Potato salad, sausage, edamame, cherry tomatoes 
Chicken teriyaki, rice, cherry tomatoes, baby bak choy 
Spinach with ikan bilis (anchovies), rice, black sesame seeds garnish, ginger and spring onion pork
Tuna pasta salad with sundried tomatoes, sliced red peppers and hummus
Chicken rice, cucumber slices (as a divider), steamed chicken breast, char siew (Chinese bbq pork) and kai lan in oyster sauce. 
Showing newest posts with label bento. Show older posts
Showing newest posts with label bento. Show older posts
Tuesday, 16 February 2010
More bento
Tuesday, 19 January 2010
Bento ideas for the new year
I am still catching up on bento updates from last year. Healthy eating is a very popular new year's resolution for most people. Here are some ideas for your own lunches; I do try to have a good balance of carbohydrates, lean protein and vegetables. Almost all of them consist of dinner leftovers, either in their entirety or in parts, so it's never difficult to figure out what we had for dinner the night before!
Rice, teriyaki chicken, cherry tomatoes and kailan in oyster sauce 
Mushroom rice, stir fried asparagus and cherry tomatoes
Stir fried noodles, mixed oden (fish balls and fish cakes) and baby bak choy
Couscous, grilled courgette (zucchini) and red pepper, roast chicken breast
Saturday, 12 December 2009
Bento update
I've been falling behind in my bento updates. I still pack bento lunches for myself and the husband but sometimes I get too tired or uninspired to pack them prettily, which also means they are not always worth photographying. But here are a few that made it into photos:
Grilled courgettes (zucchini), cherry tomatoes, cherries and chicken vermicelli salad 
Pork and mushroom soboro, rice topped with black sesame seeds, vegetable stir fry
Roast beef slices, cherry tomatoes, edamame, couscous and cherries
Chicken fajita, chery tomatoes, small container of sour cream, rolled up wholewheat tortilla 
Monday, 12 October 2009
Past bento
Holy crumbs, More than a month without an update! I could go into why, but I will leave that for a later post. It is Thanksgiving Day here in Canada and I have a lovely dinner planned that will keep me busy later but belly-happy. Instead of a whole turkey or even turkey joint for only the two of us, I am cooking a roast pork loin, which I will be blogging about in my next update.
Thanksgiving dinners often lead to leftovers for at least another day or two. How about packing some of them for lunch in a bento? Here are some bento made a while ago that I have not gotten round to putting up. To all Canadian readeres, Happy Thanksgiving!
This was made for lunch after we had roast beef for dinner the night before: coriander couscous, roast beef, asparagus, strawberries and grapes 
Vegetable stir fry, cherry tomatoes, chicken rice, steamed chicken breast topped with spring onions and coriander dressing. 
Inarizushi, cherry tomatoes, edamame, onigiri and cherries. 
Roast chicken leg, cherry tomatoes, asparagus and sundried tomato couscous 
Thursday, 30 July 2009
Picnic bento: two versions
We are experiencing a heat wave here in the Pacific Northwest. Max of 31-36(!) and min temperatures of still 20-21 degrees C at night. Coupled with high humidity and no wind = pretty hellish weather. This is set to last for this entire week. Eeks. Of course, there are folks who enjoy the high summer and make the most of it with picnics and outdoor dining, swimming and plenty of iced water and ice cream.
I much prefer last week when it was warm and sunny but at a decent temperature (around 23-26 in the day). I packed two picnics last week, one for lunch and one for dinner; both were eaten at parks. The first was much more simple than the other, since that was made a day after I returned from Hong Kong and I was all jetlagged. The second one took more time and effort and looked better. Both were delicious though and we certainly enjoyed the fresh air and fresh food.
The first picnic (at Ron Basford Park, Granville Island): blueberries, applewood smoked cheddar, Swiss cheese, cherries, honey ham and Turkish bread. Local blueberries and cherries in season are THE BEST. 
The second picnic (at Trout Lake): 
Onigiri, chicken nuggets, cherries 
Inarizushi, cherry tomatoes 
I could never fill up all 3 tiers of this jyubako box for two person. I used the third tier to hold chopsticks, soy sauce and some napkins.
I suppose my point of this post is to encourage people to pack a healthy and delicious picnic, using a variety of colours and food groups, and enjoy the summer. Even if you don't have the time to do cute cut-outs and pretty arrangements so often associated with bento, it can still be a healthy, delicious and enjoyable.
