Archive for November, 2007

Speed bento & freezing books in my kitchen

Over the last year I’ve referenced a number of Japanese-language cookbooks for bentos, general recipes and freezing, and readers have asked for specific book recommendations. I hear you! I’ve put together the first installment of some Japanese speed bento cookbooks & freezing books in my kitchen; later I’ll follow up with general and children’s bento books. All are trade paperbacks chock full of photos and step-by step instructions (often illustrated).

Amazon Japan ships books, CDs, DVDs and videos internationally (shipping info in English here), and you can turn most of the site into English by clicking on the “In English” button on the right of the red bar at the top of the page. Each Amazon entry shows the book’s ISBN number, so you might also be able to look them up in your local library or Japanese-language bookstore and browse through them in real life. (Disclosure: Amazon links are affiliate links; purchases made by accessing Amazon Japan through these links supports Lunch in a Box.)

Speed bento books:

Obento Daijiten: 748 Recipe Oishii Obentou Tsukuri o Oen Shimasu! “Bento Encyclopedia” If I had to throw away all of my bento cookbooks but one, this would be the one I would keep. Large, comprehensive bento book with separate sections for speed, children, low-calorie, frugal, student (big/healthy), and multi-person picnic meals. Also has sections for meat/fish/eggs, recipes by color, bread/noodles, and easy-morning prep bentos (with ideas for freezing and leftover remakes). Lists prep time and calories for each meal.

Aijou Tappuri! Obento: Chugakusei kara Otousan Made Kazoku Minna ga Daimanzoku “Bentos Full of Love: Satisfying everyone in the family from middle school students to Dad” All bentos made in 15 minutes or less, with an illustrated timetable and preparation tips, calorie count, and a recipe for an additional dish to add to each bento for big eaters like teenagers. Separate sections outline the theory of speedy bento prep & packing, equipment, and mini-catalogs of onigiri, speedy decorative garnishes, etc. The final section has individual recipes listed by protein and color. Quite a good book, I like to glance through it to get ideas.

Papatto 15-fun! Oishii Obentou “Delicious bentos in just 15 minutes!” 252 recipes with photos showing time-saving and packing tips for each lunch. Part 1 has complete bento lunches sorted by main ingredient (pork, chicken, beef, ground meat, processed meat, fish and shellfish, veggies, eggs, tofu) and a few super-fast 10-minute bentos with prep timelines. Part 2 has lunches sorted by carbohydrate (rice, bread, noodles). Part 3 has single-dish recipes with photos and prep times; main dishes sorted by main protein, side dishes sorted by main color (see Packing by color). Part 4 is the dedicated speed bento section, with recipes incorporating frozen foods, recipes for an emergency bento food stash, sauces, and freezing tips.

5-fun de Dekita! Chobenri! Kawahaya Obento “Cute and Fast Bentos in 5 Minutes! Super Convenient!” Part of Lettuce Club MOOK’s popular “5-Minute” series, this focuses on showing how to cook an entire bento meal from scratch in 5 minutes. With extensive how-to photos and a graphic timeline for each meal, it also features a back section with super-fast recipes for dishes using frozen food to add to a bento as a one-off. This book was more interesting to me in theory than in practice as I’m not looking to duplicate an entire meal from a book, but I can see why it’s a popular series.

Books on freezing:

Reitou Hozon & Tsukaikiri Maru Tokuwaza 555, “Techniques for Freezer Storage and Using Things Up” The definitive freezing resource from Shufu no Tomo household magazine. I can’t recommend this book highly enough; it’s got a comprehensive listing of different ways to freeze a huge variety of foods, ways to incorporate them into speedy meals and bentos, recipes, refrigerator and freezer organization tips, reader tips, and a chart with maximum storage times for many food items. Both inspiring and authoritative, I consider this a must-have in my kitchen.

Freezing de Tsukaikiri Okazu “Dishes that Use Things up by Freezing” An earlier freezing book focusing on recipes; not as much of a comprehensive resource as the Shufu no Tomo book. Has a handy pull-out chart with freezing techniques, how to defrost, and other tips. Okay if you can’t get your hands on the Shufu no Tomo book, but in no way its equal.

(EDITED TO ADD) Reitou Teku & Setsuyaku Recipe “Freezing Techniques and Frugal Recipes” Brief magazine-book on freezing, but falls short of the Reitou Hozon & Tsukaikiri Tokuwaza book above.

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Published by Biggie on November 7th, 2007 tagged shopping, tips | 10 Comments »

Weekly kid bento round-up

Contents of Wednesday preschooler bento lunch: Mini frittata with spinach and mushrooms (recipe and tutorial here), fried rice, pineapple sausage, and organic strawberries. On the advice of Consumer Reports, I do make an effort to buy organic strawberries and spinach for Bug as they’re on the “dirty dozen” list of fruits and vegetables with the highest levels of residual pesticides (see their article “When buying organic pays (and doesn’t)”).

Morning prep time: 13 minutes, using leftover fried rice. In the morning I quickly nuked the sliced sausage and made the speedy stovetop mini frittata in an extra-thick foil baking cup (or you can just double up two regular foil baking cups for the same effect). For the mini frittata, just saute or microwave some spinach and a sliced mushroom first, combine with the egg, and cook, adding splash of water to the pan before covering so steam speeds up the cooking of the top. (Click any photo for a larger view.)

