Bento Boxes

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blissful said:
I really like your bento box thread. I read it, have never done it.
If this link is a repeat please just ignore it. This website has some beautiful bento boxes, I thought some of you may enjoy.

Bento pictures - Bento photo gallery

I love looking at the pictures and trying to think up what kind of things might work for me. I think I need a hot and cold bento box, as I feel more satisfied with hot and cold food for a meal.
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Thanks, Blissful! I love looking at the ideas!
 
DampCharcoal said:
The more I look into it, the more I like it!

I need a dietary lifestyle change and that might be the way to go.

My issue is that I like to eat (obviously) and I also like grains and cheese.

I think I could get used to a structured meal plan which tastes good and is satisfying but I'm guessing that's as elusive as an FDA approved magical weight loss pill.

Anywho, a successful diet is more mind-over-matter more than anything else.

I'm still working up the brain power. ;)
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Finding the right size Bento Box is half the battle. You need to make sure you can get enough in it to make a substantial lunch. I love bento for the portion control.
 
whoa, bliss, check out all them lunchboxes! it'll take a while to look at each one for ideas...

D'Charcoal, I like that it encourages variety. Just as important for a good diet. For some working people, eating out every day, mixing lunch up can be a difficult chore.
 
img_1114868_0_faeaf2a7e474a37e322c854840ad9723.jpg

1. osuimono soup
2. plain white rice
3. sukiyaki
4. grapefruit & orange
5. OJ
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Soup has green onion and bok choi leaves.Rice is topped with a tsukemono of kombu seaweed julienne braised in a teriyaki flavor. It's called tsukudani, and I cook mine with bacon and garlic. Sukiyaki is beef, tofu, oyster shrooms, cabbage, leek, spinach and zucchini. The beef is not cut for sukiyaki, but it's the best my city can offer. I sliced it up to get more into my bento box. Grapefruit is from my neighbor, oranges are from an acquaitance. One tree is too much for most home gardens. The supremes & juice are topped with toasted almonds. Like stews, some people think that sukiyaki tastes better the next day as leftover. I wouldn't be surprised if it is the #1 most common item in bento boxes sold at markets near train stations.
 
No sauce, Fifi-chan. Mine also has no garlic or ginger.

Sukiyaki, meaning to cook whatever you like, is a simmering communal pot. The ideal appliance is a deep, tabletop electric skillet. There are many rituals, do's and don'ts, about it. I have none. The broth in which everything simmers is classic Japanese: dashi, soy, mirin, sugar, sake. Proportions vary with household; mine is roughly 10:5:5:2:1, which I like to cook together briefly in a sauce pan in advance. A good place to start is 2:1:1 with sugar & sake to taste. In addition to a decanter of that broth, I keep some water, soy sauce and sugar handy tableside to adjust the pot's taste as the dinner night progresses. The only commonality of what goes into the pot are that they be cut to be easily retrieved with chopsticks and that they cook in a broth relatively quickly which is why the beef should be the thinnest possible cut, to the point where its muscle cells contract and curl with the application of heat.

My one gripe with sukiyaki in a bento box is that I like to dip my pot pickings into raw egg. Which would be like, for lunch, loading each chamber with a live slug.
 
spork said:
My one gripe with sukiyaki in a bento box is that I like to dip my pot pickings into raw egg. Which would be like, for lunch, loading each chamber with a live slug.
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How does the raw egg work. You dip it in before you cook it?
What would make it like a live slug? Just wondering.
 
spork said:
No sauce, Fifi-chan. Mine also has no garlic or ginger.

Sukiyaki, meaning to cook whatever you like, is a simmering communal pot. The ideal appliance is a deep, tabletop electric skillet. There are many rituals, do's and don'ts, about it. I have none. The broth in which everything simmers is classic Japanese: dashi, soy, mirin, sugar, sake. Proportions vary with household; mine is roughly 10:5:5:2:1, which I like to cook together briefly in a sauce pan in advance. A good place to start is 2:1:1 with sugar & sake to taste. In addition to a decanter of that broth, I keep some water, soy sauce and sugar handy tableside to adjust the pot's taste as the dinner night progresses. The only commonality of what goes into the pot are that they be cut to be easily retrieved with chopsticks and that they cook in a broth relatively quickly which is why the beef should be the thinnest possible cut, to the point where its muscle cells contract and curl with the application of heat.

My one gripe with sukiyaki in a bento box is that I like to dip my pot pickings into raw egg. Which would be like, for lunch, loading each chamber with a live slug.
Click to expand...

