Just Bento

Bento contents:

• 2 okowa with chicken onigiri, containing approx. 1 cup of cooked sticky rice and 1 oz. / 30g chicken - 320 cal
• Tamagoyaki with chopped green onions, 1 egg’s worth - 100 cal
• Green beans with carrot and ginger, 40 cal

Total calories (approx): 460 (how calories are calculated)

Time needed: 10-15 minutes in the morning

Type: Japanese, omnivore (chicken, egg)

(Oops, I misnumbered the two recent bento! This should be no. 38, if you’re counting. I’ve changed the title but not the URL.)

Here is another example of an onigiri (rice ball) based bento, packed into an onigiri bento box. I made a batch of okowa, adding some chopped cooked leftover chicken to the the basic recipe, formed it into 1/2 cup-portion plastic wrap method onigiri, and froze it. Because of the extra-glutinous nature of sticky rice and the addition of a little oil to the rice, okowa freezes and defrosts beautifully. Since okowa does contain oil and is preseasoned, it’s not necessary to moisten the plastic or salt it to form the onigiri.

Each okowa rice ball is almost a complete meal unto itself, but I supplemented it with lots of vegetables in the side dish compartment, plus a tamagoyaki (Japanese style omelete) with green onion mixed in.

The only thing I made fresh in the morning was the tamagoyaki - the green beans are made the night before, and the frozen okowa onigiri are defrosted.

To make this into a vegan bento, omit the chicken from the okowa and leave out the tamagoyaki (you could replace it with a vegan protein dish, such as black bean mini burgers.)