Fried Rice Froggie Bento

Hello leftover rice! This batch was part white rice, part brown rice, and part pearl barley. I cooked the mixed batch rice on the "semi-brown" setting on my Zojirushi Rice Cooker and it came out very well. To make the fried rice, I simply tossed the cold rice into a pan and fried it up with chopped greens (I used baby kale), meat of some kind (ham), and an egg. Drizzle with shoyu and top with green onions. I also decorated with the tiniest red chard leaves ever. I'm thinking they would look cute in a mini bento in the future, since many of my garden greens seem to be of the very small variety, for some reason.

The top tier of this super cute frog bento holds chopped apple pieces sprinkled with cinnamon. Winter fruit is pretty limited, even here in California, but this should make my little girl very happy!

Duck Fried Rice Bento and an ECOlunchbox Tri Bento GIVEAWAY!

I have some exciting news (well, for me): I got a brand new bento box set, and it's a very cool one!

It's called Tri Bento and it's made by ECOlunchbox.

This tiffin-style set is made of high-quality, food-grade stainless steel and features three interlocking round tiers that fit one on top of another. They all clip together with two latches that are easy to fasten. When the set is clipped together, it stays together tightly with no chance of accidentally opening. There are no gaskets, so I wouldn't recommend sauces or liquids, but I have not experienced any leakage during the past month I've been using this set with "dryish" foods like the bento I show above.

I packed duck fried rice for MisterMan in the lower tier: rice, with a fried egg mixed in, and sliced chopped roast duck, steamed bok choy, and chopped scallions. The middle tier holds some steamed purple sweet potato, corn off the cob, and a few grape tomatoes. The top tier contains sliced Asian pear, cara cara oranges, a strawberry and some grapes.

The three tiers look identical at first, but they must fit together in a specific way. The one with latches must go on the bottom, obviously. The middle one doesn't have an indented rim for the lid like the top one does, which you (or your child) will realize once you try to put the lid on. It's not hard to figure out. I love this set, and I think it will be able to take a bit of abuse from a lunch-swinging kid (a bonus in this house). Each layer holds about 1 1/2 cups for a total capacity of about 4 3/4 cups of food. Because it's such a large set, it would be well-suited for an older child with a bigger appetite, or an adult, or to separate snacks from lunch.

In sum, I recommend this bento set very highly. It is composed of the same sturdy stainless steel as the other ECOlunchbox sets I own (Three-In-One, Oval, Solo Cube, Solo Rectangle, and ECOdippers), resistant to dents and scratches, and strong enough to withstand everyday use. The set fits in our lunch totes easily, but the company also sells beautiful bags designed specifically for the round tiffin.

And now for the exciting news for YOU! ECOlunchbox is giving away a Tri Bento set just like this one to one of my Happy Little Bento readers! Yay! All you have to do is enter my giveaway below and leave a comment telling me what you'd like to pack in your very first Tri Bento. I would love to get some ideas from you! Restricted to U.S. only.
a Rafflecopter giveaway

Disclaimer: ECOlunchbox provided me with a Tri Bento to review. I was not compensated and the opinions I expressed are my own. 

Char Siu Fried Rice Panda Donburi Bento Bowl

Char Siu Fried Rice Panda Donburi Bento Bowl, a photo by sherimiya ♥ on Flickr.

Welcome to November! The passing of Halloween signifies the beginning of the hectic holidays which seem to take over the next two months. Are you ready? We are starting the month with a rice bowl. This one contains sliced deli char siu atop homemade fried red rice with egg and shiitake mushrooms, steamed baby bok choy, and sprinkled with scallions. TinySprite loves this kind of donburi, and it's easy to pack in her little cute panda bento bowl. The top tier holds a few strawberries, and assorted pickled veggies, including baby orange bell peppers. I'm hoping I can sail as easily through the rest of the season...

Duck Fried Rice Ghost Halloween Bento Bowl

Duck Fried Rice Ghost Halloween Bento Bowl, a photo by sherimiya ♥ on Flickr.

TinySprite gets roast duck (from the Chinese deli) fried rice with egg, choy, and green onions in her panda donburi bowl. She loves fried rice so much; why don't I make it more often? The top tier holds some baby strawberries, a smattering of grapes, and some Asian pear sliced into ghost shapes. The little musical picks celebrate her joining choir this quarter, which she has wanted to do since last year. Yay!

May Day Flower Lei Fried Rice Bento

May Day Fried Rice Bento, a photo by sherimiya ♥ on Flickr.

