Archive for September, 2008

A quick how-to: The furoshiki purse-tie

Please welcome guest author Amorette (Sakurako Kitsa), who is writing a series on how to make decorative art bento lunches. ~Biggie

Furoshiki purse tie Whether you’re using a lovely silk concoction or a simple square cotton bandanna, furoshiki are really handy. They’re great for carrying bento because they can serve so many other purposes as well: a placemat, for example, or a napkin.

The Japanese Minister of the Environment recognizes the furoshiki as ideal for helping to minimize the waste of plastic bags. A wonderful illustrated guide to possible uses can be found here.

I’ve always tied my furoshiki a different way, in what I call the “purse tie”. Nope, that’s not the official name. It’s one I made up in my head and that’s worked for me so far. All that matters to me is that it keeps my bento snug and steady, transports easily with a convenient handle for carrying, and can be popped right into the fridge without taking up a lot of room. Some people have asked for a photo-tutorial on how to do it, and it’s really easy, so here you go.

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Published by Amorette on September 5th, 2008 tagged Amorette, bento, tips, tutorial or how to | 13 Comments »

Speed Bento- Ice Cube Tray Nigiri

Please welcome guest author Amorette (Sakurako Kitsa), who is writing a series on how to make decorative art bento lunches. ~Biggie

Ice Cube Nigiri

Although Biggie definitely has the market cornered on speed-bento, I do know of a few tricks. Maybe they just stem from overextending myself in one area (intricate art bento) and wanting to be lazy elsewhere.

Nigiri made with an ice cube tray are easy and fast, fast, fast.

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Published by Amorette on September 4th, 2008 tagged Amorette, bento, eggs, meat, onigiri or sushi, rice, tips, tutorial or how to | 38 Comments »

Outsmarting seafood allergies and a how-to on Faux Roe

Please welcome guest author Amorette (Sakurako Kitsa), who is writing a series on how to make decorative art bento lunches. ~Biggie

An allergy to seafood can be a bit of a hindrance to an Asian food enthusiast. I’m lucky enough to be allergic to both fish and shellfish, with effectively rules out almost all restaurant sushi (even the vegetarian types are often made with the same tools and can be tainted with juices), not to mention those adorable kamaboko (sliceable fishcake logs, often featuring patterns of flowers or anime characters). This can really cramp a person’s bento style, so I’ve had to find ways to work around it.

This “mock lobster” is a Roma tomato salad served on a bed of jasmine rice. Unless it’s tomato you’re allergic to, this guy can’t give you hives. :-) The eyestalks are removable cloves dabbed with a bit of black decorating gel, the ornamental rose is some carefully-cut yellow cherry tomato, and the “butter” off to one side is a dressing I made of hard-boiled egg yolk, mayonnaise, and mustard. He’s not the only shellfish I’ve faked; I’ve also conserved a couple of shreds of canned chicken breast, tinting them red before adding them to my chicken salad. The result looks very much like crab salad. Kamaboko can be faked with a shaped chunk of lemon-brushed apple, dipped in red juice or food coloring, rinsed, and sliced. All you have to do is figure out to manipulate what you can eat to resemble what you can’t, so you don’t feel so deprived.

I’ve always been in awe of the beauty of sushi. Maybe it’s the allure of something unattainable, I don’t know. I’ve hovered around the sushi section of Jungle Jim’s, gaping at the glistening roe and trying to imagine what it might taste like. There are some chefs who have pioneered artificial caviar by using squid ink (which doesn’t really help those of us with allergies) and juice-based roe that gloms together with the use of calcium chloride. None of these methods seem particularly cheap or easy. It took some experimenting, but I’ve found that there is a way to incorporate the beauty of roe sushi into a bento without the actual fishiness, using about $5(US) worth of common grocery-store ingredients.

