Panko Shrimp Bento

Panko Shrimp Bento, originally uploaded by sherimiya ♥.

Today's bento contains panko-breaded shrimp, sweet potato and kabocha with a twist: they weren't deep-fried. They were broiled! What? I saw this "recipe" on the Japanese Timesaving Lifestyle Show, which is where I got the marmalade pork recipe that I used here. I can't really call it a recipe since the whole point of the show is that you can cook your favorite tasty dishes in a fraction of the time, which usually means forgoing the typical recipe and just quickly mixing a bunch of things together. It really looks haphazard on the show because they're madly racing against the clock, but at the end they always show the judges sampling the food and proclaiming it just as delicious as the regular version. So anyway, the contestant had used this method to make shrimp tempura. All you do is squirt kewpie all over the shrimp (and I also used kabocha and sweet potato), dredge it in panko, then broil (or grill) at high temperature until shrimp is cooked and lightly browned; around 15 minutes or so. If you like, you can add salt and pepper before adding panko. It is quick, but it doesn't get as crispy as deep-frying, obviously. You can serve it with tartar sauce, or cocktail sauce, or whatever you like. I steamed the kabocha and sweet potato before breading. In this bento I also added steamed broccoli, a radish heart, a cup of yogurt with chopped strawberries and sunflower seeds, carved carrots, and another cup of grapes and blueberries.

Added to What's For Lunch!