Archive for November, 2007

Making okonomiyaki

After moving back to the States from Japan years ago, one of the first Japanese foods I craved was okonomiyaki. Essentially a cabbage pancake with a variety of meat or seafood mix-ins and toppings, okonomiyaki is a specialty of Osaka, my old stomping grounds. I’ve got fond memories of little mom & pop okonomiyaki restaurants where customers make their own okonomiyaki at tabletop griddles (photos below), so I set out to recreate the flavors I had there, taught by an Osaka boyfriend’s mom. Okonomiyaki now makes a regular appearance at my table, and I like being able to have a taste of Osaka whenever I like, without depending upon local San Francisco restaurants that don’t make it the way I remember.

Contents of preschooler lunch: Okonomiyaki (my full recipe below) with British-style lean bacon rashers, container of okonomiyaki sauce, grilled salt & pepper shrimp, and sugar peas with oyster sauce.

Morning prep time: 0 minutes, as I packed everything the night before (4 minutes packing time). I had previously made a batch of mini okonomiyaki when making okonomiyaki for dinner, and froze all of the mini okonomiyaki after wrapping each in plastic wrap and placing in a freezer bag. I put a frozen okonomiyaki right in the bento box the night before and let it thaw naturally in the refrigerator, but you could also thaw them quickly in the toaster, toaster oven or microwave.

Packing: I layered the okonomiyaki two deep, tucked the snow peas into a reusable food cup, and put the okonomiyaki sauce into the tomato-shaped sauce container with the squeeze method (pour sauce into a dish, squeeze the sauce container, release your grip on the container with the opening dunked into the sauce, and let suction fill the container. Repeat until full.). Osaka-style okonomiyaki is usually eaten with a variety of condiments (okonomiyaki sauce, Worcestershire sauce, aonori seaweed, katsuobushi bonito flakes, and mayonnaise), but I cut that down to just okonomiyaki sauce to streamline Bug’s eating process at preschool.

Verdict: Pretty good. Bug ate both of the okonomiyaki during preschool, but left a shrimp and most of the beans. After school he finished the shrimp and a couple more of the beans. I would feel worse if the okonomiyaki weren’t almost all cabbage…

My husband’s lunch: This lunch from last year is an example of an adult portion of four mini okonomiyaki with all of the condiments I like (okonomiyaki and Worcestershire sauces, aonori, katsuobushi and a mayonnaise packet). Packed in large 940ml mens’-style Dear Label bento box with chopsticks built into the lid (by Asvel), and removable divider (removed to fit the okonomiyaki).

Ingredient spotlight: Nagaimo, or Japanese mountain yam, is thought of as an essential component of Osaka-style okonomiyaki, said to produce a tender end product. (Prepackaged okonomiyaki mixes use dried nagaimo or yamaimo powder for the same effect.) A mountain tuber, nagaimo or yamaimo is often grated and served with raw tuna, rice or soba. Grated nagaimo is called tororo, and has a slimy texture reminiscent of raw egg or chopped okra. I’m not a fan of this texture in general, but the sliminess disappears when it’s cooked in okonomiyaki batter. Sliced raw nagaimo is actually a little crunchy, and I quite like it. Some people develop itchy hands after handling raw nagaimo, so you can either wear rubber gloves or soak the peeled nagaimo in water with vinegar to reduce irritation (also prevents the nagaimo from discoloring). I’m not sensitive to it, so I just handle it normally and wash my hands afterwards. Click for the full okonomiyaki recipe and tutorial…

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Published by Biggie on November 19th, 2007 tagged bento, fish or seafood, for kids, freezing, lactose free, meat, phyllo or pancake or other, recipe | 44 Comments »

Hugging picks & salmon bento

Contents of preschooler lunch: Slow-cooked salmon (recipe here) with a carrot-shaped container of Lizano sauce, mini cornbread muffins, zucchini with Korean barbecue sauce, apple wedges, grape tomatoes and a grape. I’d usually pack pesto or a creamy sauce for the salmon, but his preschool has an allergy policy ruling out nuts and liquid dairy, so I went with the Lizano sauce instead.

