Scallion Pancakes Bento

Scallion Pancake Bento, a photo by sherimiya ♥ on Flickr.

Today I made a batch of scallion pancakes for TinySprite, and decided to make more to pack for her bento. It's perfect for her light appetite, and will satisfy her carb cravings. I adapted the recipe here (from use real butter) but used half whole wheat flour for fun. It comes out a little chewier this way, but the kids don't mind. All you do is make a flour and water dough, roll it out, add chopped scallions, roll it up and roll it out flat again. Do you notice that I used the word "roll" three times in the last sentence? Yeah, it's a LOT of rolling, and it's best to roll it very thin. Now I know why I am not a baker. My arms are aching. But don't let that stop you. It's very tasty and fun to eat! Into this bento I also fit a piece of steamed corn on the cob, broccoli, a grape tomato, and a golden beet-dyed quail egg decorated with nori and a bit of carrot to look like a baby chick. The other section contains a juicy strawberry, supersweet blackberries (love these with Greek yogurt and walnuts!), carrots and grapes. All fun finger foods for my preschooler. ^_^

Chicken Salad Bento and Pancakewich Bento

Chicken Artichoke Salad Bento, originally uploaded by sherimiya ♥.

Just in case you've been wondering if I've turned into a charaben-making mom, here is one to prove to you I haven't! I like to make special event cute bento because they're fun and it's a challenge, but for everyday bentomaking I can't (don't want to) keep that up. My main purpose when I started making bento for my kids was to provide healthy and varied, nutritious meals to sustain them throughout the day. This is still the most important objective. The bento box serves as a means to quickly and visually determine whether a range of food groups, colors and textures is present. This bento, besides being non-kawaii, is also non-cook, meaning it's a double quick one. I used leftover chicken and tossed with spinach, marinated artichoke hearts, cherry tomatoes and sunflower seeds. I added a few carved carrots, grapes and sliced golden plums, and that's it. If you really need to add something cute, a few panda picks will do the trick.

Since I saved so much time with that one, I could take more time for the next one. For TinySprite I had made a batch of mini whole wheat pancakes made with pumpkin puree and evaporated milk (they come out fluffy that way), and decided to make ham and cream cheese mini sandwiches with them. Cute right? I even tried to make a bear-shaped one to add a carrot face to. The rest of her bento contains the usual: broccoli, peapods, carrots, tomato, grapes and plum. And that's it for the last double bento of the week. So there; just remember -- they don't all have to be kawaii. Yippee!

Taiyaki!

Seeing as this is a bento-free week, kind of, I thought I would post about my taiyaki adventure.

Taiyaki is a Japanese fish-shaped pancake, often filled with sweetened red bean paste. They are a popular sweet shop or food court food in Japan, and you can make them at home using a few readily available ingredients. While there are special batter mixes you can make, I've found that you can also simply use ready-made waffle mix. I used Bob's Red Mill. As for the bean paste, you can also make your own, but I used a canned version of tsubushi-an. You may be able to find it in your local Asian grocery.

You'll also need a special taiyaki pan.

I got mine from Marukai market. It's made of cast aluminum, and it looks like this. Cute, huh?

All you need to do is make the waffle mix according to the package directions, and put in the fish mold (one side only). Spoon it over the bottom of the pan, about a half inch deep. Then I put a glob of anko in the center. You can smooth it evenly over the batter if you like, as well, all the way down to the tail if you can. Then put more batter on top to cover it.

Cook over a medium flame until the bottom is nicely browned, just like you would a regular pancake. Then, close the pan and flip! This part is fun! Flip "vigorously", so that the taiyaki is sure to dislodge from the pan and flip to the other side. Cook a few more minutes until the other side is browned. You may check it carefully if you need to, by opening the pan a little. The final product should look like this!

You may have to experiment with amount of batter to use, depending on how thick or thin yours is. If you use too much, it'll ooze out the side. Then it may stick and be more difficult to remove. It'll rise a bit, so plan accordingly. Remove and place on a rack to cool.

Enjoy!

When you see how easy it is, you may not buy one ever again ;) You might also try other fillings, such as custard or chocolate ~ this is on my list for sure!

Jook and Taiyaki Thermal Bento

Jook Bento, originally uploaded by sherimiya ♥.

Today's bento showcases a couple new things I got during New Year festivities, both in San Francisco and Los Angeles. We spent the past 4 day weekend roadtripping to L.A. to visit with family for New Year's and Valentines celebrations, and managed to slip in a bit of shopping too ^_^ !

First, notice the cute froggie thermal bento! I finally got one, since I've seen a few other bloggers use it, and it turned out to be perfect for this jook bento. I put jook (congee/rice porridge) in the thermal part with chopped scallions, and mixed stir-fried veggies in the upper smaller container. This little container has a lid of its own. You set it in the thermal and it sits on top; there's a larger screwtop handled lid which goes on top of it all.

Second, you'll notice his fruit box contains a new item: taiyaki! Along with mandarin, grapes and strawberry there lies a fish pancake, traditionally filled with red bean paste. I got a new taiyaki pan at Marukai in L.A.'s Little Tokyo last weekend, and couldn't wait to try it out! I used a whole wheat multigrain waffle batter and cooked it stovetop on my gas flame. It was pretty easy! I didn't expect it to go that well, so wasn't even prepared with fillings. But I did try chocolate, and that was gooood. I wasn't sure how much I could use without it exploding, but it turns out that the batter doesn't expand that much so I could have used a lot more fillings. I'll try that next time for sure. Oh, I almost forgot, can taiyaki count as pancake for Shrove Tuesday / Pancake Day?

Back to the bento routine after a long, fun weekend off!

Mini Bento: Pancake Stack Bento

mini pancake bento, originally uploaded by sherimiya ♥.

I am posting a mini bento from last spring because it's a favorite of mine and I just haven't had time to do many mini bento snacks lately. This one was for my toddler daughter. It includes her favorite ham & cheese rollups, plus a selection of fruits: strawberries, tangerines, and grapes. I also put in 2 peapods, because she will only agree to eat vegetables if they are present in small (one or two pieces) quantities. The mini part of the bento is the mozzarella cheese "plate", with real mini pancakes on top, topped with a tiny square of cheddar cheese "butter" and real maple syrup. The nori utensils I made using my craft punch. TinySprite loved the pancake, calling it "Baby pancake!", cuddling it, singing to it, and kissing it. It was so funny, I wish I had taken a photo of that scene :)

I have lots more mini bento ideas, and I am such an avid mini fan... there will definitely be another one soon, I hope!