Today I made a batch of mixed rice, containing black "Forbidden" rice, brown rice and regular white rice. This combinations ends up looking kind of multihued purple and black. It's nutty and chewy, and really good -- the kids love it too! Anyway, I always think this rice makes a nice bear-colored musubi, so that's what I made.
The bear face is molded by hand using fresh, hot rice, and the facial details are made from tofu and nori. I also baked some wild Alaskan salmon with just olive oil, and then dressed it in Mauna Kea sauce, which I usually use with chicken as in this bento, but which is also good with fish.
For color I added star cut baby carrots and a grape tomato puffy heart (thanks for the idea, hapa bento!)! I also roasted some brussels sprouts and mini sweet peppers. If you crosscut the sprouts, you'll see that they open up and "bloom" during cooking. Sometimes I toss with balsamic vinegar, which saturates them all the way through and they taste fanTAStic!
Fruits include strawberry, red grapes and mini mandarin.
Rawr!
Showing posts with label mini mandarin. Show all posts
Showing posts with label mini mandarin. Show all posts
Thursday, February 18, 2010
Wednesday, February 10, 2010
Hearts, Flowers & Tiger Bento
I decided to make a double celebration bento: Chinese New Year and Valentines Day, so here's my effort.
Along with shoyu chicken in lettuce, this bento has roasted broccoli and sweet tricolor peppers. For detail interest I cut some sweet potato and pink carrot flowers. The fruit section contains the mini mandarin tiger decorated with pieces of red grape for Chinese New Year, and strawberry hearts. More red grapes underneath. The facial details took the LONGest! But it turns out that grape skin is pretty good for this purpose. You just have to cut it away from the flesh so that it lays flat enough to stay on the surface. I was happy to keep it all in the fruit family for the decoration, for taste's sake :)
This festive paper and heart doily are a gift from a bento friend, and I found this sweet dessert mini fork just for this occasion. It's kinda frilly and flowery, but my 6 year old boy won't mind! He still loves the lovey-doveyness of Valentines Day :D
Along with shoyu chicken in lettuce, this bento has roasted broccoli and sweet tricolor peppers. For detail interest I cut some sweet potato and pink carrot flowers. The fruit section contains the mini mandarin tiger decorated with pieces of red grape for Chinese New Year, and strawberry hearts. More red grapes underneath. The facial details took the LONGest! But it turns out that grape skin is pretty good for this purpose. You just have to cut it away from the flesh so that it lays flat enough to stay on the surface. I was happy to keep it all in the fruit family for the decoration, for taste's sake :)
This festive paper and heart doily are a gift from a bento friend, and I found this sweet dessert mini fork just for this occasion. It's kinda frilly and flowery, but my 6 year old boy won't mind! He still loves the lovey-doveyness of Valentines Day :D
Thursday, January 28, 2010
Penguin Bento Part Two
I saw the penguin theme has been taken up by hapa bento and The Blogging Mum; take a look to see some very cute penguins in bento there!
Well, TinySprite liked her penguin so much she wanted to see more, so I decided to make some for her brother. I had black (Forbidden) rice, so I thought I would make some penguin musubi. I made two small rice balls and cut faces out of egg white omelet. I used a small sharp knife and cut semi-heart shapes but the egg was very fragile so it's not very exact. I used nori for the eyes and carrot for the beaks. There's a boy and a girl. Can you tell? Well, okay; they're not very penguin-y. We'll see what MisterMan says.
In the back there's Korean barbeque chicken, which I roasted in the oven and sprinkled sesame seeds over, in a lettuce cup. I also stuck some romanesco and baby carrots in the spaces. Fruit side has the last of the strawberries, a mini mandarin and some kumquats underneath.
Well, TinySprite liked her penguin so much she wanted to see more, so I decided to make some for her brother. I had black (Forbidden) rice, so I thought I would make some penguin musubi. I made two small rice balls and cut faces out of egg white omelet. I used a small sharp knife and cut semi-heart shapes but the egg was very fragile so it's not very exact. I used nori for the eyes and carrot for the beaks. There's a boy and a girl. Can you tell? Well, okay; they're not very penguin-y. We'll see what MisterMan says.
In the back there's Korean barbeque chicken, which I roasted in the oven and sprinkled sesame seeds over, in a lettuce cup. I also stuck some romanesco and baby carrots in the spaces. Fruit side has the last of the strawberries, a mini mandarin and some kumquats underneath.
Tuesday, January 26, 2010
Penguin Egg Bento
TinySprite got a penguin hard-boiled egg made with nori and carrot beak detail. I should have used the other end for the head, so it wouldn't be so pointy, but oh well. She also got carrot sticks, broccoflower, cherry, kiwi, mini mandarin, sliced strawberry, and cinnamon banana discs on a cute marlin skewer! I got this skewer from a bento pal as a gift -- thank you! There are other fish in the set too, and I really love them!
When I gave this to her, she said "Oh! Can I eat the snowman?" What?!
Penguin, I said, penguin! Oh, penguin, she repeated.
Sigh. Oh well.
When I gave this to her, she said "Oh! Can I eat the snowman?" What?!
Penguin, I said, penguin! Oh, penguin, she repeated.
Sigh. Oh well.
Monday, January 25, 2010
Ginger Scallion Fish Bento
Are you ready for Spring yet? I know I am. This bento has a bunch of plum blossoms to get us in the mood and signal to the world that we are ready for flowers (and sun)!
I steamed cod in shoyu, ginger and scallions with just a little cracked pepper and a final drizzle of sesame oil. At the same time I roasted some sliced yellow squash and broccoflower, which I placed next to the fish on the lettuce. In the next container I placed some purple potato chips (also roasted), a grape tomato and some red carrot flowers. All the veggies roasted together. I thought the purple might run off into the lighter colored stuff, but it held its color well. I brushed with olive oil and sprinkled with garlic powder during cooking and that's it. In the fruit section I put a strawberry, 2 cherries and a partially peeled mini mandarin. I was in the midst of peeling the whole thing like I usually do, but at this point I noticed that it looked like a little hooded creature! So I added eyes and a nose and put him in like that. Afterwards I also noticed that the cherry stems look like antennae, kind of.
This is a newish bento box that I got from a Korean market. It's nice because it has 3 sections as well as a transparent lid. The volume is 480ml, which is just right for MisterMan if I pack it full(ish).
Happy Monday friends!
I steamed cod in shoyu, ginger and scallions with just a little cracked pepper and a final drizzle of sesame oil. At the same time I roasted some sliced yellow squash and broccoflower, which I placed next to the fish on the lettuce. In the next container I placed some purple potato chips (also roasted), a grape tomato and some red carrot flowers. All the veggies roasted together. I thought the purple might run off into the lighter colored stuff, but it held its color well. I brushed with olive oil and sprinkled with garlic powder during cooking and that's it. In the fruit section I put a strawberry, 2 cherries and a partially peeled mini mandarin. I was in the midst of peeling the whole thing like I usually do, but at this point I noticed that it looked like a little hooded creature! So I added eyes and a nose and put him in like that. Afterwards I also noticed that the cherry stems look like antennae, kind of.
This is a newish bento box that I got from a Korean market. It's nice because it has 3 sections as well as a transparent lid. The volume is 480ml, which is just right for MisterMan if I pack it full(ish).
Happy Monday friends!
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