Morning prep time: 10 minutes, using leftover salmon and cornbread muffins. In the morning I just made the zucchini in the microwave mini steamer and cut the fruit.

Packing: I dipped the apple wedges in lemon juice with water and Splenda to prevent the fruit from browning. (Bug isn’t a fan of apple skin, or I might have made little apple bunnies out of the wedges.) I cut a plastic food divider shorter to separate the salmon from the muffins, and put the zucchini into a dog-shaped reusable plastic food cup. The lunch was packed in a 360ml Disney Cars bento box with one subdivider removed.

Verdict: Bug ate everything at preschool except what you’d expect would be easiest: the tomatoes and the grape.

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Contents of preschooler lunch: Inarizushi (sushi rice inside a seasoned tofu pouch), asparagus, cocktail sausages, and crisp Fuyu persimmon wedges.

Morning prep time: 11 minutes, using frozen oinari zushi (freezing instructions here). In the morning I microwaved the frozen sushi and cocktail sausages, cut the persimmon and nuked the asparagus.

Packing: The cocktail sausages went into a reusable silicone baking cup (mini), and I threaded the cut asparagus onto little Anpanman picks to make it easier for little hands. I tried out some little rabbit “hugging picks” that I stumbled across at a thrift store in the Haight for $1 (who would think I’d find new-in-package bento gear at Goodwill in San Francisco?!). The lunch was packed in a 360ml Disney Cars bento box with one subdivider removed to fit the sushi.

Verdict: Inarizushi is one of Bug’s favorites, so I knew that’d be all gone, but Bug left half of the persimmon. I actually packed this over a week ago, before I started slicing persimmon crosswise to show off the cool natural design of the fruit. For some reason he gets excited about the crosswise slices and will eat it all then… He still ate some, though, so it’s all good.

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Published by Biggie on November 15th, 2007 tagged bento, fish or seafood, for kids, meat, onigiri or sushi | 12 Comments »

Bentos and the picky eater

With all the recent hubbub over Deceptively Delicious, Jessica Seinfeld’s cookbook for smuggling veggies into children’s food, I’ve been thinking about the different ways parents try to get their kids to eat a variety of foods. (Details here about the accusations of plagiarism from the author of similar book The Sneaky Chef.) There are two schools of thought: 1) sneak healthy food into things that kids already like (i.e. put pureed spinach into brownies), vs. 2) get kids used to eating adult food and expose them repeatedly to many different foods. CityMama’s post describes the approach she’s taken with her kids: make food as delicious as possible, give them adult food to develop their palates, and involve them in the cooking process.

This is what we’ve done with our son. Obviously he’s not a picky eater, so we’ve been fortunate in being able to just give Bug whatever we eat within reason (i.e. toning down spiciness where necessary). But I’m wary of being smug and getting up on a soapbox about how to raise your child, because one of our friends has done all of the same things with her daughter that we have, but wound up with an extraordinarily picky eater. You know, nothing can be mixed, meat must be identifiable and on the bone (chicken drumsticks only, not slices of chicken), most vegetables are out, etc. This child keeps me humble — I feel for her food adventurer parents!

Evidently picky eating in childhood may be a result of genetics, though, not just the environment. A New York Times article on picky eaters cites a study by University College London, saying that picky eating in childhood is 78% genetic and 22% environmental. This actually makes a lot of sense to me — it would explain our friends’ picky daughter.

If you do have a picky eater, though, bento lunches can help coax your child to take a bite. Keep in mind:

