my bento
hard boiled egg (it fell apart 😦 ); pan fried asparagus; fish cake tube with asparagus (this tastes GREAT with kewpie mayo but i’m watching my calories); cherry tomato; shrimp tempura (pre-frozen from trader joe’s, probably one of the best investments i’ve made!); rice fried with bacon and roasted sweet corn
i work today but he doesn’t.. so i get a bento, and he gets a plate. *sigh* i want to stay home 😦 but at least i have a nice lunch!!
his bento
strawberry; dove chocolate with caramel; tamagoyaki with kamaboko; octopus wieners with okonomiyaki sauce; soy ginger broccoli; bacon grease fried rice with takanazuke, soy sauce, and sake
his bento
fire roasted corn; ground chicken sauteed in sugar, soy sauce, and ginger; chopped spinach; fish cake tubes with mayo; imitation crab with mayo; shiitake mushrooms
my bento
rice with takanazuke and dried shrimp; cherry tomato; takoyaki w/ mayo and nori; tamagoyaki with imitation crab; kabocha simmered in soy sauce, dashi, and sugar
his bento
top: smoked salmon and green onion tamagoyaki, sweet simmered shiitake, stir fried green beans, and fish cake with mayo
bottom: daikon rice with furikake
my bento
left: salted cucumber salad with sesame seeds, apple slices, adzuki beans
right: smoked salmon donburi
i love donburi but he hates it. he doesn’t like egg on rice or sweet egg or hard boiled egg!!! so i made him a tamagoyaki with some smoked salmon and green onion, a dash of soy sauce and a dash of sake.
daikon rice: this recipe was taken from naomi kijima’s bento book. marinate daikon in soy sauce for about 10 minutes, drain, and stir into cooked rice along with bonito flakes. i topped mine with my favorite furikake which is a mix of bonito flakes, nori, sesame seeds. this was actually leftover from dinner last night..
smoked salmon donburi: this recipe was also adapted from naomi kijima’s bento book. she has a recipe for unagi (bbq eel) donburi and i instead replaced it with the smoked salmon.
the adzuki beans also came from naomi kijima’s bento book. i used canned beans instead, and added about half the sugar since i don’t like mine as sweet.
both of our bentos were packed in green boxes! purely coincidentally (it’s all that was clean heh heh). maybe it will bring us a little extra prosperity!?
his bento
steamed broccoli, cauliflower, and carrots; pork gyoza with sauce bottle; salmon rice with nori
dessert: cherry cheesecake
my bento
clam donburi, stir fried mixed vegetables, pork gyoza with sauce
easiest gyoza sauce: 1 T soy sauce, 1 T rice vinegar, 2-3 drops of sesame oil
clam donburi is pretty easy. donburi is dishes where egg is cooked in a sweet watery sauce and served over rice. this is a variation of naomi kijima’s clam donburi. in my variation i used canned clam and green onions. she also has a bbq eel donburi that i’d love to try with bbq pork! japanese cooking is actually very affordable but you have to make substitutions for items that are cheap and readily available where you live.
salmon rice – also adapted from one of naomi kijima’s recipes (salmon cucumber rice). saute canned salmon and ginger in a frying pan, add hot cooked rice, remove from heat and season with salt and pepper. top with nori. he doesn’t like cucumber (except in cucumber salad) so i didn’t want to make the rice as per her recipe. the nori is my “green” substitution to ensure he gets his vitamins.
his bento
from left: beef fried rice, steamed carrots and broccoli with mayo, chikuwa fritters, lotus root salad; not pictured: apple slices for dessert
my bento
right, from top: lotus root salad, steamed carrot and broccoli with mayo, chikuwa fritter, tamagoyaki, persimmon slices; left: steamed rice with furikake, salted salmon
the best use of leftover rice is fried rice! we ordered hot mama’s pesto pizza last night for dinner and i’d made rice for yesterday’s bentos that morning.. and still had nearly half a pot of rice leftover this morning… so i made fried rice.
his bento
left, from top: hamburger with tonkatsu sauce, simmered konbu, simmered shiitake; right: pork fried rice; dessert: slice of pound cake
my bento:
left: pork fried rice; right, from top: mandarin oranges, simmered konbu, simmered shiitake, hamburger
this is a pretty salty bento, so i thought i’d throw some mandarin orange slices in to break it up a little bit. the tamagoyaki was made with dashi broth and a little mirin, sake, and soy sauce. It’s not sweet at all, and compliments the saltier items well. also, mixed rice is a good way to add some variety and nutrition to a bento.
his bento
left: mixed rice with shirasu, nori, and sesame seeds; right, clockwise: steamed carrots, broccoli, and potato with mayo, tamagoyaki, salted cabbage, mandarin orange slices, salt broiled calamari; cream puff for dessert
my bento
front, clockwise: salt broiled calamari on salted cabbage, mandarin orange slices, lotus root kimpura, tamagoyaki; back: mixed rice with shirasu, nori, and sesame seeds; doriyaki for dessert
today’s bento is lots of leftovers from the past week, plus a few items i made especially for lunch. the boy has the day off but wants to work a few hours, so i decided to make lunches for us. besides, i think these are the cutest lunches i’ve made yet! ;D
his bento:
right container, from top: tofu and pork croquetas with tonkatsu sauce, green beans simmered in soy sauce, kamaboko sakura flowers, asazuki with apples, green beans and carrots rolled in beef, tamagoyaki with kamaboko, chinese rice ball filled with sesame oil (too oily for me, but he loves them); left container: rice balls with beef (top two) and umeboshi and kombu (bottom).
it’s a lot of food, but he’ll probably eat one or two of the rice balls seperately. also, i just noticed, i almost had a horizontal stripe pattern going on with his bento!
my bento:
bottom layer: tofu and pork croqueta with tonkatsu sauce, star shaped onigiri with egg, persimmon slices; top layer: tamagoyaki with kamaboko, green beans and carrots rolled in beef, broccoli and apple asazuki; back: azuki bean doriyaki (i love azuki bean paste!!)
leggo my obento! the bento blog 