On May 1st we celebrate May Day in Hawaii. And May Day is Lei Day in Hawaii! So for TinySprite, I served her fried rice with a hard-boiled egg girl decorated with nori. She's wearing a lei of carrot, radish and cucumbers, and some fresh nasturtiums in her hair. The top tier contains strawberries, broccoli and cara cara oranges. Can you believe it's May already? I'm ready for the warm weather and brand new garden blooms!

"...May Day is Lei Day in Hawai`i
Garlands of flowers ev'rywhere,
All of the colors in the rainbow
Maidens with blossoms in their hair
Flowers that mean we should be happy,
Throwing aside a load of care,
Oh, May Day is Lei Day in Hawai`i
Lei Day is happy day out there."

~ Red Hawke, 1928

Added to What's For Lunch.

Shamrock Pepper Fried Rice St. Patrick's Day Bento

Shamrock Pepper Fried Rice Bento, a photo by sherimiya ♥ on Flickr.

Here's my contribution to St. Patty's Day, since it falls on Sunday and this will be our last bento before then. A four-leaf clover! Can we call it a shamrock if it has more than three leaves? My pepper happened to be four-lobed, so this is the shape we're going with. I fried a beaten egg inside the pepper ring, and then sprinkled some chopped spinach on top. It sits atop a bed of fried rice mixed with ham, edamame, egg and shoyu. I make sure to cook the pepper ring egg thoroughly, as it's not safe to pack uncooked egg for extended periods at warm temps. Alongside the lucky rice: cantaloupe chunks, and pickled cucumbers and onions. Happy St. Patrick's Day!

Star Wars Bento #4

Star Wars Bento #4, a photo by sherimiya ♥ on Flickr.

It's Star Wars Day: May the 4th Be With You! In celebration, I had to make a Star Wars bento for my youngling. I made some fried rice with black rice / black quinoa, ham and spinach, scooped it into a lettuce leaf, and halved 2 quail eggs to decorate with nori. I hand cut most of the details except for the circles, for which I used my hole punch. It was tedious, but actually kind of fun. It helps that the quail eggs are so tiny that it doesn't take much to finish them. I did want to make Princess Leia with her side buns, and it would have been cool to make a Yoda, but I'll have to save those for next time. Can you identify the characters I chose? (I hope so!) Darth Vader, Boba Fett, Storm Trooper and R2D2. I asked MisterMan, and he named them all immediately. Yay, success! The rest of the bento contains the first steamed white corn of the season, broccoli, cara cara oranges, strawberry and grapes. Happy Star Wars Day! ^_^

Ladybug Fried Rice Bento

Ladybug Fried Rice Bento, a photo by sherimiya ♥ on Flickr.

Today's bento has fried brown rice and quinoa with spinach, red onion, mushrooms, egg and Chinese sausage. I added a beet-dyed quail egg on top decorated with nori to look like a spring ladybug. Other side has chopped cara cara oranges, strawberries and grapes. It's a quick bento today.

If you're so inclined, please take a look at the newest Bento4Japan listings. We have added handcrafted items to the usual bento books and accessories. My contribution is a pair of origami crane earrings. There are lots of books, starter kits, and a very cute knitted and felt toy bento set - so please stop by and place a bid. All proceeds go to benefit Japan charities!

Snowman Fried Rice Bento

Snowman Fried Rice Bento, originally uploaded by sherimiya ♥.

I made a quick fried rice with the last bits of frozen shredded turkey stash and various veggies I had in the fridge, plus an egg. For my second Christmas bento I made a mozzarella cheese snowman with carrot and nori detail, and utilized versatile pick placement. Easy! Fruit side includes fall plum and satsuma mandarin. That's it for today!

Fried Rice and Kabocha Curry Bento

Fried Rice and Kabocha Curry Bento, originally uploaded by sherimiya ♥.

Another double bento day, and perhaps you've noticed that I've started simply making identical ones in two sizes. Well, you'd be correct. Even though my 7 year old boy is a much more adventurous eater and I can fill his bento with more interesting foods, I'll admit that often it's just easier to figure out what my 3 year old girl will accept and just go with it twice. So today I fried some leftover rice with ham and egg, and that went in one of the squares. I usually add green onion on top for color, but I forgot this time. I picked up a kabocha (Japanese squash) this weekend and decided to make curry with some of it today. Kabocha is a very versatile food and can be prepared in just about any way you can think of (baked, steamed, simmered, roasted, fried, pureed, etc.) I simply cut into cubes, microwaved a few minutes to soften, then added to a pan with a bit of ginger, garlic, 1 cup coconut milk and 1 Tbsp curry powder. Simmer until curry is desired consistency and kabocha is tender, about 15 minutes depending on how much you use. The rest of his bento contains cucumber, tomatoes, carrots, sweet Fall plum slices and a purple carrot and cauliflower skewer for contrast.

