

Bento side - Japanese potato salad

I love Japanese potato salad. I think it's the creaminess of the Kewpie mayonnaise along with the colorfulness of the carrots and cucumber. Made my a batch last night, and while I think I put in just a tad too much rice wine vinegar, I'm otherwise quite pleased with both the look at the taste. The key to producing a good, dry salad which travels well in bento is to make sure all the ingredients have as much water removed from them as possible. For the potatoes and carrots, this means tossing them in the pan over heat to evaporate any residual water, and for the fresh onion and cucumbers, salting them and squeezing out any water that is extracted. A lot of recipes use ham, but I omitted that. Since I didn't go with a particular serving size (my focus was on using the two remaining potatoes I had in the fridge), I don't have an exact recipe, but I'll list the ingredients and methods below.

How pretty this will look in my box

Ingredients:

potatoes
carrots
onion
cucumber
Kewpie mayo
rice wine vinegar
boiled egg

• Boil potatoes and carrots in salted water until tender. Drain water, then hold over heat and move around in the pan until all residual water is evaporated.
• Add a small amount of salt to thinly sliced cucumber and minced onion. Wait 10 minutes. Place ingredients in a paper towel and squeeze out extracted water.
• Mash the potatoes lightly (I mash my egg too, but you can slice it into little bites) and add the cucumber, onion, a dash of vinegar, and as much mayo as you prefer.
• Stir, and you're done.

Trying out a Japanese breakfast

Decided to give a Japanese breakfast a try, though admittedly my version isn't as aesthetically pleasing as you would find in most Japanese households. Don't know if a lot of people use a coffee mug to make their miso soup. ;-)

Verdict: not a huge fan of natto, though I've eaten it on more than a couple occasions now. Like the miso and rice combination. Umeboshi's sour flavor is definitely a wake-up call.

You can see the little packet of instant miso in the back there. I usually make fresh miso soup, but I've had this packet for a couple years now and am trying to use it all up. Perhaps I'll take some of it to work with me too.

Bento Side - Fishcake Stirfry

So what does one put into a bento lunch? It varies, depending each person's tastes, but I'll be posting my favorite sides on this blog from time to time.

First up to bat: fishcake stirfry. I love fishcake. It a perfect blend of sweet and savory. And like tofu, it can soak up whatever extra seasonings or marinade you put it in. For example, oden. Love oden on a cold winter's day; warms you right to your toes, and the next time I make some, I'll definitely be posting pictures. Now, for this dish, I normally use the more flat type of fishcake that is far more familiar in Korean households; however, all I had on hand were these little round ones that I'd planned on using in a Chinese noodle soup. This dish works really well for bento. Not only is it a protein packed side, it also adds a beautiful array of colors with the bright red spices and the occasional peek of onion and carrot.

Here is the recipe from Maangchi's website. Stir Fried Fish Cake

My Totoro Box

This little Totoro box is one of my favorites and, at 360 ml, the smallest that I own. I've used it for a snack container, but it mostly serves as a bento box for heavy carb meals such as fried rice. I just love the Totoro characters and especially how they're actually little figures attached to the lid. I put the bottom portion in the dishwasher but always hand wash the top, just in case.

Here is is in action with some kimchee fried rice. The chopped green onion is a great visual, but it also tastes great too.

Why Bento?

Why bother with bento? Seems like a lot of trouble, especially with all that decorating. Not to mention the portions are so small. Plus, it's a bit "weird" to boot.

These are the questions that I come across the most, so I'll answer them in order.


Why bento?

I chose to bento because of three main reasons. First of all, I'm of Asian descent. That doesn't mean that bento is somehow in my genetics. It's just to explain that I've been around bento more than others may have and the sizing works with what I eat, which I'll explain later. Secondly, I'm diabetic and overweight and know that my main weakness is portion control, which bento-ing helps to control. I've actually lost 6 pounds so far. Lastly, I'm on a budget and find that sticking to an Asian diet helps me control spending. This is because all meals revolve around rice, which is a really inexpensive staple. I think I go through a 15 bag of rice each month, which costs me around 19.00.

Seems like a lot of trouble, especially with all that decorating. 

Decorating can be troublesome, which is why I don't bother with it. Most of the cute little cartoon characters are done by those who have children. I don't. Or they're embraced by those who have a really artistic soul. Mine isn't. However, I do like things to be aesthetically pleasing, which is why I try and stick to a colorful bento which, in turn, helps me keep my diet healthier as most of the color comes from my fruit and vegetable choices.

The portion sizes are so tiny!

I see this a lot. Even when I purchased my Lock and Lock bento from Amazon, all of the negative reviews focused on one main aspect - the size. Most found it too small, but that's because they were looking at it in the terms of not being able to fit certain non-traditional bento foods, such as sandwichs, or are use to a diet where the carbohydrate portion is the same as the meat, which means that once you fill up one tier of the box, the remaining divided tier does look too small. With the first scenario, you can end up with a lot of empty space, thereby definitely ending up with hunger pangs later in the evening. The latter situation is just a reflection of what we mistakenly attribute as a single portion.

Bento boxes are measured in ml. Each ml roughly represents a calorie, if fully packed. So though the box might look small, your average 5-600 ml bento can equal out to 5-600 calories for the one meal.

It's weird

Bento is growing in popularity. However, it's still a bit odd in smaller, less metropolitan areas. I live in the South and have gotten more than my fair share of odd looks and people asking me about what I'm eating and grimaces or "oohs" depending on the answer. I do most of my eating in my workroom and away from prying eyes.

An added bonus is that most of my lunches don't require reheating, so no long lines at the microwave.  ;-)


So there it is. I guess the final question might be "why blog?" Well, I've been so inspired by others that I wanted to create a visual reference of my own. Maybe people will get inspired. Maybe it will serve as a cautionary tale. LoL. Either way, it's just for my own enjoyment.