Tag Archives: Simple Recipes

Bento, Gastronomy, Japanese Gastronomy, 弁当

Today’s Lunch Box/Bento (’11/26): Bamboo Shoots Bento!

April 22, 2011 dragonlife Leave a comment

Bamboo are in season and “take gohan/bamboo shoots rice” can be seen everywhere!

A very colorful rice dish!
The Missus prepared the finely chopped carrot and the bamboo shoots (cut into small triangular pieces) beforehand to soften them a bit and than steamed them on top of the rice before mixing the lot.
She placed a fresh sansho/Japanese pepper sprig (very much in season) on top for more color and seasoning.

A solid side dish! (I’m just recovering from a very bad cold and I need the calories!)

Pork fillet she pan-fried and which she seasoned (while still frying) at the last second with mayonnaise and capers. Very Italian/French/Japanese!
Shizuoka-grown Ameera Rubbins Peral Tomatoes, green and white asparagus tip, stick Junior Broccoli and lettuce.

The other showing the kabocha and sweet black beans salad!

I did have a dessert consisting of ornage, grapes and prunes!

Healthy, solid and really tasty!

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Today’s Lunch Box/Bento (’11/25): Soboro Bento!

April 21, 2011 dragonlife 2 Comments

Soboro in Japanese cuisine means an ingredient presented in small lumps, be it scrambled eggs or minced meat!. It does for great decoration in bentos!

Hint: for a better design divide your topping slightly at a slant instead of a straightforward division and use the division line for a better accent!

The Missus used minced pork (you can use beef of course!) which she pan-fried with a generous portion of black sesame seeds. It was slightly sweet as the Japanese like it. For design (it is edible) she placed a sprig of sansho/Japanese pepper.

The second half was covered with sweetened srcumble eggs.
As for the “division line” she boiled some peas in their pods (edible). Thn she cut the pods finely for the line and placed the peas for extra color over the eggs.

The side dish was colorful as usual!
From the left, stick junior broccoli, boiled and seasoned with crushed walnut coarse powder, home-pickled myoga ginger in sweet vinegar, “chikuwa” (fish paste tubes) stuffed with home-pickles fresh ginger roots, and local oranges.

The colors should be enough to attract anyone!LOL

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Today’s Lunch Box/Bento (’11/24): Sakura Bento!

April 20, 2011 dragonlife 2 Comments

Today’s name, Sakura Bento, had two reasons for it!
One, the sakura/Cheery trees were in full bloom in Shizuoka City.
Two, The Missus had decorated the rice with a salted (edible) cherry blossom!

Having steamed the rice, she placed it in the first box before sprinkling with dry red shio/perila furikake, finely chopped Japanese cucumber pickles, home-pickled sansho/Japanese pepper seeds and a cherry blossom!

A very colorful side dish with pk\lenty of home recipes!

Potato and peas in (and) their pods (cut to size after being boiled), boiled carrots a (some cut as pine trees!) and lettuce.

Zauteed chicken rolls of two kinds, one containing home-pickled myoga ginger leaves, the other young ginger roots also pickled in sweet rice vinegar.
Lettuce again and weet plum tomatoes.
The dessert consisted of apples simmered in kirsch, lemon and honey!

Plenty of colors, the Spring is definitely around the corner!

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Today’s Lunch Box/Bento (’11/23): Chirashi Sushi Bento!

April 6, 2011 dragonlife 4 Comments

Chirashi Sushi could be called “mixed sushi” or “decoration sushi” and it is very popular dish in Japanese homes as it is both very practical and tasty!

They also make for beautiful colors!
The Missus first prepared the sushi rice while she lightly boiled some shrimps.
She added chopped home-pickled myoga ginger, Japanese scrambled egg, shrimp cut in small pieces, home-pickled sansho/Japanese pepper seeds, diced avocado to the rice and mixed the lot.
She topped it with boiled shrimps and a sprig of sansho/ki no mi!

