This was a snack bento that I made for a strange day when I was having a late lunch as well as very late dinner (both work-related socialising events). The strawberries (tiny and really red, the sweetest I've had so far this year) and blueberries with Greek yogurt was for mid-morning. Homemade banana bread in the top tier was for late-afternoon tea. I've had people asking whether the yogurt would spill or mess up my bag. The lids of this container are not air/watertight. But the silicon cup was wedged firmly with the berries around it, the container goes into a small drawstring bag (kinchaku) and I also carry the bento upright in my work bag. No accidents so far! The yogurt was very thick though; I wouldn't carry sauces or soups or anything too fluid in containers that are not watertight. 
Sticky rice with salmon furikake, vegetable gyoza, cocktail sausages and grilled asparagus.
I bought this salmon and cod roe furikake at a Japanese store when I was in Boston a few weeks ago. Furikake are dried sprinkles frequently used on top of rice, soups and other savoury dishes and normally consists of sesame seeds, nori (seaweed), bonito flakes (dried tuna), and other dried ingredients. Other than coordinating the colours of the main food items, furikake (rice sprinkles) is another useful ingredient for adding a dash of colour to your bento. I like this sprinkling of pink, which adds some nice colour to the plain rice. If you have access to shops that sell them or plan to order some bento items online, consider experimenting with different types of furikake (for example, ume/plum, egg, salmon, wasabi) for different colours as well as flavours.
Sunday, 11 May 2008
Snack bento and furikake on rice
Friday, 9 May 2008
Chilled Japanese tofu
It's been so warm this week that I've been craving summer food. Light, fresh, and especially chilled. Chilled Japanese tofu fits the bill completely and requires no cooking either. These can be served as starters or side dishes. We had ours yesterday with teriyaki salmon, stir fried asparagus and plain sticky rice.
AP, for some unfanthomable reason would not eat his tofu cold. So I had to separate the block of tofu into two portions and warm his tofu up in the microwave (on High for 45-60 seconds). I love chilled tofu for the cold factor (great on a warm summer's day) and also because the taste and flavour of soy beans seems to taste stronger when cold. AP said that's too purist a way of enjoying tofu for his taste, heh. So if you've not tried tofu on its own before (compared to in a stir fry), you might want to warm it up in the microwave, although I think everyone should try the 'purist version'!
Cut the film from the container, run a knife carefully along the edges of the tofu and invert the block onto a plate or small dish. Chill in the fridge until ready to serve. To serve, drizzle with 1 tsp of light soy sauce, a few drops of sesame oil and top with garnish of your choice. The most popular are spring onions and bonito flakes, but I have also seen versions that used fried shallots, diced century egg, or pork floss. I used a furikake mix (of sesame seeds, nori and bonito) and spring onions.
You need silken tofu for this dish. They come in a plastic container covered with film over the top, like this: 
Silken tofu (Chinese, Japanese or Korean) are widely available at Oriental stores or supermarkets. Not to be confused with 'Mori-Nu Silken Tofu', which is a brand of tofu found in some Sainsbury or Tesco supermarkets. They come in soft, firm and extra firm (even though they all say 'Silken'!). I have not tried them myself and I don't know whether it would be soft or firm that you should use. The soft type seems almost liquid from the description so it might be firm that you need, but I am really not certain. Your best bet is to find one similar to the Unicurd brand picture above. 
Thursday, 8 May 2008
Tray baked salmon with green beans
I love one-dish meals especially on weekdays. Whether it's a stirfry, a casserole (in a slow cooker that I could put on in the morning) or a tray baked dish, it usually involves minimal time preparing or cooking and less washing up too.
It's gorgeous in the middle of spring with so many flowers in bloom, and it's also gorgeous in the supermarkets, grocers and farmers markets with the variety of spring vegetables and produce on offer. I've been binging on asparagus and new potatoes in particular, both of which are great for this tray baked salmon dish. This recipe (from Jamie's Dinners) called for dill but you can use any herbs that you have on hand, such as thyme or basil. And any seasonal spring or summer vegetables could be used, for example green beans, runner beans, podded peas, sugar snap peas and asparagus. 
(Serves 2)
2 skin-on salmon fillets
8-10 new potatoes, scrubbed
Salt and pepper
Large handful of green beans
Small handful of cherry tomatoes
20g butter
Extra virgin olive oil
1 lemon, juice and zest
Handful of thyme
1. Preheat the oven to 230C/gas 8. Cook the new potatoes in boiling water for 10 minutes until just tender and nearly cooked, then add the green beans and cook for a further 4 minutes.