I topped TinySprite's fried rice with the always-popular quail egg Hello Kitty. If you haven't seen me make this before, it's very easy. This one is a half egg, and is decorated with nori eyes, a carrot sliver nose, radish ears, rice stick whiskers and the cutest little red bow pick. That's it! I have made so many of these I can now whip them out in a couple minutes. It's a quick and easy way to add a cute touch to an ordinary bento. I feel like I've used this phrase so often ("add a cute touch to an ordinary bento") it should be my motto. Haha! She also gets a few curry kabocha and chopped plum. Today when I picked her up from preschool her teacher said, "I noticed you gave her a big lunch today." When I asked whether she ate it all she answered "Yes, she's a very good eater!" Really? TinySprite is an *interactive* eater, and is known to spend lots of lunchtime talking, singing and gesturing. Maybe she's growing out of that phase. Or maybe she just loves her bento that much. ^_^

Butterfly Fried Rice Bento

Butterfly Fried Rice Bento, originally uploaded by sherimiya ♥.

Fried rice gets a fried quail egg topping in the shape of a butterfly: these are actually mini peppers so I split up a single quail egg into the three pepper rings, and pan-fried both sides. I decorated with nori and picks to suggest a butterfly. Do you see it? The fried rice is standard fare, using onions, carrots and other leftover veggies; plus this time I used chopped swiss chard. Healthy and tasty. Other section contains cottage cheese with blueberries and wheat germ, as well as sliced peaches and strawberries. Don't fly away so quick, summer -- stay for awhile...
I added this one to What's for Lunch Wednesdays. Take a look for more cool ideas!

Bunny Fried Rice Bento

Bunny Fried Rice Bento, originally uploaded by sherimiya ♥.

Today's bento is another quick one with a minimum of cooking: fried rice. For this batch I used mixed brown rice and pan-fried along with Chinese sausage (lup cheong), shiitake, chopped broccoli, shredded carrots and onion. Drizzle with shoyu for flavor and crack an egg right on top. I let the egg cook for a bit and form eggy rice clumps before tossing to complete cooking. Finish with sesame oil, and you can also sprinkle sesame seeds. I added chopped green onion on top, as well as another hand-molded quail egg -- this time decorated as a bunny with radish ears and a summer hat. I just realized that the last time I made fried rice, I also added an egg bunny. How coincidental. Anyway, I scooped the fried rice into a thermal container which has a top tier that sits right under the screw-top lid. I put grapes, cherries, plum, a strawberry and some carrot stars in there. All done! Told you it was quick :)

Hawaii Bento

Hawaii Bento, originally uploaded by sherimiya ♥.

We're baaa-aack! Spent the last two weeks on Oahu visiting family and not making bento. Well, I did make one. I used my "heirloom" aluminum bento box that belonged to my grandmother. It's quite small, with a permanent divider and a lovely oval shape, and a tight-fitting domed lid (including a rubber gasket) with double latches on each end. It's very cool and unique.

This bento contains homemade fried rice with egg, kamaboko, green onions and ham. There's also a piece of steamed corn and Okinawan purple potato in the main compartment. In the small section I stuffed the Awesomely Unbelievably Delicious Hilo Lychees, which you will be familiar with if you follow me on twitter.

I have been totally obsessed with these fruit during my whole vacation, which happened to coincide perfectly with the height of Hilo lychee season. The reason this variety of lychee is so superior to all others is because of its generous size, large quantity of juicy sweet flesh, nice easy-peel skin, and teeny-tiny seed. It really is the most luscious thing you will eat all summer. If you get a chance, you really must try it. Don't let the high price deter you. It's totally worth it. Okay! Let's move on.

For color contrast I tossed in a few boiled peanuts, which -unpeeled- are great for keeping kids busy for an hour or so on a hot afternoon. And I forgot to bring any cute accessories, but my mom did have some picks, so I added the leaf pick for fun. There! I worked my bento chops. A little.

Sunny Side Kimchi Fried Rice

Sunny Side Kimchi Fried Rice, originally uploaded by sherimiya ♥.