Don’t overpack. Too much food in a lunch can overwhelm a child, so try to pack a lunch they can finish in the time available. These bento box size guidelines provide a chart with box size by age and gender; pack the box compactly and fill gaps to keep the lunch arrangement stable during transport.
Don’t overdo new foods in a bento. Educating the palate is great, but balance the introduction of new or unfavored foods with items you know your child likes.
Make it fun. This is where bento lunches can really shine, with containers and food itself in a wide variety of colors, sizes and shapes.
- The food: There are so many ways to make food fun! You can make miniature versions of regular food when making dinner (mini muffins, baby vegetables, mini burgers, cocktail sandwiches, mini frittatas, tiny shepherd’s pies), create food art with little cutters and shaped food (molded hard-boiled eggs), put together do-it-yourself dishes that are assembled or dipped just before eating, etc. Even something as simple as slicing fruit differently can make the difference between a couple of bites and a flat-out “No.” Packing a variety of contrasting colors, textures and shapes in a bento adds to the visual appeal when the lid is removed. No need to go overboard here if you’re pressed for time, just try to avoid an all-brown mushy lunch if you can.
- The gear: Bento boxes come in endless designs, from plain to favorite cartoon characters, or you can use stickers and markers to personalize widely available containers like Lock & Lock boxes. Accessories such as food picks, baking cups (colorful silicone or paper), little sauce containers, and food dividers (edible or plastic) add color and fun — eating lunch almost becomes play instead of grounds for conflict.
Reduce meal frustration for younger children. Make sure they can open all of their containers by themselves, cut large food into bite-size pieces, separate food with baking cups or food dividers if your child is sensitive to food touching, or even have a practice run with new gear before using it for the first time. This is how I discovered that one of our oshibori hand towel cases was impossible for Bug to open on his own.
Involve your child. Keep the lines of communication open — talk about lunch food, take them shopping with you if you can, and make time to let them help in the kitchen. Okay, getting “help” with every single meal or shopping trip isn’t realistic, but you can help make meals more interesting and participatory. The Spatulatta cooking website for kids currently has five new bento-themed videos that make bento food prep fun and accessible. Enjoy!

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Published by Biggie on November 14th, 2007 tagged for kids, parenthacks, tips | 52 Comments »

Mother & son bento lunches with pasta

Contents of my lunch: Stir fried snow peas and red bell pepper with Thai oyster sauce, roast chicken, crisp Fuyu persimmon slices, and penne all’arrabiata with sun-dried tomatoes and pepperoncini. Not shown: a drink container filled with blueberry juice mixed with water. I also could have made a pasta frittata using the leftover pasta, instead of packing the leftover pasta as is.

Morning prep time: 12 minutes, using rotisserie chicken from Costco and leftover pasta that my friend Debbie made. In the morning, I restored the texture of the pasta by microwaving it briefly with a splash of water, cut the persimmon crosswise for visual appeal, and quickly pan-fried the vegetables with this recipe (but with fresh peppers instead of roasted). I like the persimmon cut like this; this lunch is even prettier with a full slice.

Packing: After packing the bento box, I let the lunch cool with the lid off while I finished getting ready for the day. This reduces condensation inside the box for maximum bento food safety. With two growing and feisty kittens in the house, though, it’s become more difficult to just leave lunches out to cool — there’s a very real risk of finding a curious cat trying to sneak a snack. (Hooray for squirt guns for discipline!) Lately I’ve taken to putting the boxes on top of the refrigerator behind the knife block where the cats can’t get at them. Lunch packed in two 350ml tiers of a Lock & Lock bento set, with handy drink container and insulated carrying case.

Preschooler lunch: My son’s bento contains the same food as mine, minus the persimmon.

Packing: The flavors of the chicken and vegetables were complimentary and my son isn’t very picky about food touching, so I dispensed with food dividers (edible or plastic) and separated the snow peas and bell peppers for a nice color contrast. (Confession: If I weren’t taking photos and blogging this, I probably would have just dumped the stir-fried veggies in together without worrying about color contrast…) Packed in two tiers (180ml and 100ml) of a 4-tier Thomas the Tank Engine nesting and stacking bento box set.

Verdict: Pretty good over time. Bug ate all of the pasta and snow peas, and most of the chicken at preschool. After school he ate the rest of the chicken and one of the peppers (and the sliced persimmon from my lunch!). I was surprised that he downed the spicy pasta at dinner the night before; it seemed to be fine as long as he just stuck with the pasta itself and didn’t eat the add-ins (sun-dried tomatoes, pepperoncini, etc.). If I hadn’t seen him wolf this down earlier I would have hesitated to pack something spicy that he might not be able to eat.

