Posted in asian (generic), bento, vegetarian, tagged bento, vegetarian on March 12, 2012| 1 Comment »
Rice with furikake (actually a chazuke mix, but it’s quite mild in flavour and I’m letting the moisture of the rice soften the dried ume and tofu), kimchi dumplings, tamagoyaki, cucumber, red bell pepper and some tiny grapes on parsley.
I’m probably going to eat this tomorrow (lunch date today) but I had to use my bento mojo to make a box, so I will stash it in the work fridge.
Posted in asian (generic), bento, vegetarian, tagged bento, vegetarian on November 1, 2010| 8 Comments »
Big layer: Black rice on a bed of white rice (just black rice is a bit boring to chew, I think) with a black cat in a full moon cutout.
Small layer: vegetable stirfry, some cherry tomatos and sugar snaps.
BF’s box: (I couldn’t decide which photo I liked better)
Late Halloween bento? Maybe, but that’s not the only reason!
First, the cat cutter was sent to me by my stepsister who wanted to see the result in a bento of course :) Thank you! I’ll use the other two cutters soon as well, promise!
Second, we have a new family member!
Isn’t he just adorable? I’d say something about being so cute I could just eat him but that would be cruel. :)
Posted in asian (generic), bento, rice, vegetarian, tagged bento, vegetarian on April 14, 2010| 1 Comment »
My bento for today – omuraisu (made with leftover restaurant rice), two frozen inarizushi, lettuce, cherry tomatos and carrot decoration.
I see a round number is coming up – oh no! And my bento mojo is already down…
The BF gets the same, but his omelette is rolled up instead of wrapped around the rice.
And these were the bentos I made yesterday with the last mini quiches from my freezer stash, leftover pasta with red pesto, frozen inarizushi and broccoli, and cherry tomatoes. The freezer stash saved me there – about time to make a new batch of quiches!
Posted in asian (generic), bento, vegetarian, tagged bento, vegetarian on November 20, 2009| 2 Comments »
I made this earlier this week. Winter and darkness and bad weather coupled with stress are having a bad impact on my cooking habits – I feel tired and lazy and just throw something together, or decide I’m too tired to make a bento and eat out for lunch. Not healthy!
This is a quickie, but tasty – stirfried carrot flowers, zucchini leaves, mushrooms and leek with tamagoyaki and some of the tiniest cherry tomatoes ever on noodles with sesame oil, mirin and soy sauce.
Posted in asian (generic), bento, japanese, vegetarian on March 24, 2009| 3 Comments »
Rice topped with scrambled egg, tomato and cucumber flowers, carrot flowers, stirfried bok choy, fried marinated tofu, and 1 1/2 chili cheese tops from McDo as dessert.
Posted in asian (generic), bento, vegetarian, tagged bento, vegetarian on January 28, 2009| 2 Comments »
I know, Chinese New year is technically over :) No reason not to celebrate though!
Cow-spotted rice (It’s the year of the cow bull), vegetarian dumplings, red-dyed egg and some broccoli and sprouts. Bottle with dipping sauce for the dumplings (dark soy+vinegar+chili).
My own box has the same and my attempt at a bit more “natural” looking cow pattern – it didn’t really turn out though, I think.
PS: For those of you still looking for natural dye, cooking stuff with black rice in the water will make it *very* purple – my fingers are witnesses! *looks like she robbed a bank* It’s no good for onigiri though, I couldn’t get it to stick together.
Posted in asian (generic), bento, japanese, vegetarian, tagged bento, vegetarian on January 23, 2009| 1 Comment »
I used up nearly all my freezer stash, which mainly means that I need to scrounge for good protein in my bentos. Luckily I always have eggs :)
This bento contains, of its basic elements:
Carbohydrates: Jasmine rice
Proteins: Tamagoyaki, two vegetarian dumplings
Veggies: Enoki and oyster mushrooms, carrot kinpira, fried eggplant (rolled up), a cherry tomato and salad.
Other: a fishy of soy sauce.
