Category Archives: japanese 日本食

Kindergarten bento – Steamed veggies (25/Nov/16)

25/11/2016

Menu: Steamed cabbage, carrot and daikon radish, Bicolour bento (tori-soboro & scrambled egg), Baba-hamu-kyuri

Bunny shaped apple for dessert


As part of bento preparation, I strongly recommend “steaming” certain types of vegetables, such as cabbage, carrots, etc., that are usually used for soup. By steaming these vegetables, you not only keep their nutrients more compared to boiling, but also can bring out sweet flavour from the ingredients more distinctively. In addition you can eat a greater amount than eating fresh vegetables (softer texture and easier digestion). My daughter loves steamed vegetables and enthusiastically eats them without any seasoning. Ever since I started serving her the vegetables this way, I also started eating them like her without any oil or dressing. It’s like rediscovering the long lost flavour that I used to enjoy as a young child. Great for your diet also! 

Kindergarten bento – New bento box (22/Nov/16)

22/11/2016

Our daughter turned 4 today. As part of her birthday celebration I used a new bento box this morning.  The picture on the lid of the other bento box got washed off half way and was looking ugly, so we replaced it with the one with no picture on the lid from the beginning. Since she still cannot really read, I just put a post-it note cut out in heart shape with the number “4” in gold on it. Hope she’ll get the message☺️

Menu: Grilled Menuki fish marinated in saikyo-miso, Komatsuna omelet, Boiled green beans, Cherry tomato, Rice with black sesame

Kaki (persimmon) for dessert

Kindergarten bento – Shaké-Ben (21/Nov/16)

22/11/2016

Menu: Shaké (grilled salmon), Mashed pumpkin & boiled egg salad, Boiled green beans, Cherry tomato, Rice with sesame furikake

Banana & Apple for dessert


Sháké or Sáké (鮭) is a Japanese name for salmon. Similar to sake, the rice wine, but you pronounce ‘a’ and ‘e’ more distinctly for the fish. Shaké-Ben is short for bento with grilled salmon, which is quite a common, basic, and standard style of packed lunch in this country. Usually for grown ups the size of salmon filet is bigger and in one piece, but I made them smaller into bite size pieces for our little girl with clumsy chopstick skills.

Kindergarten bento – Tofu omelet (17/Nov/16)

17/11/2016

Menu: Tofu omelet, Tori-soboro & veggies, Steamed cabbage, Salted cucumber slices, Rice with sesame furikake

Bunny shaped apples for dessert


Egg is a very handy ingredient for packed lunches. I always boil it or make omelet or scrambled egg out of it. I usually improvise with whatever there is in the fridge. Today’s omelet recipe is with healthy & nutritious tofu.

An egg with a bit of mashed tofu. No need to mash it completely, just mix it with egg with chopsticks or fork.For seasoning, I used a pinch of salt and this powdered nori seaweed called “Aonori.” It gives the egg a bit of sea flavour as well as good nutrients as also indicated in the package (high in protein, calcium and iron).

Add aonori like this,Cook it on a heated pan with a bit of cooking oil (very important to heat up the pan before pouring the egg mixture),Roll, roll, roll, and voila! 

Kindergarten bento – Recycled soup (11/Nov/16)

11/11/2016

Menu: Sweet potatos simmered in udon noodle soup, Corn omelet, Steamed broccoli, Rice with goma-konbu, Steamed flower carrot

Mandarin mikan for dessert

The weather is getting winter-like over here in Tokyo with cold rain and icy wind, which makes you crave for some warm winter dish for dinner. Last evening I cooked warm udon noodles with chicken, spring onion and hakusai cabbage in dashi broth, with salt, sake and mirin for seasoning. It turned into this beautifully opaque soup, which was perfect for thick, long, snow-white udon noodles. There was this sweet potato I had roasted in the toaster earlier, so I tossed the diced potatoes into the leftover soup and simmered them for a while.

Ta-da, here is a smartly recycled yet tasty dish for our daughter’s bento.

