Time required: 5-10 minutes

Negimiso bento recipes: Misoyaki tofu, Misoyaki onigiri, Misoyaki rice

yakimisodofu.jpg

Three bento-friendly recipes made with negimiso, or onion-miso sauce.

bento_75_500.jpg

Bento contents:

  • 3 bento sized mini cabbage rolls, 180 calories
  • Green beans with ginger stir fried in sesame oil, 60 calories
  • Green beans stir fried with ginger and sesame oil, 60 calories
  • Carrot slices cooked with the cabbage rolls, 5 calories
  • 2/3 cup (160ml) rice from frozen stash, 160 calories

Total calories (approx): 405 (how calories are calculated)

Time needed: 5 to 10 minutes in the morning to defrost and pack up the bento

Type: Japanese, everything made in advance; low-carb adjustable by reducing or replacing rice

Great Bento Idea: Cucumber ribbons by MJ

MJ's Bento, August 26, 2010

Here's the great bento idea of the week from the bento community - cucumber ribbons from MJ!

Kinpira rice burger and how to keep the rice of the 'bun' together

kinpirariceburger1.jpg

A quick and easy trick for keeping the 'bun' part of a rice burger from falling apart.

Bento filler: Raw Asparagus, Radish and Parmesan salad

rawasparagus_radish_cheese_salad.jpg

I had never tried raw asparagus until just a couple of weeks ago. I just assumed that aspagarus needed to be cooked. But if you have fresh, tender asparagus, and slice it very thin, it actually makes an excellent and unusual salad. The texture stays crisp for a few hours after making, so it's a great springtime bento side dish. It's paired with thinly sliced radish which adds more crunch, color and a spicy kick, plus small chunks of Parmesan cheese for saltiness and body. A very simple lemon dressing brings it all together.

Bento filler: 3-color Spring Vegetable Namul with Crabstick

spring-veg-crabstick-salad.jpg

This is a very simple and quick vegetable side dish or filler for bentos, using vegetables available in the spring - new or spring cabbage, little carrots, and greens, with shredded crabstick or surimi. You could use shredded ham instead of the crabstick, splash out a bit and use real crabmeat, or just keep it all-vegetable. This is a namul, a Korean salad-like side dish. More about namul (and another namul recipe) here. The addition of a bit of vinegar is very unauthentic, but I think it enhances the flavors.

The most time consuming part of this recipe is shredding the vegetables. You can cheat and use pre-shredded carrots and cabbage, or use your food processor, if you're not too handy with a knife.

Tuna soboro with ginger

tuna-ginger-soboro.jpg

I could have sworn I had already posted a recipe for tuna soboro already, and I was all set out to call this the Much Improved version. But what do you know - I had neglected to post any recipe for this frugal bento staple at all. But no matter; this version would probably have superceded any previous versions anyway.

bento_70b_500.jpg

Bento contents:

Total calories (approx): 460 (how calories are calculated)

Time needed: 5-10 minutes in the morning (from leftovers of dinner the night before: see recipe for timing of kale dish)

Pages