Using regular containers or your bento boxes also help reduce waste, compared to grabbing sandwiches and salads packed in disposable plastic containers or wrapping at most supermarkets. Just remember to keep perishables (e.g. cheese, ham, salads) cold in a cooler or insulated bag, and with cool packs. So go on, pack a picnic, whether simple or more elaborate, and enjoy the summer :)
Thursday, 25 June 2009
Basic rice bento
Rice is a staple for traditional Japanese bento. Although I pack all sorts of carbs such as bread, pasta, potatoes and couscous, I do pack rice quite often since I could make use of leftovers from dinners quite easily and it also makes for easier planning in terms of side dishes and portion sizes. An ideal Japense bento proportion is 3:1:2. That refers to 3 parts rice (or similar carbohydrates), 1 part protein (e.g. chicken, beef, eggs, fish), and 2 part vegetables and/or fruit. In the following lunches, you can see how I have used the same Lock & Lock container to pack according to those guidelines. Half the container is filled with rice and the other half with meat and vegetables (I try to pack more of the latter).
This container held a beef stir fry with sugar snaps, mushrooms, peas and sweetcorn (basically an all-in-one), short grain rice and a (big!) cherry tomato. 
A friend gave me a much-treasured jar of sambal belacan (Indonesian condiment made with chilli and shrimp paste) and I used it in a spicy stir fry of okra (lady's finger) and peppers. Leftovers became lunch: rice, chicken cakes and okra and peppers in sambal belacan. Hot stuff! (Note: The grass dividers need to be removed prior to reheating in the microwave.) 
I was going to cook more chicken to go with this next bento but having made extra chicken cakes a few days ago, I decided to use them instead. Today's lunch is chicken rice (rice cooked in chicken broth, minced garlic, ginger and pandan/screwpine leaves), chicken cakes, cherry tomato, pork and chive pan-fried dumplings and bak choy in oyster sauce. The chicken rice and bak choy were leftover from dinner. I just added the chicken cakes and dumplings from my frozen stash.
I have been working from home most days for this month and I have found that a bento works really well even at home. It saves me time from thinking about what to eat for lunch and putting things together. Being able to just have my lunch and then get back to work (just like in the office) also improves my work flow. I highly recommended it.
Monday, 22 June 2009
Bento with store-bought food
I often pack dinner leftovers for bento but sometimes store bought food provides a nice change and still saves us money from eating at cafes during lunch hours. This one had a sausage bun in the lower tier (Chinese/Asian bakeries have a great variety of bread with assorted fillings or toppings) and the upper tier had mixed salad leaves, cherry tomatoes and a container of garlic parmesan salad dressing.
It took less than 5 minutes to just put things into containers so this can be done even in the morning before going out to work. 
Monday, 8 June 2009
Recent bento
The hot weather we've been having the past few weeks brought out a craving for sushi and onigiri. In this lunch we had onigiri with teriyaki beef filling, inarizushi, mini beef patties, peppers and grilled asparagus. 
I didn't previously use sushi grass dividers (baran) but after buying a cheap pack recently and using it a few times, I am really liking it. It is pretty useful in dividing food that might stick, helps with the layout of food and also adds a nice touch of colour.
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Chicken and mushroom chow mein with a side of steamed broccoli florets. As usual, they were dinner leftovers and I just packed the noodles and added the broccoli when the husband was washing up after dinner.
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Parsley couscous, grilled asparagus and chicken with sundried tomato and mustard sauce. Just about everything was leftover from dinner; it's a good thing everything tastes good hot or cold. I just cooked about double the amount and packed the rest into bento boxes. They were in the fridge overnight and then ready to eat the next day without reheating. I placed them in insulated bags during the day and that worked well.
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Another leftovers lunch of kai lan in oyster sauce, cherry tomatoes and claypot chicken rice.
Monday, 11 May 2009
Rice bento
I don't always take photos of my bento lunches these days. Sometimes I just don't have the time or inclination, and sometimes they don't look all that different from the ones I have posted before. But here are some rice-based bento that I made recently: 
Mushroom rice, steamed gai lan and carrots (tossed in sesame oil and light soy sauce), and a small container of kimchi (spicy Korean pickled vegetables). 
