Category Archives: japanese 日本食

bento for the little one (grilled cod 29/mar/16)

01/04/2016

menu: grilled cod “saikyo” style,  omelet, steamed broad beans, tomato, wakame seaweed & tofu salad 

fresh apple for dessert

   
 grilled cod fish marinated with “saikyo” miso paste. i grilled the fish perfectly for LO’s packed lunch, but totally burnt it for our dinner the same evening 😭 

since the saikyo miso paste is quite sweet it is prone to get burnt easily. I was multi tasking when grilling the fish for dinner, which wasn’t a very good idea…

 
wakame seaweed is one of LO’s favorite things to eat. it’s semi-dried, and you soak it in water for a few minutes and cut into bite size pieces before serving. it’s not that fishy (to me but i’m japanese), and not chewy, either. it’s full in mineral, and it’s said to be keep your hair nice and shiny.

bento for the little one (omelet rice 16/mar/16)

23/03/2016

menu: “omuraisu” omelet & rice, coleslaw salad with chicken, cherry tomato and green beans

apple mousse with yogurt for dessert

  
“omuraisu” omelet rice – it’s a Japanese adoption of western omelet. it comes with fried rice usually seasoned with tomato sauce. today however, i used just salt & pepper for seasoning. the fried rice is then wrapped with a plain omelet, and tomato sauce on top of it.

  fried rice with chopped onion, spinach and bacon 

bento for the little one (oh no! hardly any ingredients in the fridge! 15/mar/16)

15/03/2016

menu: wakana (young green leaves) rice, egg & cucumber salad, chicken mince with mashed sweet potato, cherry tomato

diced fruits salad for dessert

  

we had a miserable day yesterday, accompanied by wet & cold weather and a few tantrums by the little one. as a result i totally forgot to buy groceries for bento for the next day. in the morning i thought i might have to buy a lunch box at a convenience store in our neighborhood, but managed to whip something up with only few ingredients i had left in our fridge/freezer.

i used dry onigiri mix (that comes in a packet) for the rice, and put a sheet of boris bear shaped nori seaweed (also comes in a packet) on top of it to cheer up otherwise a rather depressing bento box…😅

bento for the little one (“tori-don” chicken donburi 4/mar/16)

15/03/2016

menu: “tori-don” chicken donburi, pumpkin & egg salad, tomato, cucumber, green bean salad

  
tori-don is one of the variations for donburi recipes. basically donburi is “okazu”, main (or side) dish, on top of rice. the most popular recipe here is my mum’s niku-don, which comes with stir-fried pork.

it’s easy to prepare – marinade diced chicken (thigh or breast) with sake (1) : soy sauce (1) : and mirin (3) for 5-10 min, stir-fry the marinated chicken in medium heat. place the cooked chicken on top of rice. sprinkle nori seaweed and/or thinly sliced spring onion as your own liking.

today there was no dessert in the bento, as my friend and i took the little one to our lunch after she had her lunch at daycare. we gave her a cup of icecream which she ate dearly until she splashed it onto the floor to our embarrassment. meanwhile she grabbed 2 slices of bread from our bread basket and ate them all, which made me wonder if the amount of bento i prepare for her may not be sufficient… time to increase the portion of her bento box perhaps 🙂

bento for the little one (grilled sawara, japanese spanish mackerel 23/feb/16)

04/03/2016

menu: grilled sawara, japanese spanish mackerel marinated with saikyo miso paste, ham & tomato omelet, steamed broccoli, boiled potato

fresh apple for dessert



Today’s main dish is grilled sawara, so called Japanese Spanish Mackerel (no idea where the combination of Japanese and Spanish came from…), marinated with special miso paste from Kyoto called “saikyo (sai = west, kyo = capital” miso. It is quite sweet compared to regular miso, and is used primarily in the Kyoto region as its name suggests.

I bought a couple of slices of sawara at the supermarket and marinated them with saikyo miso at home overnight. I heard it’s better to leave them for 2 days in the marinade, but overnight was good enough especially for the little one (otherwise it may get too salty for kids’ taste buds I think). The next morning I grilled them in our fish grill, 4-5 minutes on each side in low heat. The tip is to remove the marinade from the fish fillets and grill them in low heat, because the saikyo miso is sweetened and prone to get burnt easily. This marinade can be used for other types of fish also, such as cod, salmon, etc.

