Pancakes, Glazed Carrots, Blueberries, Radishes and Chili-Cheese-Balls (frozen product). The little bottle contains maple syrup.
For the pancakes you can just use a pancake mix! I use the German brand "Mondamin". Of course pancakes aren't a very healthy lunch for everyday. But you can't have rice as daily basis ... you get bored sooner or later. So sometimes you should mix it up with different karbohydrate dishes like noodles, bread or pastries like pancakes, wraps or milkbread.
If you want a cuter bento, try to cut the pancakes in shapes ... teddy bears, cars, flowers ... a big cookie cutter works best for clear edges. Chocolate sauce is perfect for decoration like faces etc.
Glazed Carrots are a great alternative for picky eaters. You underline the carrot's sweetness with sugar, but it's still healthy.
Glazed Carrots:
6 mini carrots or 2 normal carrots
1 Tbsp Sugar
1Tbsp Butter
1. Peel carrots. Put carrots in a small saucepan and add just enough water to cover the carrots. Bring to boil.
2. Add sugar and butter and reduce heat. Cook until the liquid is gone.
3. Check if the carrots are tender.
That's it!
Glasierte Karotten:
6 Minikarotten oder 2 normale Karotten
1TL Zucker
1TL Butter
1. Karotten schälen. In eine kleine Saucenpfanne geben und mit Wasser gerade bedecken. Kochen.
2. Zucker und Butter hinzufügen und Hitze reduzieren. Solange kochen bis die Flüssigkeit verschwunden.
3. Jetzt nur noch überprüfen, ob die Karotten weich sind!
Beef And Pepper Stir Fry is a good way to combine meat with lots of vegetables.
For 2 Bento portions:
70g beef
1 green bell pepper
1 small carrot
1 tsp oyster sauce
1tsp rice wine
1 tsp soy sauce
1 tsp starch
1 clove garlic, minced
oil for frying
Cut beef into thin slices and dust with starch. Cut pepper and carrot the same way. Combine oyster sauce, rice wine and soy sauce in a bowl.
Heat oil and minced garlic in a frying pan. When the garlic releases aroma, add beef and stir-fry until heated through. Remove from the pan.
Add vegetables to the pan and fry for 3-5 minutes with lit on, so the carrots get tender. Put back beef and add combined seasonings. Stir until the sauce is absorbed.
Rindfleisch in feine Streifen schneiden und mit Stärke bestäuben. Paprika und Karotte genauso schneiden. Austernsauce, Sojasauce und Reiswein in einer Schüssel vermischen.
Öl und Knoblauch in einer Pfanne erhitzen. Wenn der Knoblauch sein Aroma freigibt, das Fleisch hinzugeben und so lange braten, bis es durcherhitzt ist. Fleisch aus der Pfanne nehmen.
Gemüse in die Pfanne geben und ungefähr 3-5 Minuten zugedeckt braten, bis die Karotten weicher werden. Das Fleisch zurück in die Pfanne geben und die Sauce dazu geben. Solange rühren, bis die Sauce absorbiert wurde.
Last week I went to celebrate Hanami with friends. And although it was more like tree-watching because all the cherry blossoms were already withered, it was really fun.
I had the obligatory Hanami picnic with a friend, who is quite new to bentos and cooking in general, so she just made a fairly simple lunch. But the taste was good and so I don't see, why she wasn't happy with it. Just because Mozart started off with composing a sonette at age 3 (or was he already 4?!...) doesn't mean we all have to be little obnoxius geniuses, right? Plus, since Mozart had some big time problems with alcohol and died at age 35, he might not be the best role model.
Well, what was I saying? Ah yeah, we had picnic and I made several bentos for that occasion.
It was really good! I never made either annindofu or salad rolls, but both went absolutly fine.
If you'd like try out the salad rolls, here's the recipe:
For 3 rolls you need:
2 cups of prepared sushi rice
3 sheets nori seaweed
Fillings:
3 Tbsp canned tuna
6 surimi sticks
shredded omelet (1 egg + 1 tsp sugar + a dash salt all beaten and then fried in a pan)
Lettuce
Mayonnaise
Optional makisu
Lay makisu or plastic wrap over a flat surface. Put 1 sheet of nori on it and with wet hands spread 1/3 of the sushi rice leaving 2cm at the top uncovered. At about 1/3 from the bottom place 1 tbsp tuna, 2 surimi sticks in a line, 1/3 of omlett, some lettuce leaves and mayonnaise.
Start rolling up, while carefully pressing the fillings inside. Bring near edges of the nori sheet, so you get a roll. Roll up and press the whole roll, so it won't fall apart later.
Remove makisu or plasticwrap. Slice roll with a wet knife, be careful not to remove the nori wrap.
And that's it! You can enjoy perfectly healty and delicious futomaki without needing fresh fish!
Das Rezept gibts natürlich auch in Deutsch:
Für 3 Rollen braucht ihr:
2 Tassen vorbereiteter Sushireis
3 Blätter Nori
Füllung:
3 EL Dosenthunfisch
6 Surimisticks
Kleingeschnittenes Omlett (1 Ei + 1TL Zucker + eine Prise Salz, alles verschlagen und in einer Pfanne gebraten)
Salatblätter
Mayonnaise
eventuell eine Makisu
Lege die Makisu oder Plastikfolie auf eine grade Oberfläche. Verteile 1/3 des Reises mit angefeuchteten Händen auf einem Noriblatt. Dabei muss oben ein 2 cm Rand stehen bleiben. Ungefähr 1/3 vom unteren Rand entfernt, platziere 1 EL des Thunfischs, 2 aufgereihte Surimisticks, 1/3 des Omletts, etwas Mayonnaise und 1, 2 Salatblätter.
Jetzt geht's los mit Aufrollen. Die Füllungen vorsichtig zusammenpressend, bringst du die Enden der Makisu oder der Folie zum oberend Reisran. Drücke die ganze Rolle von außen, damit sie schön fest wird und am Ende nichts rausfällt. Drücke schließlich den restlichen Nori Teil über die dicke Rolle, ohne dabei die Plastikfolie einzuwickeln!
Schneide die Rolle mit einem feuchten Messer in Stücke, ohne das Nori zu verletzen.
Fertig!
Still insecure? Learn how to make Futomaki with this great video:
Have you heard about those fancy little lunch box meals, conquering the world starting from Japan? They're called bentos and I love them!
Too tiny, to actually carry a decent lunch, you think? Wrong! ... Well not completely, it depends on your stomach's size.
For me it's absolutley enough. You're supposed to fill it to the top, so it's brimmed. If you do so, the small box might remind you of a boulder, but a totally delicious one!
True, it's cold, that sucks... but to me, it doesn't matter at all!
The picture above actually isn't a bento for me ... I'm allergic to shrimp ... but it still looks so good!