I had extra rice from the last batch of Thai purple jasmine, so I decided to make kimchi fried rice. This time I used chopped onions, garlic, baby bok choy, red capsicum, shredded carrot and green onion. And chopped kimchi of course! This time I added equal amounts of shoyu and kimchi juice; I'm trying to get my kids accustomed to more spicy foods so we can all eat the same stuff. My husband and I LOVE spicy food, the hotter the better. Korean is one of our favorite cuisines, and kimchi jigae is my favorite Korean soup! If we order it at the restaurant, I eat most of it. Wouldn't it be great if the kids liked it too? Then we could all enjoy it. Anyway, back to the bento.

Kimchi fried rice is a good way to introduce spicy food because you can control the level of hotness using more or less of kimchi and kimchi juice. If you like it very spicy you can add a lot, until the rice turns a beautiful orange color. It's a delicious and substantial meal-in-one, and if you add meat it's even more so. Traditionally you can top with a fried egg, and you may remember last time I made a fried egg bunny. Here I fried the quail egg inside a red capsicum ring, which is an idea I got from a flickr friend, Cathryn3. Nori and sesame seeds make the facial details. I also added some yellow carrot flowers for color punch. For fruits I put in a tangerine, strawberry and some kiwi flowers. This is my Pokemon box, which always seems too small to me at first, then ends up being a perfect size for my 6 year old. Go figure.

Happy Friday, bento friends!

Bento Box

Bunny Kimchi Fried Rice Bento

Bunny Kimchi Fried Rice Bento, originally uploaded by sherimiya ♥.

I made kimchi fried rice (Kimchi bokkeumbap), inspired by a twitter friend whose dinners often inspire mine! As an aside, I've found that twitter has given me cooking/food ideas/recipes on several occasions. Of course, I follow quite a large number of "foodie" types, so that explains it. Invariably the folks I've met and chatted with are always generous and helpful. It's been a great resource for me.

Anyway, back to the bento:
My kimchi rice is vegetarian; it's also mild, since my kids are heat-intolerant! But, not totally mild, since kimchi is in there! Also, being the healthy mom that I am, I added some nontraditional ingredients. I understand that the recipe can be fairly flexible and may include "leftover" kimchi and assorted vegetables. I began by sauteeing minced garlic, then adding carrot, onion and shredded baby bok choy. I also used minced kale! I've already mentioned how I add this ingredient to rice occasionally for added vitamin enhancement. This dish is so highly flavored, I doubt the kale is even noticable. I forgot the mushrooms, but this would have added a nice rich flavor. Then I put the cold rice in the pan and let it get crispy on one side before I began tossing it. This is because I love crispy rice. Then I added the chopped kimchi (napa cabbage type). You should add in the liquid from the kimchi as well, but as I mentioned I was wary of doing that. However, I could not avoid the liquid which was retained in the kimchi itself after I cut it. Okay, I could have, but I didn't. I really wanted the orange rice color. I also drizzled some shoyu and sesame oil for taste. If this were for me, I would have added a lot of gojuchang, but as it was, it was still pretty tasty. Top with chopped green onions and a fried egg, and it's a very satisfying meal!

I fried a quail egg in a metal bunny mold, and the yolk managed to stay in the exact center of the face. Now that I look at it, I wish I had used the yellow yolk as the nose. Wouldn't that have been cute? I almost forgot, the bunny makes this bento eligible for Hapa Bento's B.O.M.B. Yay! I added a nori face, some maroon carrot and peapod flowers, and I was done. The extras include cut carrots, a bit of broccoli, strawberries and black grapes.

Verdict? It was a hit :)

Making Fried Rice

                 

There are lots and lots of recipes for fried rice. The one I use is highly dependent upon whatever happens to be in the fridge at the time :) You don't have to be traditional; you can use whatever you like. Today I decided to make fried rice with the day-old rice I had leftover. First I sauteed chopped onion, mushrooms, and baby bok choy. Perhaps that sounds strange to you, but I like this vegetable -- it's so cute!

After the vegetables get nice and soft, remove from the pan.

Then, I add the cold rice into the pan and fry it up, breaking up the clumps with the spoon. Some people fry the egg separately, but I just add the fork-beaten eggs directly onto the rice and scramble it all together. Then I add the secret ingredient.

I know, it's really untraditional. And we don't really eat a lot of soy "meat" products. But this tastes really good, and gives a nice spicy flavor to the rice. And, it hides the bitterness of the choy, which is a plus for getting the kids to eat it. If you wanted to make it Mexican rice, you might skip the mushrooms and choy and instead use cilantro and green onion, and you could garnish with avocado. We have done that, too. Soyrizo is also great with scrambled eggs or macaroni and cheese. But today it was fried rice.

Yummy! Kids ate it all up. See its use in my boy's bento. ^_^