It’s one of our little one’s favorite dish, and so is mine!

bento for the little one (hijiki & salmon variation 23/feb/16)

29/02/2016

menu: hijiki rice with egg crumble on top, potato, spinach & salmon salad, broccoli & cherry tomato

strawberries & yogurt for dessert

  


today’s bento consists of a couple of variations from previous recipes. hijiki rice is literally just hijiki mixed with freshly cooked rice, and i put egg crumbles (scramble egg made into very small pieces) on top to give it a nice bright colour and a little bit of sweet taste.
the salad is with boiled potato cut into bite size, tossed with grilled salmon flakes (the same as salmon rice) & chopped boiled spinach (froze it before) with a pinch of salt and a quick drizzle of extra virgin olive oil.

it’s an example of another easy, quick but very colorful & cheerful bento for our little one.

bento for the little one (grilled salmon & chicken mince with tofu 17/feb/16)

26/02/2016

menu: grilled salmon on rice, chicken crumble with tofu, steamed broccoli, boiled egg, cherry tomato

fresh apple for dessert

  

the chicken crumble with tofu is an improvised variation of tori-soboro, the chicken mince crumble, i cooked the other day. i usually prepare a lot of it and freeze it for a later use. it’s really simple, healthy and tasty – just mix the chicken crumble with tofu (silky one if available) & cooked veggies like carrots, green beans and spinach, and just a tiny drip of soy sauce. you can eat it cold or warm – it’s a great match with freshly cooked rice.

shabu shabu dinner & bento for the little one (14, 15/feb/16)

21/02/2016

on this year’s valentine’s day, we had guests over for dinner to celebrate their recent marriage, and we ate shabu shabu for dinner. shabu shabu is a japanese equivalent of bouillon fondú, with finely sliced beef and/or pork, along with other ingredients such as tofu, mushrooms, vegetables, etc. here in japan, we tend to serve meat dishes like shabu shabu for celebrations, because quality meat is generally expensive hence prestigious. 

 
as shown in the picture, we actually cook shabu shabu in a large earthware pot called donabe on the table. we have this portable cooking stove with a can of gas attached to it. so yes, we kind of let our guests cook their own food. but it’s very interactive and fun, great for a dinner party with a close group of friends.
at the end of shabu shabu, we put fresh udon noodles to finish off our meal (in japan we always end our meal with some carbo, such as rice or noodles), and that turned into our LO’s bento the next day.    

menu: shabu shabu udon,  pumpkin cooked in dashi broth, egg, tomato & cucumber salad

apple mousse and yogurt for dessert

bento for the little one (tricolor bento with chicken mince crumble 10/feb/16)

10/02/2016

menu: san-shoku (tricolor) bento with tori-soboro (chicken mince crumble), scrambled egg & sliced snow pea, tomato & cucumber salad, mashed sweet potato & spinach

apple mousse & diced banana for dessert

  

today’s main dish is, in my family, called “san-shoku” bento. the literal translation of “san-shoku” is tricolor, and in this bento, the three colours are represented by tori-soboro (cooked chicken mince) in brown, scrambled egg in bright yellow & sliced snow peas in spring green. the three ingredients are placed separately on top of white rice, next to each other. in order to give a little feeling of spring, I put a small slice of steamed carrot (cut out with a flower-shaped cutter), which makes the bento look like a flower field…. i remember having been very happy to open this bento box in particular, not only for its taste but also for its colourfulness, cheerfulness and this care that my mum put into on  its presentation. i was always proud of having such a pretty looking bento, which may sound silly but did matter quite a lot growing up…

san-shoku bento recipe

ingredients:

(chicken mince)

  • 200g minced chicken
  • 1 table spoon of sake (if not available, white wine)
  • 1 table spoon of dashi-soy sauce (if not available, normal soy sauce)
  • 1+ table spoon of mirin (if not available, a sprinkle of brown sugar with a table spoon of water)

(scrambled egg)

  • 1 egg
  • a pinch of salt
  • 1 tea spoon of oil

(snow peas)

  • a few snow peas
  • a pinch of salt

direction:

  1. chicken mince – in a frying pan stir-fry minced chicken in medium heat. make sure to constantly stir the chicken so that it doesn’t get burnt, and try to make chicken as crumbled as possible
  2. once the chicken is browned, add sake, and stir further
  3. add soy sauce and mirin, stir further until the sauce is reduced but still keeping the chicken moist
  4. scrambled egg – beat the egg and add salt while heating up a small frying pan
  5. when the pan is hot, add oil, and then the egg
  6. immediately start scrambling, and make egg as crumbled as possible (tip: hold a few pairs of chopsticks in your fist and stiiiiiirrrrr)
  7. snow peas – in a small pan, bring water to boil
  8. add a pinch of salt and snow peas (make sure to remove any strings beforehand. salt is added to keep the bright green colour of the peas), boil for 2-3 minutes until tender but not soggy
  9. once cooked, rinse the peas in running cold water for its bright green colour
  10. slice the cooked peas into small pieces
  11. decoration – on white rice (with its surface flat), place the 3 ingredients above separately, next to each other to make 3 wide stripes (or any other shapes you like)

that’s it, enjoy!