japanese bento

Bento is a Japanese style home-packed complete meal which typically holds rice, fish or meat, pickled or steamed vegetables and some fruits. Bento is an art and to me it’s a meal I make from my heart to nourish my children’s body and express my love for them by creating simple, satisfying and healthy packed bento lunch. I have tons of bento accessories but I am not an expert like others. I mix bento making with my American-style lunch box and jarred salads or fruits. It makes eating more fun and I enjoy hearing stories from my children about how much fun they enjoyed eating their lunch at school. Bento box is easy, just make sure you have simple portioned left-overs or ingredients that can be pre-cooked and stored in the freezer then warmed up before bento assembly. Bento can even be prepared the night before because the goal of preparing bento is to serve food at room temperature using ingredients that can hold itself fresh until ready to eat within a day.

Whole-wheat flat bread ham & cheese sandwich, Persian cucumbers, Mr. & Mrs. banana, cherry tomatoes and biscotti for desert

Bento accessory I purchased on Amazon to make fun and cute sandwiches for my kids

Big Sister Bento. I prepared this bento for my elder daughter for school lunch. It includes Paleo turkey avocado wrap, Berkshire sausages, star-boiled egg, baby carrots, sliced kiwi and banana

Little Sister Bento - after making the bigger version, I have some left-overs, I made this smaller bento version for my little one. This one has a heart-boiled egg. — Little Sister Bento – after making the bigger version, I have some left-overs, I made this smaller bento version for my little one. This one has a heart-boiled egg.

Another bento accessory, I bought it for $1.50, it turns the sausages into cute animals

Bear rice balls (onigiri) filled with grilled salmon (left-over from dinner last night), Japanese fried chicken (Karaage), cherry tomatoes, and Hello Kitty Jello for desert

I am crazy for Bento and my dream is to become a Bento Chef 🙂 Is there such a person?

To prepare a bento box, first of all, even before you start being creative, you need to have the money to buy all these tiny things to make your bento look really cute. I love purchasing small bento accessories. I buy only the best ones I like and keep them for future use. These accessories are quite pricey considering that most of them are disposable so if you are practical, try to reuse these super cute bento accessories. I am into knick knacks when it comes to cooking and I adore the colorful creations seen at Japanese Bento books. When I see the photos of wonderfully made bento boxes, I always wish I could make that too.

Here, I created a simple bento box for lunch. What’s included?

Pan Fried Alaskan Salmon fillet
Brown rice with pre-cut sea weed topping
Seasoned blanched Broccoli
Seasoned Spinach
Fresh-cut Nectarines

Here’s how I made it:

For the Salmon, I just seasoned the salmon with salt and pepper then pan-fried with Olive Oil, about 5-8 minutes per side on Medium high until the skin is crispy.

For the Broccoli, boil water into a tiny pot or saucepan and season with salt. Blanch the broccoli for a minute then drain and quickly rinse under cold water. Using the same saucepan, brown some garlic on olive oil then add the blanched broccoli. Season with a mixture of light soy sauce, a dash of sugar and some cooking sake.

For the Spinach, boil water into a tiny pot and season with salt. Blanch 1 bunch of spinach then wash in cold water, drain and squeeze off the excess liquid. Randomly chop to create bite sizes of the spinach. Season with minced fresh garlic, light soy sauce, dash of sugar, tiny drop of sesame oil and a few pinches of sesame seed.

For the Brown Rice, cook it accordingly. You can use left-over rice that you have in your fridge. I just used my sushi mold to shape the rice like so (see photo) then topped it with a pre-cut seasoned laver (sea weed).

For the Nectarine, cut into bite sizes and add into the bento.

I try my best to keep my seasoning at its minimum to make sure my cooking will taste as natural as it is.

If you have some quick bento recipes to share, please do share to me 🙂