The warmer weather brought on a craving for simpler and cooler food like sushi and onigiri. This was a very simple bento made last week, with onigiri, little beef patties and edamame.
I made the onigiri with rice and a bonito and nori furikake mix, which eliminated the need for soy sauce (although that meant no cute sauce containers). I used to make onigiri at night, wrap them in cling film, pack them in containers and keep in the fridge overnight, I think I might just make them in the morning from now on. Although the cling wrap help, some bits of the rice do tend to harden a little and the texture doesn't taste as good as freshly made. 
What I did was place the leftover rice from dinner in a container and place in the fridge. In the morning, I reheated the rice in the microwave for about 45 seconds so that it got nice and hot, mixed in the furikake and made the onigiri with moulds. It was pretty quick and meant no cling wrap and fresher tasting onigiri for lunch with no refrigeration. 
Another simple soboro bento for lunch, with pork, red peppers and green bean over rice. This was packed the night before and kept in the fridge, and then reheated in a microwave at lunch time. I need to chop the red peppers more finely next time so that the pieces look more even for the bento as a whole. I do like how the colours turned out in this. Spinach is often used for soboro but I find it can get a bit wet over time and it is not good to have moisture gathering with other ingredients in the fridge overnight (food safety), so I chose green beans for this instead.
Tuesday, 28 April 2009
Sundried tomato couscous
I grew to like couscous during my time in the UK. It makes a nice change from potatoes, pasta and rice and also makes a lovely salad during warmer days. It also packs well in lunch boxes (being a filling and dense carbohydrate), making it particularly suitable for bento.
For those who have not come across them before, couscous are small granules made from semolina wheat. It is the primary staple in North and West Africa (e.g. Morocco, Algeria, Tunisia and Libya) but has also become quite popular in countries like France due to immigrant influence. Traditional couscous takes a while to cook but the couscous sold in most Western supermarkets has been pre-steamed and dried, making them very quick and easy to prepare (great for dinner in a hurry!). Just add boiling water or stock to the couscous, cover tightly for 5 minutes and then fluff with a fork. Properly cooked couscous should be light and fluffy, not gummy or gritty, (usually from too little/much water or steaming for too long/short). You can add add a little butter or olive oil for flavour, mix well and it is ready to serve. 
Other than the basic version above, couscous can be dressed with up various ingredients depending on what you have on hand (e.g. lemon juice and zest, chopped parsley or coriander/cilantro, chopped red peppers, chopped cucumber, raisins). This couscous dish is made with sundried tomatoes, another ingredient that I have grown to love during my time in the UK. While they are a staple of Italian kitchens, they are not that common in North America and tend to be used in chef's kitchens. Having said that, they are easy to find in grocers and supermarkets these days. Sundried tomatoes has a lovely concentrated flavour that is great for pastas, salads and soups. I tend to use sundried tomatoes packed in oil that can be used straight out of the jar. Once opened, the tomatoes are good for about a month, but make sure that they are covered in olive oil (top up if necessary). When you finish the sundried tomatoes, don't throw out the oil! It is packed with of flavour from the tomatoes and often with garlic and other herbs too. It makes a great dressing for salads and pastas. If you buy packets of sundried tomatoes, they need to be rehydrated in hot water for about 30 minutes before use. Reserve the soaking liquid and add them to the recipe. If you are using sundried tomatoes in a soup or stew, just add them in without soaking.
Ingredients (serve 2):
2/3 cup or 155g couscous
1 cup/250ml hot chicken/vegetable stock or water
3 pieces of sundried tomatoes in oil, chopped (or snipped into small pieces with kitchen scissors)
2 tbsp sundried tomato oil
Handful of fresh parsley, chopped (optional)
1. Place the couscous in a large bowl or pan. Pour in boiling water or stock and cover with a tight fitting lid or cling film. Leave to steam for 5 minutes.
2. Fluff up the couscous with a fork. Add the sundried tomatoes, soaking olive oil and parsley. Mix well and serve.
This is the bento I made last week with roast chicken, steamed green beans tossed in olive oil and cherry tomatoes. The chicken was leftover from dinner when I made oven roasted chicken legs. I then placed the chicken breast pieces alongside the legs during the last 30 minutes of cooking time (to prevent them from overcooking). 