Posted in asian (generic), bento, tagged bento on December 12, 2008| 3 Comments »
Will I make 200 bentos before the holidays? With my track record, the answer is probably no…
Small box: woked veggies, cashews and noodles in oyster sauce.
Big box: Inarizushi, brussel sprouts, cherry tomatoes.
When it comes to fast food, Westerners may have invented the term but there’s no beating the East. Making Ramen in any street stand takes less time from raw ingredients to product than it takes us to grill and slap together a burger from prefabricated stuff. Sometime, I’ll have to learn how to do that.
For now, I use instant ramen.
There is one thing about Asian cooking when compared to Western cooking: I’m used to preparing my ingredients on the go, making use of how they cook at different rates to use my time economically. When woking, everything goes so fast that this is not possible! You have to have all veggies pre-cut, otherwise you’re still cutting the peppers when the onions are burning – and the mushrooms still waiting to be cut!
It’s a learning process… but I’m trying. Anyone who’s actually Asian need not read on, this is just a writeup of the order I do my stuff in so that it gets right.
I’ll also be posting it to this week’s Presto Pasta Nights roundup because I haven’t posted any pictures of my pasta dishes recently and it’s making me a sad rabbit.
For this wok, I retain some of the veggies until the end so that they won’t be cooked as thoroughly – I like a crunch to my carrots.
I start with the noodles: Pour boiling salt water over them in a pot (spice pack is optional) and drain after 2 minutes. Rinse with cold water so that they retain no heat. They should still be a bit tough so that they won’t get too soft later on.
Cut chili, garlic and an onion/spring onions (I used both) into thin strips. Put in a heap with peeled, unsalted cashews.
Cut a bell pepper, mushrooms, carrots, Thai basil and whatever else you find in your fridge that needs cooking (I had some frozen broccoli, for instance) into thin strips in a different heap.
Heat peanut and sesame oil in a wok and scatter the garlic, chili, cashews and onion in. (I use an oil spray because I’m weird about using too much oil).
When they seem cooked, toss the rest in and wok. (If you have marinated meat or meat replacement, add it before you add the veggies. If you want scrambled egg in it, I would reommend to push the chili and garlic to the side and scramble it before you put in the veggies as well, otherwise it’ll just stick to the noodles.)
Add the noodles and sauce on top. There are no limits to your imagination with the sauce. I had none yesterday so I put in oyster sauce, some mirin and soy. A sauce I really like is sweet chili sauce and some sake or sherry. Or try a Thai style with some Tamari, ginger and soy.
Add any veggies you retained on top. I added the carrots and thai basil last. Cook for another minute, tossing so that everything is mixed and heated up.
Serve.
Posted in asian (generic), bento, japanese, vegetarian, tagged bento, vegetarian on December 3, 2008| Leave a Comment »
nilmandra’s 3 mushroom rice (only that I had enoki, shimeji and champignons to use up, so that’s my mushroom combination) in the big box. If you don’t know Nilmandra’s blog yet, I encourage you to go take a look – she takes the most beautiful bento pictures! The rice is also lovely, it has a subtle flavour that is very addictive.
Two dumplings, steamed broccoli, cherry tomatoes, half an egg log, a fishy of soy sauce and avocado in the small box.
No BF bento picture today, because the camera’s batteries gave up after snapping this picture.
Posted in asian (generic), bento, vegetarian, tagged bento, vegetarian on November 4, 2008| Leave a Comment »
A very quick box done way too late in the evening after painting class last night (I didn’t manage to make a bento for lunch OR before the class tomorrow so I had to eat out twice in a row. *sigh* My poor wallet and stomach.):
Rice and a pomegrenade quarter in the upper layer.
4 vegetarian kimchi dumplings, egglog, carrot kinpira and cherry tomato quarters on lettuce in the lower layer (and it’s NOT the lid this time! This was the solution to the “what’s fishy?” riddle in my last bento post, by the way.). The decoration on the rice is also tomato.
BF gets the same with a cup of leftover ramen for extra starch.
Were rabbits 