Just Bento

In response to the picnic bento I posted yesterday, Zoé asked:

Really cute! Hey, I read on your blog that you aren’t keen in cute cooking…was it a joke ;)

Good question! I thought I’d qualify what I meant when I said that cute kyaraben (charaben) are not really my style. continue reading...

Bento contents: continue reading...

• Bite size shrimp and caper sushi, about 40 cal per piece
• Tamagoyaki (Japanese omelette), 3 eggs worth, cut into 12 pieces - about 30 cal per piece
• Cherry tomatoes
• Blanched snow peas or mangetout
• Carrot flowers
• Cherries (not shown)

Great news for fans of cute kyaraben, especialy Hello Kitty themed ones: the Hello Kitty bento decorating set that was featured in this post is now available at J-List/JBox! They offer it for $25, which considering the original Japanese price is 1980 yen is not too bad. Now Her Royal Kittiness can invade bento boxes worldwide with consummate ease! Now, can I resist getting a set myself?

(Note: I’m not sure from the description of the product if the second nori punch with the Kassie and Teddy faces is included - although the pictures do show Kassie and Teddy-shaped onigiri with the appropriate nori faces. If this is important to you, you may want to ask J-List if it is included before ordering.) Rita just got hers and let us know that it does include two nori punches!

(Disclaimer: JustBento is a J-List affiliate.) continue reading...

Okowa （おこわ）is the name given to a type of rice dish in which sticky glutinous rice is mixed with all kinds of vegetables or meat and steamed. It’s related to Chinese sticky rice, which you might have had as part of a dim sum meal. If the rice mix is steamed in small packets, wrapped in a bamboo leaf, it’s called chimaki. You can mix any number of things in with the rice to make it a complete meal in itself. continue reading...

Last time, I mentioned how I thought the Fit & Fresh™ Breakfast Chiller, which is decidedly not a bento box in the traditional sense, could serve as a bento box. I put this into practice with some leftovers. It doesn’t look that photogenic so I’m putting it in the also-ran category of bentos, but it’s here since I thought it might be useful to see how to use a container like this. continue reading...

This week’s bento, or rather food-on-the-go, box is from the popular Fit & Fresh™ line from Medport. Fit & Fresh™ products are plastic containers with a cooling element included in some way. This makes them interesting for use with food that needs to be kept chilled, especially in the warmer months. continue reading...

Bento contents:

• 3/4 cup (1 cup = 220ml) brown rice, 170 cal
• 4 Tbs. Vegan dry curry made with soybeans, 200 cal
• Cucumber and cherry tomato salad with yogurt sauce, 40 cal
• Broccoli, 10 cal

Total calories (approx): 420 (how calories are calculated)

Time needed: 10 minutes in the morning

Type: Japanese-yohshoku, vegan (soybeans or tempeh) continue reading...

Dry curry is a uniquely Japanese dish, much like the stew-type of Japanese curry. Dry curry is really well suited to bentos. The spicy curry aroma is appetising yet not overwhelming, and the combination of salty, spicy and sweet flavors really gets me going.

The recipe for a more traditional ground meat based dry curry has already been posted on Just Hungry. This is a vegan version that uses cooked soybeans or crumbled tempeh. It’s so rich in flavor that even non-vegetarians won’t miss the meat. It’s also very easy to make, though a food processor helps for chopping up all the vegetables.

Both the meat based and this soybean based dry curry mixes freeze very well, making them perfect freezer staples. continue reading...

As I posted yesterday, making individual pies in muffin or cupcake liners is a great way to make ‘planned leftovers’ from dinner look neat enough to put into a bento box. As Sile suggested in the comments, if you don’t want to use throwaway paper cups, silicone cups are a reusable alternative. Calphalon makes a nice silicone liner and cupcake pan set which would be perfect for this. The liners are in pretty pastel colors.

You can also use the liners as dividers in your bento, for salads, fruit, and so on. They sell the tin and liners as a set, as shown here, or the liners on their own. Extras might be a good idea to have if you do freeze the food ‘cupcakes’. continue reading...

Since Just Bento is attracting a lot of new readers these days (thank you!) starting now I’m going to be highlighting some of the most popular or interesting articles from the past month every month, in case you missed something good.

• Bento teasing? Do you or your kids get teased about your (or their) bento? The comments are really thought provoking.
• Carrot rice two ways. These two very easy ways of adding carroty goodness to plain rice have gotten great reviews from readers who’ve tried them.
• Tuna tofu miso mini-burgers. Another hit recipe - cheap and easy to make.
• Bento boxes of the week: Stainless steel People seemed to really warm to the idea of a durable, non-plastic bento. This was a followup of sorts to a question posed in March, how to get rid of the plastic smell in bento boxes.

