Bento Corner

Lion chow mein bento with broccoli beef and fruit.

We had left over Chinese from Sunday's luncheon so used that to create today's bento. Chicken chow mein is underneath the hanpen lion face; broccoli beef to the left; and fuit salad of strawberries, grapes, raspberries, blueberries, fresh pineapple and cantelope to the right.

My husband didn't think this bento was worth posting since I've already made a lion yakisoba bento. But the ingredients are different and the face is a bit different from last time. I dunno. I say repeat content is better than no content, right? I tried thinking of different animals to make from noodles and the only ones I could think of were the lion and lamb. The husband said maybe it could resemble a hairy guy with long whiskers, but think about it. How appetizing would that be?

Bird nest yakisoba bento -- this is all my husband's idea...just trying to give credit where credit is due...

So I picked up this new yakisoba since for some reason I could not find the usual brand. The sauce packet is a bit different (more peppery) and the noodles are thicker. Anyway, since the sauce is not as dark, it produces lighter noodles. The kids seem to like it just fine though, so it's not really a problem. Veggies and meat are hiding underneath the bed of noodles. Placed some red bell pepper strips and edamame underneath to give it some color. Birds are made of hanpen and nori. Bento also includes mandarin oranges and gyoza.

Loooong day today since I took the kids to the city right after preschool to celebrate a friend's birthday party at the Metreon. I was excited to take the girl again to Where the Wild Things Are play area on the top floor, but when we got there, we learned that they tore it down and are remodeling that whole area. I had only been there one time, but it was a great play area for toddlers. Wonder what they'll build there in its stead...

Hijiki:

1 ¼ cups of dashi
1 tablespoon of sugar
1 tablespoon of mirin
2 tablespoons of sake
2 tablespoons of soy sauce
20 grams hijiki
1 abugaage
2 shiitake
½ chikuwa
50 grams carrots

Rinse hijiki in water and then soak in water for about 15 minutes. Make sure there is plenty of water to cover the hijiki. After the hijiki has become plump, drain excess water by placing in a sieve.
Boil the aburaage for 2 minutes to get rid of excess oil. Pat dry and slice into thin strips.
Soak shiitake in water for 15 minutes, cut off the stem and then slice into thin strips.
Slice chikuwa into thin strips.
Cut and slice carrots into thin strips.
Place hijiki, carrots, chikuwa, and shiitake in a sauce pan and cook over medium heat for a few minutes. Add aburaage, dashi, sugar, mirin, sake, and soy sauce. Cook over medium low heat for about 15 minutes.

Spinach and Corn Sautee:

1 bunch spinach
½ cup of corn
1 tablespoon of butter (or more depending on taste).
2 tablespoons of mentsuyu or soy sauce (or more depending on taste).

Rinse and wash spinach. Drain excess water. Melt the butter in a pan and wilt the spinach. Add corn and sautee until corn is done. Add mentsuyu or soy sauce to taste.

Fried Sweet Potato:

¼ sweet potato
1 - 2 tablespoons of oil for frying
salt

Wash sweet potato. I peel the sweet potato, but you can leave the skin on if you like. Cut into ¼ inch strips about 2 inches long. Heat oil in a pan and fry the potatoes until soft. Remove from pan and place on a paper towel. Lightly salt while still hot.

Unagi Maki:

2 ½ cups of cooked short grain rice
2 tablespoons of vinegar
½ tablespoon of sugar
1 teaspoon of salt
large nori sheets
prepared unagi from the supermarket (or you can substitute fish, shrimp, vegetables, etc.)
Bamboo mat/roller

Prepare rice either in a rice cooker or over the stove top. Combine vinegar, sugar and salt. Preferably in a non-metallic tub, mix the rice with the vinegar mixture. While mixing, it?s nice to have someone fanning the rice (or have an electric fan) to evaporate the liquid quickly. Allow the rice to cool a bit before rolling.

Take the nori and place on the bamboo mat and spread a thin layer of rice on half of the nori and lay a piece of unagi (or whatever filling) on the rice. Roll and then cut the excess nori to make smaller rolls. I found this easier to do rather than cutting the nori in half length-wise before I started the rolling process.

Mochi:

store bought mochi
soy sauce
store bought natto
nori (cut as if to cover onigiri)

Place mochi in a toaster oven and toast it until it rises a bit. I usually have to let it go through 2 rounds of the toasting process until the mochi rises and becomes crisp on the outside and soft on the inside. Pour about 1 tablespoon of soy sauce in a small dish and place the toasted mochi into the soy sauce. Turn the mochi over to coat the other side with soy sauce. Wrap the nori around the mochi. Serve.

For the mochi with natto, I cut the mochi before placing in the toaster oven in  ½  inch squares and then toast them. Prepare the natto. Place the toasted moch on a plate and cover with natto. I usually cut thin strips of nori to place over the natto. Serve.

Hot Chocolate (Mexican version):

2 cups of milk
1 cup of chopped Mexican hot chocolate (or 1 disk of the store bought brand of Mexican hot chocolate).
Hand blender

Heat milk in a saucepan then place hot chocolate in the milk. Stir the chocolate to melt and be careful not to curdle the milk. Once the chocolate is dissolved, I use a hand blender and add the whipping attachment to whip the hot chocolate until it's foamy. You can also place the chocolate milk inside a blender to create the foam. Pour into cups and serve.