2. Drain the potatoes and green beans and place in a large roasting dish, along with the cherry tomatoes. Drizzle over some extra virgin olive oil and add the butter. Season with salt and pepper and lemon juice and mix lightly, allowing the flavours to infuse with the heat.
3. Score the skin side of the salmon fillets lightly. Season with salt and pepper and place on top of the potatoes and veg skin side up. Scatter the herbs all over the dish and stuff remaining into the slits of the salmon fillets. Grate the lemon zest all over the dish and pop into the oven.
4. Cook for 10-15 minutes, depending on the thickness of the fillets. The skin should be just crisp but do not overcook the salmon. Dish out or serve the entire platter at the dining table and let everyone help themselves to a fillet each and some potatoes, tomatoes and green beans. Don't forget the juices at the bottom of the pan.
This post has been submitted to the Bookmarked Recipes event run by Ruth's Kitchen Experiments. If you have some bookmarked recipes in your web browser, cookbooks or even something scribbled on the back of an envelope, why not take the opportunity to try the recipe yourself and join the blog event? There's still plenty of time before the round up on Monday!
Tuesday, 6 May 2008
Sundried tomato and coriander couscous bento
Hope everyone in the UK had a lovely bank holiday weekend. The weather was mostly gorgeous and we spent a lot of time outdoors, taking walks, pottering around the garden and just sitting outside and enjoying the fresh air and sunshine. I was taking a break from the internet and there were other errands to run, thus the lack of updates. But here are my last three bento:
Mushroom quiche, mixed leaf salad, blueberries and container of extra virgin olive oil and balsamic vinegar. 
Oats and poppy seeds bread rolls filled with honey roast ham and salad leaves, cherry tomatoes and a mango jelly. 
Sundried tomato and coriander cous cous, peri-peri chicken and green beans. 
The last bento was basically leftovers from dinner last night, which was roast chicken legs and cous cous with Mediterranean vegetables. I placed a couple of chicken breasts in with the chicken legs to marinate and cook, which were then kept aside to cool before being sliced and packed after dinner. And I just made two extra portions of cous cous. The green beans were steamed while washing up after dinner. They were tossed in a little extra virgin olive oil and salt and pepper.
To make sundried tomato and coriander cous cous:
Ingredients (serves 2-3):
120g cous cous
150ml hot chicken or vegetable stock (or hot water)
3-4 pieces of sundried tomatoes in olive oil (often sold in a jar), finely chopped
Handful of fresh coriander, chopped
Extra virgin olive oil or butter (optional)
Method:
Pour boiling stock or water over the cous cous and cover with cling film. Leave for 5 minutes (doesn't matter if it is slightly longer). Remove cling film and fluff up the grains with a fork. Add the sundried tomatoes, coriander and a drizzle of extra virgin olive or a dab of butter. Stir well. The cous cous will keep well in the fridge for a couple of days. Double the amount to make more.
Friday, 2 May 2008
Chinese roast chicken and coriander rice
As promised, here is my other favourite recipe for roast chicken legs, Chinese style. It was another simple case of combining all the ingredients and marinating in the fridge and then throwing the chicken legs in the oven when I got home. The leftover juices and excess marinate at the bottom of the roasting tray was not wasted either. Get yourself some chopped fresh coriander, mix cooked rice in the juices and you got yourself aromatic coriander rice. Perfect with some steamed or simple stir fried vegetables on the side. 
Like many of my readers, I love oogling at beautiful food photos on food blogs and I try to post good photos of my cooking in here. Failed experiments are seldom seen in here, or any other food blogs that I read! In this case, I got caught up with something else going in in the house and left the chicken in the oven for too long... The result was slightly charred chicken... (what a waste of crispy skin). So if you're trying to recreate this, your chicken legs should be nice and golden and not black! I wasn't happy with this photo, to be honest, but I thought I would post it anyway because it's such a great tasting recipe, with a word of warning to watch the oven!
