Carrot Shiri Shiri

Asparagus --- Blanched, tossed with salt and oil.
Boiled eggs --- Tossed with mayo and curry powder and salt.
Chikuwa (fish cake) Seasoned with shoyu, mirin and shichimi togarashi.
Chicken nuggets --- Chicken tenders minced with knife, mixed with shoyu, mayo and potato starch, coated in potato starch and shallow-fried in oil.
A mineola orange for dessert.



Purple cabbage salad --- Blanched, soaked in vinaigrette.
Ninjin shirishiri --- Shredded carrot (of course), stir-fried with white maitake mushroom, ham and edamame, seasoned with salt and black pepper.
Chicken tender Spread with miso-mayo sauce then broiled.
Shirasu --- Mixed with shoyu, sesame seeds and sesame oil. On a bed of rice.




Ninjin shirishiri --- Shredded carrot stir-fried with an egg, shirasu, sesame seeds, salt and black pepper.
Potato salad --- Tossed with mayo, curry powder, lemon juice and salt.
Glossy shoyu chicken --- Cooked in shoyu, mirin, sake and sugar.




I find myself making ninjin shirishiri for bento very often. It's super easy to make and Yuppi's only favorite carrot dish. Since carrots are full of nutrients, I want to put some good carrot dish in bentos as often as I can. Ninjin shirishiri tastes good at room temperature and goes with rice or even bread. That means it's perfect for bento. (Wait, I may have written the same thing long before. Oh well, nobody remembers, haha!)

Handy Pan for Bento

Today's bento is chock-full of my favorite vegetables. Stir-cooked (stir-fried with no oil) maitake mushroom and thin pork slices. Savory pancakes made of spring cabbage, flour, okara (soy pulp from making soy milk), sakuraebi (dried teeny tiny shrimps) and aonori sea weed. A stir-fry of purple asparagus, green onion and an egg. Purple asparagus turns into green after cooking, but I think it's a bit better in taste than normal green one is.




This is a cheap small nonstick frying pan (about 9-inch) you could buy anywhere. Although I definitely prefer a cast iron skillet, I cook pretty much everything for bento in this pan except for rice. When you have to make several dishes in very small amounts one after another within a short time, this type of pan will come in handy.

For example, like this, for the bento above I first made the cabbage pancakes because they were least likely to get the pan dirty. Then what I next made in the same pan was the asparagus stir-fry. Then I lightly washed the pan out under running water, and then cooked the mushroom and pork in it. Finally I cleaned the pan using soap after everything had done.

This is a little tip for quick-bentoing on a daily basis. It can apply to cutting boards as well. Always starting with a cleaner thing (veggie or fruit) and after that, finishing with raw meat/fish or greasy stuff. This will help you speed up. Really.

It's OK not to put many items in bento boxes, isn't it? I always only have three or four. Sometimes just ONE! Like fried rice or noodles or only some omusubi, high-carb bentos... LOL! If you make two quick dishes or three in the morning and in the fridge you have some leftovers from the night before, your bento will be such a perfection!

So Far So Good

This bento contains spinach, daigakuimo (glazed sweet potato), chicken karaage, omusubi balls (of rice, edamame, scrambled egg and shirasu) and a mikan for dessert.




Chicken katsu curry. In this bento are spinach salad (as usual), a bit sour purple cabbage salad (I like purple veggies) for refreshment, mini panko-fried chicken breast pieces and rice (of course). Unfortunately I can't show you the content of the thermal jar, because I screw the lid on immediately.




I like this bagel (or donut?) key chain. It looks so good, doesn't it? I couldn't help taking the shot.




I made today, a quick omuraisu bento. I added blanched spinach and creamy sesame dressing to top it off.



Sadly, our spinach season is almost over. Spinach is available to buy all year, but not so good except for the cold season. For the same reason, I hardly buy tomatoes or cucumbers in winter. I'm about to make the switch from spinach to spring cabbage, which is also a time-limited deliciousness, and will be in season soon. You'll probably see a lot of cabbage in my bentos! :D

It Has Been Forever

Whoa. How long has it been?? How many people in the world still read this blog? I myself, have not been here in a long long time. I am alive anyhow, haha! You are very precious if you're still interested in what I make for bento.




This contains salmon, edamame, spinach, lemon pork saute and potato.




Bibimbap bento. Spinach, stir-fried pork, carrot, moyashi (mung bean sprouts), gochujang (Korean bean paste) and rice.




Curry-flavored potato salad, fried pork slices, tamagoyaki and pickled purple Chinese cabbage.