I'm Biggie: avid cook, speedy lunch packer, mom in San Francisco, & former expat fluent in Japanese. 
Microwave mixed rice & fried chicken
Bug’s lunch: Quick mixed brown and white rice with asparagus, kamaboko fish cake, and green onions (recipe below). Strawberries, green grapes and Ajinomoto-brand Japanese-style fried chicken (”kara-age”). Pre-cooked frozen fried chicken was great in theory, but not very good in practice as it turned out soggy and greasy — yuck. It was moist and the flavor was good, but the breading was unappetizing. Didn’t bother Bug, though, as he devoured the chicken but left the rice untouched for reasons yet unknown…
Morning prep time: 8 minutes, using frozen fried chicken and microwave faux “fried rice” using leftover cold rice.
Packing: For the fried chicken, I used paper-lined cups specially designed to absorb the oil from fried food (bought at Daiso in Daly City, CA for US$1.50 — look for the cartoon shrimp on the package). I was pleased with these as they absorbed a lot of oil from the chicken. This was too large for Bug, but the leftovers didn’t go to waste…
(Cross-posted here at The Daily Tiffin parenting and lifestyle blog.)
My lunch was the same as Bug’s, with bigger pieces of chicken and halved strawberries instead of quartered.
I used a shortcut to make cheater’s 5-minute “fried rice” in the microwave that I adapted from Japanese bento cookbook 園å…ã®ãŠã¹ã‚“ã¨ã†ã€€(”Kindergartner Bentos” from Kodansha), a variation on this version that I made a while back.
Loose Recipe for Mixed Rice
- 1.5 cups leftover cooked rice (white or brown, refrigerated, frozen or fresh)
- a few slices of kamaboko fish cake (or any protein, such as roast pork or chicken)
- a green onion
- a vegetable (asparagus, frozen green peas or corn, etc.)
- sesame oil
- soy sauce
- salt
- roasted, ground sesame seeds (optional)
- Chop up a handful each of protein (kamaboko), green onion and vegetable (if cutting is necessary).
- Put the leftover cold white rice in a microwave-safe bowl, and top it with the protein, green onions, and vegetables. Cover with plastic wrap and heat for one minute in a 1100W microwave (times will vary depending upon how much food you’re nuking and the power of your microwave). If you have fresh rice made up, just nuke the protein and veggies on their own, and mix them together with the hot rice afterwards.
- When hot, add a couple teaspoons or so of soy sauce, a dash of salt and a drizzle of sesame oil to taste, and mix it all up.
NOTE: I keep a cheap sesame seed grinder filled with roasted sesame seeds for freshly ground sesame. If you don’t have a sesame seed roaster, you can use a frying pan covered with a splatter screen to toast your own sesame seeds (cheaper and fresher than buying them pre-roasted, but slower).
Lunch in a Box is nominated for Best Food Blog in the Blogger’s Choice Awards. If you’d like to cast your vote for speedy lunch packing, click here (you can vote for multiple blogs in the same category).
READ MORE:
- Need for speed: A mommy’s lunch manifesto
- How to pack a bento lunch and use “gap fillers”
- Choosing the right size bento box
- Packed lunch food safety
- Biggie’s list of top speed tips, tutorials and equipment reviews
June 1st, 2007 | Categories: bento, equipment, fish or seafood, for kids, lactose free, poultry, recipe, rice | 
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June 1st, 2007 at 7:36 am
I always just dismissed those paper-tin foil cups as boring things.. *head to desk* Thank you for the clarification, I should pay closer attention to them next time I visit the store!
June 1st, 2007 at 11:00 am
Commoi, be sure that the package looks like the one above — these are different from the regular/common foil cups with removable paper liners (the paper in these is super-absorbent and built into the cup, not removable). You could probably use regular foil cups and just keep the paper liners inside for oily food (or line part of the box/cup with a paper towel), but for the record, those are different from the ones I’ve used here.
June 1st, 2007 at 12:15 pm
Hi Biggie, I think I just made a mistake showing your site to my eldest. He says from now on his lunches need to look like yours do. I wonder if you could come and live in the UK, perhaps next door.
Amanda
June 1st, 2007 at 12:21 pm
I really like how colorful your lunches always are. They look very appetizing.
June 1st, 2007 at 12:22 pm
Don’t mind the glaring icon, it’s just my default.
June 1st, 2007 at 2:45 pm
Hmm, if you had a neverending supply of that Guiness Marmite, I’d consider a move!!
June 1st, 2007 at 2:48 pm
Thanks quelque_chose (something?)! Don’t mind my underpants hippo either, he’s mine! (”(under)Pants Pankuro” — Japanese potty training cartoon)
June 1st, 2007 at 3:32 pm
Hello
I really like your site - been reading it for a while now and the food always looks great! After a year of eating awful £1 sandwiches from the university cafeteria, I’m looking forward to making proper bentos for myself next year; hopefully I’ll be able to get hold of some of the proper supplies.
Also, I’ve stumbled across this site - maybe you’ve seen it before. I don’t read Japanese, but the pictures are adorable!!
http://www.e-obento.com/main-Frame-set.htm
June 1st, 2007 at 5:55 pm
Well, I had to name is something, didn’t I?
June 2nd, 2007 at 11:22 pm
Thank you for the kind comment! You might want to check out bentobusiness.co.uk or bunnybento.co.uk — I believe they might have U.K. local bento supply information. I have seen the e-obento site before — great organization (but oh, how much time it would take to make one of those lunches!).
January 11th, 2008 at 11:23 am
oye. my boyfriend loves chicken karaage so i bought some batter mix. the instructions is in japanese! haha. it took me about half an hour to do translations on babelfish. (i can read hirigana but can’t translate it!)
hopefully it turns out well! thank you for these ideas!
January 12th, 2008 at 8:02 am
@11 from vampyra1: Wow, that’s quite a project to make karaage! How did it turn out?