Ingredients (serves 2):
2 chicken legs (or drumsticks or thighs, skin on)
1 tbsp olive oil
1 clove of garlic, minced
1 cm slice of ginger, minced
2 tbsp light soy sauce
1 tbsp Chinese rice wine
1 tsp dark soy sauce
2 tsp honey
1/4 tsp five spice powder (optional)
1/2 tsp sesame oil
Method:
1. Combine all the ingredients with the chicken legs and marinate for 2 hours or overnight.
2. Preheat oven to 180C/gas 5. Place the chicken legs on a roasting tray, pouring over the excess marinade, and cook in the middle of the oven for 30 minutes.
3. Turn the chicken legs over and then roast for another 15-20 minutes (depending on their size). If you want to crisp up the skin further, place under a medium grill for a few minutes.
For the coriander rice, you need 2 portions of cooked rice and a large handful of chopped coriander. Place the roasting tray with leftover juices in the pan on the stove. Scope off excess oil if desired. Heat the marinade on medium heat and add the rice, stirring well to incorporate all the sticky goodness from the bottom of the tray, for a few minutes. Turn off the heat, add the chopped coriander, mix well and serve.
Thursday, 1 May 2008
Honey and rosemary chicken legs
I seem to cook chicken legs in the oven quite frequently, but I do love roasting chicken legs. The meat stays juicy and tender and the skin goes crispy in the oven. I have two favourite methods, one 'Western' and one Chinese. I'll save the Chinese roast chicken recipe for the next post and share my recipe for honey and rosemary chicken legs in this one.
As Jamie Oliver would say, chicken and rosemary are pretty good buddies. The honey and lemon juice balances each other nicely and the garlic gives it a lovely intensity that is preserved in the gravy. This was what we had for dinner the other day - honey and rosemary chicken legs with mashed potatoes and steamed vegetables drizzled with garlic and herb gravy
Ingredients (serves 2):
2 chicken legs (or drumsticks or thighs, skin on)
1 tbsp honey
1 or 2 springs of rosemary, leaves picked and chopped (or 1 tsp dried rosemary)
1 tbsp olive oil
2 tbsp lemon juice
Salt and pepper
1 clove of garlic, minced
Method:
1. Combine all the ingredients with the chicken legs and marinate for 4 hours or overnight.
2. Preheat oven to 180C/gas 5. Place the chicken legs on a roasting tray, pouring over the excess marinade, and cook in the middle of the oven for 30 minutes.
3. Turn the pieces over and then roast for another 15 minutes. Spoon the hot honey glaze over chicken pieces and place under the grill for about 2 minutes to brown and crisp up the skin.
Serve with new or mashed potatoes and vegetables. Don't waste the juices at the bottom of the tray. Discard excess oil/fat and spoon the juices over the chicken legs when serving. If you want thicker gravy consistency, mix a tbsp of plain or corn flour (dissolved in 2 tbsp water) into the pan and simmer on the stove until it thickens.
Tuesday, 29 April 2008
Happy eggs bento and mushroom rice
It's back to bento proper after a two-week break. I think the eggs were happy too.
AP's lunch was mushroom rice on one tier, and edamame, cherry tomatoes and hard boiled egg with nori face on the top tier. This photos looks different from the next as I packed this the night before (given that he goes out before I get up in the mornings). He warmed up the rice in the microwave in the morning before taking it into work. The rice was taken out and placed in a microwave-safe container after the photo. A little troublesome but it saved my bento containers from untimely demise and also allowed me to measure out the right portion.
My lunch was similar, but with cherry tomatoes, blueberries and edamame in pods. Packed in the morning, thus the different lighting. A much 'gentler' photo, don't you think? 
For the mushroom rice, I followed this previous recipe, which used different types of fresh mushrooms. Fresh shitake, enoki and other Oriental varieties can be expensive outside of Asia so dried shitake mushrooms is a good option as I have done here. Soak the shitake in warm water for 15 minutes to reconstitute. Reserve the soaking liquid (discard any grit at the bottom) and add to the rice, topping up with the appropriate amount of water for the amount of rice. Slice the mushrooms thinly and place on top of the rice with sliced aburage (fried tofu).
Using dried shitake and the soaking liquid makes this dish taste and smell even more 'mushroomy' than using the fresh varieties, although the latter has its own textures with different mushrooms and more delicate flavours.
This was AP's lunch for today: onigiri, edamame and container of soy sauce for the onigiri on bottom tier, and cocktail sausages on more edamame and cherry tomatoes on the top tier.
My lunch was similar again but with less food and my onigiri had furikake on top. The onigiri may look small but they are very filling. Even AP is full with 2 or 3 onigiri as they are very densely packed rice. 