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Published by Amorette on September 4th, 2008 tagged Amorette, bento, decorative, onigiri or sushi, tips, tutorial or how to, vegetarian | 29 Comments »

Fun with egg whites

Please welcome guest author Amorette (Sakurako Kitsa), who is writing a series on how to make decorative art bento lunches. ~Biggie

If your diet allows for use of hard-boiled eggs, they can be a lot of fun to work with. Hard-boiled egg whites are a wonderful source of protein and very versatile in terms of cutting and coloring. They pop up quite often in my bentos.

sliced with the curve and tinted for a palette Almost all of the blossoms in the garden bento I showed you earlier are egg white; they were cut with a set of tiny gum-paste cutters (available in cake decorating shops) and tinted with food coloring. For those of you curious about how so many blossoms stayed in place… that was some strategic anchoring, nestling each blossom between peapod leaves that were pressed into the rice at an angle. The bento held up very well — the flowers barely budged in transit.

You can use a store-bought egg/mozzarella slicer to produce slices of uniform thickness, but I prefer to go with a reliable paring knife. I usually cut the eggs lengthwise to get the longest strips. You can cut whatever shape you like, either by hand or with a cookie, fondant, or gum-paste cutter. You can work with the egg’s roundness to give a 3-D aspect to your shapes, which can be pretty cool (like the puddles of “paint” to the left). Experiment with thicknesses and the natural curve of the egg white by cutting a few practice shapes. You’ll find that if you cut too near a curve, the shape will crack. If you go on to dye a cracked piece, the crack will really stand out, so it’s worthwhile to do a “practice egg” to get a feel for cutting.

silicone cups for coloring egg white pieces I have a lot of silicone baking cups that are indispensable for coloring small batches of egg white and veggies. The best thing about these is that they can be pinched closed as the dye-water is drained to avoid the frustrating loss of teeny little pieces. Just add your cutouts to a little bit of cool water and a few drops of coloring, then stash them on a plate in the fridge. Egg white takes on most colors quickly and you’ll usually achieve the desired shade in a few minutes. The shapes can be rinsed and drained right in the cup. After the rinse water runs clear (ensuring that the piece won’t stain whatever’s underneath), blot the cutout gently with a paper towel. At that point, it’s ready to place on the bento.

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Published by Amorette on September 3rd, 2008 tagged Amorette, bento, decorative, eggs, tips, tutorial or how to | 11 Comments »

A little bit about oekakiben

Please welcome guest author Amorette (Sakurako Kitsa), who is writing a series on how to make decorative art bento lunches. ~Biggie

First of all…thanks, everyone, for the warm welcome! I’ll do my very best to keep you entertained until Biggie returns.

As Biggie mentioned, I do oekaki (picture) bento. It’s not nearly as well-known as kyaraben, those amazing and intricate renderings of anime characters in lunchmeats, fishcake, egg products and nori. Whereas kyaraben take a great deal of patience and a deft hand with teeny, curl-prone shreds of dried seaweed, oekakiben are the refuge of rule-breakers like myself Instead of reproducing a popular image, we just make up our own, with whatever’s at hand.

Like kyaraben, the oekakiben I do can sometimes take a while to put together, and people often ask me how long an assembly usually takes. I try to spend less than an hour making each bento, because after that it’s no longer fun. Ideally, if I already have an idea in mind, I can get the entire meal together in well under an hour. Like Biggie, I have a few speed tricks up my sleeve: making rice-backgrounds ahead of time, for example, so that they’re well-cooled by the time I need them, or having hard-boiled eggs at hand so that I have quick and easy access to cooked egg-white.

A very common misconception is that I crank these out every single day. I don’t; these are “special occasion” bento, and the time and effort involved mean more if it’s a once-in-a-while treat. I might get “inspired” and do two or three in as many days, but I also turn out my share of more standard bentos and even (gasp) cellophane-wrapped PB&J if I’m in a real hurry. Having to come up with new, exciting oekakiben ideas every single day could burn someone out in no time. Read the rest of this entry »