Kindergarten bento – Open Day (8/Nov/16)

09/11/2016

Menu: Hijiki rice with scrambled egg, Aji (horse mackerel) cutlet, Cucumber & tomato salad, Boiled green beans

Mandarin mikan for dessert

There was an Open Day at our daughter’s kindergarten, where the parents are invited to witness how the children play, tidy up, get ready for the next activity, and in doing so how they interact with their friends and teachers. It was the third Open Day for us since the school started back in April, and it was very interesting to see some changes in the behaviors of the children after seven months. They started to play more with others rather than on their own, act more maturely (in an age appropriate manner of course), and be more aware of the social boundaries they’d been learning at school. All the children were super excited for this special occasion with all the grown ups staring at them, and jumped up & down and ran around, while laughing out loud and squealing in delight. It was such a pleasure to see your child develop this way, in an environment where she truly enjoys, is surrounded by great friends and teachers, feels secure and protected, and gets stimulated everyday.

After the Open Day, the school opened up a large activity room for those parents who wish to mingle and talk over lunch. I thought it would be nice to spend some time with other mummies (no daddies this time but there are a few regulars – hurray, Japan is changing for the better at last!), so I brought my own lunch and participated. My packed lunch had exactly the same food as my daughter’s, just in a bigger bento box. It was funny and kind of ticklish to think I was tasting what my daughter was tasting, as we say in Japanese “Ofukuro no Aji,” the Taste of Mother’s.

My & minime bento

Kindergarten bento – Simmered pumpkin & chicken (4/Nov/16)

07/11/2016

Menu: Simmered pumpkin & chicken, Fried rice with Japanese hakusai cabbage and shirasu baby sardines, Boiled egg, Boiled broccoli, Cherry tomato

Mandarin mikan for dessert

3rd of November was a national holiday in Japan (Cultural Day), and we had our daughter’s kindergarten friends over at our place for a playdate followed by an early dinner. I cooked this dish, Simmered Pumpkin & Chicken, hoping to fulfill the appetite of the kids who are all growing so fast day by day.

I love the combination of pumpkin and chicken in general – somehow the sweetness and soft texture of the pumpkin go so well with the juicy tasty chicken with meaty texture.  I used chicken thigh this time so that the kids can eat them more easily, but chicken drumsticks are also very compatible. I’d definitely recommend this, too.

Here is the recipe:

Simmered Pumpkin & Chicken

Ingredients (for 4 – 6 people):

– 1 pumpkin; seeded, cut into chunky blocks, ideally peel off all the sharp edges to make them smooth (apparently this will avoid pumpkin to be mushy)

– 400g chicken thigh (or drumsticks); cut into bite size blocks, a bit smaller than the pumpkins I would say

– about 300ml of dashi broth (or just enough to cover the top of the ingredients)

– 2 to 3 table spoons of sake (white wine if no sake)

– 1 to 2 table spoons of cooking oil

For seasoning (adjust depending on how much dashi broth you use):

– 3 to 4 table spoons of soy sauce

– 2 to 3 table spoons of sugar (I use beetroot sugar)

– 1 to 2 table spoons of mirin (depending on your liking)

Directions:

1. Heat a large cooking pot (such as Le Cruset), pour in oil, and throw in the chicken. Fry until golden in medium heat.

2. Pour in sake and fry until sake evaporates

3. Add pumpkin and pour in the broth, just enough to cover the ingredients. The top of the ingredients doesn’t need to be covered in the broth, can be peeking out. Do not soak them – if they are entirely covered in broth, it gets too watery.

4. Cover the ingredients with aluminum foil (make a circle shape to fit the surface of the pan). This will circulate the heat evenly and quickly.

5. Bring it to boil in medium heat and cook for 5 minutes or so

6. Turn down the heat (to low), cook further until the pumpkin is soft, for another 12 minutes or so (use a toothpick and see if it penetrates)

6. Add the soy sauce, then sugar. Cook for a few minutes.

7. Add mirin at the end to taste