Thursday, September 9, 2010

A Tree Grows In Jook Bento


A Tree Grows In Jook Bento, originally uploaded by sherimiya ♥.
Super duper easy bento again; woo! Today I made brown rice jook, which entails all of cooking some rice in a bunch of water for a really long time. I actually tried using the "porridge" setting on my Zojirushi, but it wasn't nearly long enough. Maybe because I used brown rice instead of white. I was afraid the brown rice just wouldn't get mushy at all, but after transferring the half-cooked jook to the stovetop and cooking for another hour or so, it really did get nice and creamy. I added Chinese sausage (lup cheong) and shiitake to mine, which added lots of flavor. You can also add fish, chicken, turkey, duck, or pretty much whatever you desire; and instead of water you could also use chicken or other stock. After ladling it into the green thermal container which I am really liking a lot these days, it looked pretty blah. So I added some shiitake mushrooms and chopped green onions in a tree design. The top tier bowl contains the fruits and veggies: grapes, strawberry, raspberries, tomatoes, broccoli and pink carrot flower. The bowl sits just under the lid, which screws on to secure both sections tightly. You don't even need a lunch tote since the lid has a built-in handle. How great is that?

18 comments:

  1. The tree in the jook is awesome! :D

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  2. That is so cool! Mm, love those chinese sausages. Very salty. Jook is like, common name for this across the asian board, or isn't it? It's what koreans call this too. Yummy yummy!

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  3. who knew you could decorate jook!! the tree looks awesome!

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  4. MMmm. Jook brings me back to childhood. Never knew you can make it with brown rice. I need to get some chinese sausage, it is so flavorful!

    xo
    Janice

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  5. Thanks Jenn!
    Chantale, is it jook in Korean too? Nice and simple, like "gruel", heh! Thanks!
    Mrs. P: Haha! That's how you decorate jook when you don't want to take any time AT ALL to do it! Next time I'll make it cuter :D Thanks :)
    Couture and Crayons, Cool blog name! I wasn't sure you could use brown rice either. Surprise! Maybe I'll try black next time. I bet my boy would love that effect. Thanks!

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  6. Inspired composition! Mmm...jook, how I love thee.

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  7. Lovely and creative! The scallion slivers are sooo fresh, and the raspberries have an especially ripe and decorative aspect...bento lunch art!

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  8. Hey Sheri, Yes! It's still jook in korean. Jook or chook. My mom never used salt though so, I didn't like it so much when I was a kid. lol. I could sure eat a bowl now though. So chilly today!

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  9. ha! i love this one and the title totally made me chuckle out loud. if i made it, it would be a tree grows in jook-lyn, literally!
    the tree accent is so perfectly whimsical, and the fruits and veg are a nice fresh compliment to the yummy (and yes, "gruel"-y) jook.

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  10. Thanks brandi, pigpigscorner and megan! Love to see your tree in jooklyn some day, m!

    Chantale: jook is the universal language of winter comfort soup. Woo!

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  11. this looks so yummy and comforting! my grandpa makes juk all the time, though he's never offered any to me (hmm...). do you have a recipe on how to make this, especially if i could make it in my rice cooker on "porridge" setting ^_^

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  12. Thanks nicole!
    My rice cooker has a setting for porridge, including the amount of water you should add. But I think if you do it on the stovetop you'd add about 8 cups of broth or water to one cup of rice, and then cook until creamy, about 4 hours or so. Then, add your goodies: ginger, meat, mushroom, fish, green onion, whatever! So good the next day too!

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