Thank you for the description and the formula. This should go into my Mr. Bento with the thermal cup. That must be some killer broth after all the bits are eaten!
 
blissful said:
How does the raw egg work. You dip it in before you cook it?
What would make it like a live slug? Just wondering.
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There are two camps of sukiyaki eaters, bliss -- those who dip or don't in raw egg. Pick whatever you want from the pot, dip in a transitional bowl of beaten egg, then eat. My live slug reference is two-fold: a raw egg is slimy, and eating raw egg is an exercise in Russian Roulette. But a raw egg in a lunch box is like loading a roulette gun that does not have blanks in all but one chamber, each is live.
 
PrincessFiona60 said:
Thank you for the description and the formula. This should go into my Mr. Bento with the thermal cup. That must be some killer broth after all the bits are eaten!
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One of the sukiyaki rituals is that the broth is reserved for mom, who pours a spoonful on top of her bowl of rice to eat and announce dinner's end. The leftovers refrigerate well for a day, but start to look gross much longer.
 
spork said:
One of the sukiyaki rituals is that the broth is reserved for mom, who pours a spoonful on top of her bowl of rice to eat and announce dinner's end. The leftovers refrigerate well for a day, but start to look gross much longer.
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For all intents and purposes, I'm Mom in this household.:) I'd like to use it as a base for homemade ramen.
 
Been a little bit.. sneaking in here between unpacking boxes.. Bought a house and just moved in!

Sukiyaki is an old favorite of my GF and I, and she loves extra broth.. I usually cook it according to this recipe, doubling the broth and as spork mentions, I belong to the no egg camp..

Beef Sukiyaki

-Damien
 
Thanks guys.. Yep, new kitchen.. I'll try to get pictures up when we're unpacked... But.. When it rains, it pours..

Went to get the gas started and the tech red-tagged my fireplaces due to a massive carbon monoxide leak and we also discovered the washer has a leak and spills water all over the floor.

Gotta love headaches.. lol

-Damien
 
When I was in the Navy I lived in the metro area of Yokohama. On my way into work very early morning, I'd buy a pack of Inarizushi and some milk-tea for breakfast. Inarizushi is sushi rice and some vegetables stuffed in a fried tofu pouch. These make a great breakfast on the go cold or warm. The recipe follows.

How to Make Inarizushi

Ingredients for Inarizushi
(12 pieces)

6 Aburaage - Fried Tofu Pouches
300ml Dashi Stock (1.27 us cup)
3 tbsp Sugar
2 tbsp Mirin
2 tbsp Soy Sauce

3 Dried Shiitake Mushrooms
30g Carrot (1.76 oz)
4g Dried Hijiki Seaweed (0.141 oz)
Vegetable Oil

4~5 tbsp Shiitake Liquid
½ tbsp Sake
½ tbsp Mirin
½ tbsp Sugar
½ tbsp Soy Sauce
1 tbsp Toasted White Sesame Seeds

Omelette Sheets (2 eggs + sugar + salt + potato starch dissolved in water)
Mitsuba - Japanese Wild Parsley
Shoga Amazuzuke - Pickled Ginger

300ml Japanese Rice (1.27 us cup)
300ml Water (1.27 us cup)
1 tbsp Sake
5x5cm Dried Kombu Seaweed (2x2 inch)

How to Make Steamed Rice
Wash and drain 300ml rice (1.27 us cup) with a sieve basket. Put the rice in a rice cooker and add 300ml water (1.27 us cup), 1 tbsp sake and 5x5cm dried kombu seaweed (2x2 inch). Let the rice soak in the water for 30 minutes and turn on the rice cooker.

50ml Sushi Vinegar (1.76 fl oz)
(substitute: 2 tbsp rice vinegar + 1½ tbsp sugar + ⅔ tsp salt)

Recipe comes from the Cooking with dog channel on youtube.

-Damien
 
Wow! That sounds great and the only ingredient I don't have is the tofu pouches...Thanks Damien!
 
Good stuff, Damien! Thanks for the recipe & video.

The fried tofu pockets also come cut, cooked and packaged for inarizushi. I've bought them refrigerated in a plastic pouch, bathed in its cooking juice. They're also available canned, preserved. They're a bit delicate, and should be stuffed with a gentle hand. Fun to make, fun to eat!

The carrot, shiitake and hijiki seaweed combination is common enough that I've seen all three shredded together in a dried package. Other creative ingredients in an inari will work, too.

I'm not a big youtuber, but when I was introduced to "cooking with dog" here at DC, I signed up so that I could subscribe to it.
 
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