Bento #370

Couscous with tomato sauce and herbs in the upper tier. Mozarella sticks, egg, cucumber, stuffed peppers and seedless grapes for dessert in the lower tier of a new My Neighbour Totoro bento box bought at SF bokhandeln.

When I make bentos these days, I often use bulgur or couscous. I find these grains very useful for bento for two main reasons, really: they are both quick and simple to make and very variable, and as opposed to rice or pasta/noodles, bulgur and couscous actually benefit from sitting out and being reheated. Most middle-eastern salads employing these grains require you to let them sit out for a while to let the flavours mingle and strengthen. As such, they are perfect for bento!
I make both in the same way: simply pour boiling water on the grains in a bowl, add salt and a pat of butter and spice depending on your taste and what’s available. This time I added a bit of tomato sauce left over from dinner and some fresh mint and basil. I chopped up the cucumbers some more and mixed them in at lunchtime, which made a nice and fresh salad.

Read Full Post »

Bento #369

Back from summer holidays! This is a bento to get me back into a good eating habit after almost three weeks of eating out twice a day.

The box in the background holds bulgur with red onion and herbs. I made two of those boxes, one for the BF and one for me. The foreground box will be shared between the two of us. I find that three of the four layers I ordered from monbento are plenty to feed the two of us! Even a little much if you stuff two with carbs.

The foreground holds small peppers stuffed with cheese, fried halloumi cheese, asparagus, homegrown cherry tomatoes and herbs. There is some Ajvar dip in the yellow container and homegrown physalis as dessert!

Read Full Post »

Bento #364

Chard and feta strudel, halloumi, garlic and mint yoghurt, grilled pickled peppers and an olive on parsley leaves and a bed of couscous.

Here’s a picture of the strudel on a plate. It was yum! The pink stuff is caramelised red onions, and the chard is steamed with some red wine and raisins.

Read Full Post »

Bento #362

Tamagoyaki, vegetarian dumplings, avocado, carrot sticks and broccoli on rice. And a chocolate for dessert!

Read Full Post »

Bento #361

First bento of 2013… well first bento I post here after a long break, too. I’ve been off the wagon for too long. But I got tired of eating out.

So this is mixed rice with chopped parsley, mint and lemon balm mixed in, falafel, iceberg lettuce, (almost!) the last of my homegrown cherry tomatoes, carrots and some homemade aioli in the small container.

Happy 2013!

Read Full Post »

Bento #360

Leftover mushroom risotto, celery sticks,carrot and cheese flowers, oregano, cherry tomato, sugar pea and parmesan decoration.

Read Full Post »

Bento #359

Dinkel with some corn mixed in, Halloumi, carrots, broccoli, some ajvar and mayo to dip. Lemon balm decoration.

Read Full Post »

Summer Soba

Cold Soba (Buckwheat noodles) are a traditional Japanese summer dish. I replaced the traditional soy-and-vinegar dipping sauce with a sesame sauce I tried last year in Singapore though, and added a bunch of fresh vegetables to be dipped alongside the noodles.

For the sauce I used Tahini, which is basically just ground sesame seeds, as a base. It’s not technically Japanese but it makes working with the sauce a lot easier.

Sesame dipping sauce
2-3tsp Tahini
½tsp soy sauce
½tsp rice wine vinegar
½-1tsp grated ginger (I love ginger so I added a lot – it’s not necessary though)
2Tsp. water (I used the water from boiling the soba for flavour)
Optional: Some ground chili or Szechuan pepper.
Mix ingredients thoroughly, serve chilled.

Serve with soba, chopped spring onions, and whatever other veggies you like. I had tofu, sliced radishes, sliced sugar snaps and some wakame salad on the side. Yum!

Read Full Post »

Happy Easter!

Wishing you all a lovely Easter, a few days of rest and relaxation and a fantastic time!

Read Full Post »

Bento #356

I saw these the other day and just had to try making them for bento :) Sadly mine didn’t get as perfect – I shall have to work on my technique for not letting half the egg run out under the pepper, and I couldn’t let the yolk stay runny as it has to keep until tomorrow – but they certainly will be tasty!

Bulgur with spring onions, parsley, sundried tomatoes and bell pepper pieces, bell pepper ring with a fried egg inside and spring onion decoration, Brie poppers, grapes and “bamboo shoots” candy. More parsley as decoration.

BF’s box:

Read Full Post »