Friday, 17 April 2009
After a break from food and bento
I had two wisdom teeth taken out last week, which killed any cooking or bento plans. I did make one or two bento for the husband but he mostly just bought his own lunch at work as I was really not in the mood to think about food very much. For the first two days, yogurt and cold tofu (no toppings, just a drizzle of soy sauce) were my friends, along with chocolate milk (which I didn't remember having since I was 8 or 9). It was almost exciting when I graduated to mashed carrots. Then it was on to (cooled down) soups, congee, stew and increasingly solid food.
I am recovering well and eating just about normal now. Case in point: we had buffulo steak two days ago, which I shall blog about in due course. But being off work for most of last week meant having lots to catch up on this week at work, thus the lack of attention to this food blog.
While I try to shuffle my priorities around, here are some bento made before my liquid/soft food diet:
This was made with some new pasta shapes that I bought. We had tuna and sundried tomatoes pasta salad, a bit of parsley garnish, sliced red peppers and skewers of grapes. 
I pack sandwich bento about once or twice a week, mainly because they are so quick and easy, offers some variety from rice or pasta-based bento, and err because they are quick and easy. This bento had roast beef and cucumber sandwich (tilted up just for photo), skewers of grapes and cheese and cherry tomatoes underneath. 
This lunch was basically more of what we had for dinner. Bread, selection of Swiss and Italian cheeses, grapes, cherry tomatoes and homemade vegetable soup. The soup was made following the same recipe as this minestrone soup except without meatballs or pasta shapes. Thank goodness for the cute flag picks to decorate an otherwise plain looking bento.
I also added chopped celery in with the diced carrot during the cooking process. I am trying to wean my husband on to celery... First by using them in making stock, and now by chopping them into small pieces in soups to render them not as visible or obvious. Perhaps one day I might actually be able to use them in a pie or even a stir fry... :p
This picture below shows my 'standard' rice-meat-veg bento: Baby bok choy in oyster sauce, ginger and spring onion pork, cherry tomatoes, and rice. Simple but delicious and filling. 
Sunday, 22 March 2009
On the road and last week's bento
I am currently away on a conference trip. I have already prepared articles to be posted the coming week so there will still be updates. There will be no bento for the whole of next week (unless AP decides to make one himself!) but here are some made last week:
This was made when I found myself out of any form of meat and two bento to make for lunch the next day. There was rice leftover from dinner, and extra vegetables, but I did not buy enough chicken to have dinner leftovers.
Chicken rice (rice cooked in chicken broth, with minced ginger, garlic and screwpine leaves), chicken cakes, kailan and bok choy in oyster sauce, and little container of chopped spring onions, garlic and soy sauce dip: 
Thankfully, I remembered there was a little stash of minced chicken in the freezer (extra from a meal). I defrosted it overnight and made chicken cakes the next morning. They were pretty quick to make. Just add 2 tsp light soy sauce, 1 tsp sake, 1 tsp sugar, 1 tsp corn flour. Mix well with hands, shape into small patties and pan fry in a little bit of oil. (They are essentially nori wrapped chicken cakes, except I had no time to fuss with nori sheets.) It would have been better if I actually made them and then froze them. Still, they did not take too long, about 20 minutes, while I reheated the rice and boiled vegetables at the same time.
This bread-based bento was packed in very cute containers sent to us by a friend from Singapore, which I will talk about in another post. The lower tier had a sausage and garlic bun (I love Chinese bakaries, their variety is awesome), the upper tier had salad, mini mandarin and a container of salad dressing. 
The sandwich bento: ham and cheese sandwich, grapes, strawberries and mini mandarin. A very simple lunch jazzed up with some cute picks that I bought from Daiso last weekend. 
Friday, 13 March 2009
Back to bento
It feels good to get back to cooking, and especially to be packing bento again. One of my first bento last week was a simple one, made with extra mincecd beef and broccoli left from dinner. I had beef soboro on rice, broccoli and carrot stir fry, and a cherry tomato garnish. With more planned and disciplined eating, hopefully I will lose some of the weight that I've put on from all the good food in Asia! 
One from this week was rice with furikake, shogayaki (ginger pork), asparagus and cherry tomatoes. The pork was marinated the night before, asparagus sliced up and leftover rice were put in the fridge in a container.