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Published by Biggie on November 12th, 2007 tagged bento, for kids, pasta or noodles, poultry | 14 Comments »

A trio of kid bentos

Looking back, I realize I haven’t been packing as many adult bento lunches lately as I’ve been focusing on cranking out Bug’s daily preschool meals in time to run out the door. Over the past month I’ve gotten more comfortable with our new morning routine, though, so I think I’m about ready to restart making my lunches in conjunction with his. Today we have a backlog of three of my three-year-old’s lunches; stay tuned for more of the mother/son lunches, the variations adjusting for different appetites and cuteness levels.

Contents of Wednesday preschooler lunch: Mac and cheese with grilled red peppers and green onions, wasabi and green onion smashed potatoes, grilled mushrooms, pineapple sausage, and sliced persimmon. This meal is too carb-heavy for my liking, but there you go.

Morning prep time: 7 minutes, using all leftovers except sausage and persimmons. A friend had left some mac and cheese at our house from feeding her one-year-old, so I nuked this with a splash of water to restore texture, chopped some leftover grilled peppers and green onions (scallions), and packed. I sliced and heated the sausage through in the microwave for maximum food safety.

Packing: I used a plastic food divider to separate the savory sausage and mushrooms from the sweet persimmon slices. (You can also use edible food dividers, or wash and reuse the plastic food dividers.) The lunch is packed in a 360ml Disney Cars bento box, which in turn went into an insulated Shinkansen lunch bag with a wide base designed to carry bento boxes flat, not tipped over on the side. I got the lunch bag at the Sanrio store in Stonestown Mall in San Francisco for US$15. (Click any photo for a larger view.)

Verdict: Good over time. Bug left a third of the mac & cheese, and half of the mashed potatoes. I guessed his body knew when to stop on the carbs!!!

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Contents of Thursday preschooler lunch: Pork tamale with husk removed, slice of crisp Fuyu persimmon, and apple wedges. No vegetables, though — I fell short.

Morning prep time: 6 minutes. I used frozen tamales, so was able to cook one quickly in a microwave steamer and slice the fruit in the morning.

Packing: To make the tamale as easy to eat as possible and avoid lunchtime frustration at preschool, I removed the corn husk wrapper before packing and cut up the tamale in the box. At home Bug usually likes some crema or yogurt with his tamale, but because his preschool has an allergy policy ruling out liquid dairy (milk, yogurt, etc.) I skipped the sauce altogether. While Bug is unimpressed with persimmon when it’s cut into wedges, for some reason he’ll eat it up when it’s cut crosswise like this to showcase the inside pattern (go figure!). I dipped the apple wedges in lemon juice mixed with Splenda before packing to keep the fruit from browning, and perched the persimmon slice on top. The lunch is packed in one 350ml tier of a Lock & Lock lunch set, and a 150ml Anpanman side dish container.

Verdict: Thumbs up. Bug ate everything but a couple of apple wedges at preschool, then downed the apples at a playground afterwards as a snack.

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Contents of Friday preschooler lunch: Chicken drumstick, frozen spaghetti cup, grilled mushrooms and red bell peppers, grape tomatoes, and green beans with vinaigrette.

Morning prep time: 9 minutes, using leftover roast chicken from Costco, frozen pasta from my emergency freezer stash, and leftover mushrooms/peppers. In the morning I made one dish in the mini microwave steamer: the green beans.

Packing: I wrapped the end of the drumstick in decorative aluminum foil to make a clean â€œhandleâ€, and used a little cow-shaped reusable plastic food cup (from Daiso) for the mushrooms/peppers. A reusable silicone baking cup squished into the remaining available space to held the green beans, and I plugged the gap with little tomatoes to keep the lunch stable during transport. Lunch packed in a 470ml Afternoon Tea box without the removable divider, to accommodate the drumstick.

Verdict: Too much food, and Bug burned out on the mushrooms and bell peppers that keep reappearing in his lunches. He demolished the chicken, green beans and most of the spaghetti, but left the mushrooms, peppers and tomatoes. If I were to redo this lunch, I could have done a leftover remake with the mushrooms and peppers by putting them into a mini gratin, mini frittata, fried rice, mashed potato or squash. Having at least one big divider in the box would have helped contain leftovers for after-school snacking, though — his leftovers slid all over the inside of the box, making them unappetizing.

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