See more entries from April, not to mention March, February and more! continue reading...

I do love carrots. They are full of nutrients and fiber, inexpensive, available year around, and durable. And their bright orange color (or other colors, if you delve into the exotic varieties) add instant cheer to any dish or bento box. So when I saw that my favorite vegan author Yumiko Kano was coming out with a new book of just carrot recipes, I reserved it in advance without a second thought.

This is a recipe adapted from that book. It’s a soft, light carrot spread or paste that is sweet, salty and a bit spicy. It has tahini (sesame seed paste) in it, which adds richness as well as protein. The spiciness comes from cumin and red chili pepper powder, and the sweetness comes from the carrot itself, which is roasted to intensify the flavor, and a tad of raw cane sugar. It is great as a spread on crackers or rice cakes or toast, or as a dip. The soft texture means it can’t quite substitute for peanut butter in a pb and j sandwich, but it’s fantastic in a wrap sandwich. It is of course totally gluten-free and nut-free too, so if your child’s school has a “no-nut” policy, which seems to be increasingly common these days, this is great. continue reading...

Bento contents:

• 3 individual portion shepherd’s pies, 360 cal
• 10 frozen edamame, 50 cal
• 1 Tbs. mayonnaise, 100 cal
• Broccoli florets, 10 cal
• Cornichons (pickles), 10 cal
• Cherry tomatoes, 40 cal

Total calories (approx): 570 (how calories are calculated)

Time needed: 5 minutes in the morning

Type: Not Japanese, omnivore (beef), frozen continue reading...

This is more of a tip than a recipe, but I’ve put it here because it’s a handy way of building up your bento freezer stash. When I make something that is baked in a casserole for dinner such as shepherd’s pie, I try to make a few individual portions in cupcake liners. continue reading...

Before we start the weekend - car themed kyaraben eye candy. continue reading...

Good news for bento fans in Europe and the UK in particular: as reported previously, Japan Centre’s online store has expanded their bento box and accessory lineup from Daiso. Accessories are priced at £1.45 to &1.49, and bento boxes like the popular Lube Sheep Dragonfly model are £2.50 - pretty reasonable I think. While Japan Centre, who are based in London, only ship food items within Europe, they do ship non-food items worldwide, Always figure in the shipping costs and shop around for the best deals! See Where to buy bento items. (*Disclaimer: Japan Centre is an advertiser on Just Bento, but I’m also a very happy repeat customer.)

Reader Suzi no miko left this great comment:

I am a vegetarian and my husband is not (slight issue…). When I make Bento for the two of us I end up making a bunch of different things because he wants meat in his Bento almost every day. He’s also on the South Beach Diet thing and won’t eat rice, carrots, corn, potatoes, soba, fruit, etc… This page had been very helpful to us (more specifically me) and thanks to our bento boxes making portion control easy and the tips on packing from you we have collectively lost about 50 pounds.

That is really great - congratulations to Suzu no miko and her husband! Bentos are a great weight loss aid, as I’ve written before, because portion control is much easier than with large or more open containers.

One point that Suzu no miko brought up is something I have to deal with too: how to make a vegetarian-based bento that an omnivore, or a bigger eater, would feel satisfied with. I often show the bigger-portion version of each complete bento, but here are some general tips. continue reading...

Bento contents:

• 3/4 cup (220ml) carrot rice, 140 cal
• 1 cup Vegan nikujaga (potatoes stewed with fried tofu), 200 cal
• Sautéed spicy lotus root, 140 cal
• Radishes, 5 cal

Total calories (approx): 485 (how calories are calculated)

Time needed: 10 minutes in the morning

Type: Japanese, vegan (tofu) continue reading...

This week I’m going back to the handcrafted bento boxes that I love. The material in the spotlight is bamboo. continue reading...

Whenever I post a complete bento how-to I try to pick ones that have something unique or noteworthy about them. Of course I actually make a lot more bentos than I post about. Here are few that didn’t make the cut - the ‘also-ran’ bentos, with an explanation of why they didn’t make it to star status. continue reading...

Whenever I post about kyaraban/charaben (cute bentos) from Japan, there are often comments bemoaning the lack of how-tos on those kyaraben sites. There are how tos out there, but in many cases you need to read Japanese to follow them. But here are some links to how-tos with a lot of photos that you could follow along even without understanding the accompanying Japanese text. continue reading...

Bento contents:

• 1 cup (220ml) zakkokumai, 160 cal
• 3 tuna tofu miso mini-burgers made with tuna packed in oil, 250 cal
• Red pepper and pak choy stir fry, 60 cal

Total calories (approx): 480 (how calories are calculated)

Time needed: 10-15 minutes

Type: Japanese, meatless (tuna) continue reading...