In the morning, I reheated the rice in the microwave (just 1 minute to soften them up, as rice gets hard and clumpy in the fridge), portioned them into the bento boxes and left them to cool down. In the mean time, I stir fried the asparagus, dished them out, followed by the pork in the same pan. A couple of cherry tomatoes added colour. 
A vegetarian bento: potato salad (with red skinned potatoes), asparagus and cherry tomatoes. I normally grill asparagus, but this time I just cooked them in boiling water, about 4 minutes, and then tossed them in some extra virgin olive oil, salt and pepper. They tasted pretty good even after spending a night in the fridge. 
Monday, 12 January 2009
Bento backlog and no time to wax lyrical
I don't like to start an entry with lame excuses, moans and groans, but I feel that I should apologise to dear readers of this website for the disappointing lack of updates for the past week (well, the past couple of weeks, really). Things have been rather crazy at work and by the time I get home the last thing I want to do is to sit in front of the computer. Let's just say it was a rude awakening to realise, on my first day back in the office on the 5th of January, that I had less than 3 weeks to do a list of things before we leave for Singapore for the Chinese New Year festivities. I wished I have an extra week before we leave, ugh.
I still cook at home for dinners and pack lunches for AP and myself. But with so many things on my mind and particularly with the brother-in-law visiting this month, I have been going with tried-and-tested recipes that were mostly posted on this website already. It's not really the time to get too experimental! As for bento lunches, they too were nothing particularly new and I often just feel too tired or uninspired to take photos, edit and post them later. I will get myself back into the bento groove again in due course, but in the mean time, here are some of our last few lunches of 2009.
Roast chicken, cherry tomatoes, salad leaves, cous cous with parsley garnish.
Edamame, cherry tomatoes and ham and salad leaves in harvest grain bun. 
Rice, black sesame seeds, french beans and carrot stir fry, nori wrapped chicken cakes. 
Mushroom quiche on mixed salad leaves, with a container of dressing.
Thank you for your continued interest in Soy and Pepper, and I promise to return to more regular posting as soon as I can. I have some recipes waiting to be posted and the upcoming trip to Singapore and Hong Kong in February should also provide fresh material. If I don't reply to your comments or questions promptly, please know that they are read and appreciated and I hope you continue to enjoy food and cooking, even if one does not always have the time or energy to wax lyrical about them in writing or photos. In the words of Alton Brown on Iron Chef America, I bide you, "Good Eating".
Wednesday, 17 December 2008
Yakisoba with prawns and asparagus
AP had a Christmas meal at work yesterday and didn't need a packed lunch, so I had to figure out something for lunch just for myself. I normally make our bento the night before, often using leftovers from dinner. Even if it's just making sandwiches, it makes things easier to pack them the night before since AP gets up and go to work earlier than me in the morning and I don't often fancy working in the kitchen all bleary eyed and half asleep.
This bento was made in the morning since I had time to put things together for myself. It used up a few spears of asparagus left in the fridge, some prawns and crabsticks from the freezer and noodles in the pantry. I can't emphasise enough how good it is to have a well stocked pantry and freezer that makes making unplanned bento much easier, especially if there isn't much 'extra' fresh food in the fridge. Since this was made for a bento, I will write down the recipe for one potion, but you can easily double up this recipe for a sit-down lunch or dinner for 2 (or more). 
Ingredients (serves 1):
6 large prawns, shelled and deveined
1 tsp light soy sauce
1/2 tsp sake
1/4 tsp corn flour
1 clove garlic, minced
1 portion of noodles (I used ramen)
5 spears of asparagus, trimmed and sliced diagonally
2 crabsticks, sliced
Oil for cooking
2 tbsp light soy sauce
1 tbsp sake
1 tsp sugar
Pinch of salt
1/4 tsp sesame oil
Sesame seeds for garnish (optional)
Method:
1. Marinate the prawns in light soy sauce, sake and corn flour and set aside while preparing the other ingredients. You can skip this step if pressed for time.
2. Cook the noodles according to pack instructions. Drain and set aside.
3. Heat a wok or heavy based pan until hot. Add some oil to heat and add the garlic and prawns. Stir fry briskly until the prawns are half cooked, about 2 minutes.
4. Add the asparagus and stir fry for another 3 minutes until the vegetables are just tender. Add the noodles, crabsticks and the rest of the seasoning and mix well. Dish out and sprinkle with sesame seeds to garnish.
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