Packing: I nestled the sausage down next to the fried rice without a food divider as the flavors are complimentary and Bug doesn’t mind. I was concerned that the fried rice might jump the divider and spill onto the frittata, though, so I laid an antibacterial bento sheet right on top of the rice and sausage half to keep everything in place. I described these little antibacterial sheets in my post on bento lunch food safety; they’ve got a flavorless wasabi-based coating that retards bacterial grown on food that it touches directly. Lunch packed in a 360ml Disney Cars bento box with one sub-container removed.

Verdict: Huge success. Bug polished off everything at preschool, no leftovers.

Contents of Thursday preschooler bento lunch: Pork asado siopao (Filipino version three times the size of baozi Chinese steamed buns or mantou), grapes, grape tomatoes, and zucchini and mushrooms tossed in bottled Korean barbecue sauce.

Morning prep time: 8 minutes, using frozen siopao. In the morning I microwaved the siopao and then the zucchini/mushrooms in my microwave steamer.

Packing: I put the sauced and drained mushrooms and zucchini in a reusable silicone baking cup to keep the Korean barbecue sauce away from the tomatoes and grapes. Lunch packed in a 320ml Clickety Clack dessert container and one 280ml tier of a 4-tier Thomas the Tank Engine nesting/stacking bento box set.

Verdict: This was too large for 3-year-old Bug; he left half of the siopao and the grapes and tomatoes during school. He asked to eat the rest of the siopao after preschool, but wasn’t interested in the grapes and tomatoes at all. Some days he’ll gobble them up, other days not. The eating “rules” of children are ever-shifting!

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Published by Biggie on November 6th, 2007 tagged bento, dumplings or buns, lactose free, meat, onigiri or sushi | 6 Comments »

Just Bento: Interesting new bento blog

I came across an interesting new blog that I think Lunch in a Box readers will be interested in. Just Bento is from the creator of Japanese food blog Just Hungry, and focuses on speedy diet bentos for adults, mostly vegetarian, with recipes and tips. I especially like her graphic timelines that illustrate the recipes. I’ve seen these in Japanese-language bento cookbooks before, and they bring an easy-to-grasp glanceability to the lunch prep and packing process. Although Just Bento is new, it looks promising and I’m all in favor of her premise of speedy, streamlined bento prep of delicious food. Dig in!

Just Hungry also points out that Daiso, the big Japanese dollar store chain, will be opening a new branch in London on November 17th with Japan Centre, at 213 Piccadilly. Full details here at Just Hungry.

Published by Biggie on November 2nd, 2007 tagged tips | 11 Comments »

Bento lunch with ma po tofu

Contents of preschooler bento lunch: Ma po tofu, stir-fried snow peas and roasted bell pepper with Thai oyster sauce, white rice with Shinkansen pre-cut nori (full nori details here) and a side packet of individually wrapped Shinkansen furikake rice seasoning (bonito flavor). Asian markets often sell assortments of furikake packets in a variety of flavors, in either adult designs or cartoon character like Hello Kitty, Shinkansen, Anpanman, etc. (click on the photo below for flavor translations). A greener alternative would be to pack extra furikake in a little shaker, and refill it from a larger container of furikake (Amazon sources) when empty. In any case, adding furikake to rice at the last minute adds a little fun to a lunch (and some prefer the texture of fresh furikake).

Morning prep time: 10 minutes, using leftover ma po tofu and rice leftover from dinner. In the morning I quickly made the vegetables, and packed the lunch.

Cooking: To make the vegetables with oyster sauce, remove the strings from about 10 snow peas, cut them diagonally in half, and chopped a rinsed, roasted bell pepper (ready-made, from a jar). Heat a mini fry pan, spray with vegetable oil, and fry the snow peas until slightly softened (about 2 minutes). Add the bell pepper, 1 tsp oyster sauce and 1 Tb water, saute for an additional 30 seconds (or until the sauce has thickened). Let cool before packing in a bento lunch. I used Mae Krua brand oyster sauce, which I adore over Chinese or Japanese oyster sauces (my earlier rant on Thai oyster sauce is here).

Packing: I actually got five natural food colors into today’s lunch, so I was happy about the color/nutrition balance. My first step was to pack the warm rice in the bento box so that it could cool while I worked on the rest of the lunch (letting the lunch cool before putting the lid on reduces condensation inside the box, helps avoid food spoilage, and avoids creating a vacuum inside the box that makes it hard for a child to open). Tofu spoils easily because of its high water content, so I didn’t want to warm it before packing, and I tucked in frozen ice packs (cut from a flexible ice blanket) next to the bento box in Bug’s insulated lunch bag. Lunch packed in a 360ml Disney Cars bento box with one sub-container removed; veggies packed in a regular cupcake liner (Wilton brand) to keep the oyster sauce away from the rice and mapo tofu.

Verdict: Bug ate all of the ma po tofu and half of the rice at preschool, finishing the snow peas and rice in the car afterwards. For some reason the bell peppers didn’t go over well with my three-year-old. Oh well, at least he ate the other veggie, gleefully squeezing the snow peas until they surrendered their inner peas to his little teeth.

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