Beautiful, isn’t it?

The salad box was very healthy: boiled Shizuoka-grown Stick Junior broccoli, orange wedges and strips f red pimento. The sweet beans (very Japanese!) were my dessert!

Just love these chirashi sushi!

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Today’s Lunch Box/Bento (’11/22): Scallops & Broad Beans Bento!

April 5, 2011 dragonlife 2 Comments

The Missus was back into the “square bento mode” today.
I called it a “scallop and Broad Beans Bento” because of the “rice box”!

She steamed the rice with the whole contents of a small can of small scallops and their juices poure on top of the rice.
Once they had been cooked, she mixed the rice and the scallops so as to break the latter for better inclusion. She then added boiled and peeled broad beans and mixed the lot roughly.
She topped the whole with finely cut home-pickled ginger for extra seasoning.

Now the “salad box” wasqite intricate:
From right to left:
-Suteed egg plants/aubegines with a dash of ginger jam (ginger cooked with honey only).
Sweet carrot salad with whole sesame seeds and ground sesame seeds.
Cress from Shige Chan Garden in Shizuoka City.
-Mimosa egg.
-Kiwi fruit, orange and mini tomatoes. great colors!

As usual very tasty and satisfying!

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Today’s Lunch Box/Bento (’11/21): Alien Face Tamagoyaki Bento!

March 31, 2011 dragonlife Leave a comment

I don’t know if it’s the fault of yesterday’s medical check up, but I seem to recognize “alienfaces” looking at me through the tamagoyaki!
Actually the Missus agreed when she made it this morning!

Beautiful orange-dominated colors in the “rice box” although I wish that the Missus had not forgotten sending the two detailed pictures of it.
The rice was steamed together with finely chopped carrot then mixed together once cooked and finally sprinkled with black sesame seeds.
The Missus then fried sliced zucchini to be placed under fried tuna filets topped with cheddar cheese. The finishing note was achieved with a pair of Shizuoka-grown Ameera Rubbins pearl tomatoes.

Actually you will have to look top to bottom to see the “alien faces”!

Can you see them now: two with a “nose”, the bottom one with two eyes and a very thin smiling mouth!

And now for the explanations:
Home-pickled myoga ginger and pieces of fresh ginger root from Hatada Garden in Kuno, Shizuoka City that the Missus pickled herself.
The tamagoyaki/Japanese omelette was plain with plenty of sweet boiled black beans.

As for the greens, boiled string beans in hot sesame dressing.

This bento seems light, but it wasn’t actually, what with the solid amount of rice!
Very satisfying and tasty!

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Today’s Lunch Box/Bento (’11/20): Medical Check Up Bento!

March 30, 2011 dragonlife Leave a comment

A Medical Check Up Bento? My, what are we going to invent these days! LOL
Actually, it is a very simple story: this norning I had to submit myself to my annual medical check up! I’m not interested in describing all the niggles my body is having a good time with, so I’ll go straight to what the Missus concocted for me!

The rice was a straight affair: steamed, that is all. But the soft-boiled and marinated egg is a creation of the Missus. The red cucumber pickles are Kyoto-style but the leaf ginger (stick ginger) pickles are peurely local and made by a Shizuoka grower (the Missus is preparing her own with the batch I brought back from the same grower!).

The Missus must have been worried about the results of my medical check up as the pictures were definitely on the dark side. LOL

The vegetables consisted of three kinds of stir-fried pimentoes, some lettuce and deep-fried kabocha.

The Missus’ deep-fried/karaage chicken, deep-fried kabocha (interetsing taste”!) and bolide sweet black beans ( my dessert?).

Very healthy and tasty. The doctor will worry not seeing me as much as he would like to!

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Today’s Lunch Box/Bento (’11/19): European-style Sushi Bento!

March 23, 2011 dragonlife Leave a comment

When I asked this morning how I should call todays’s bento, she replied “European-style Bento”!
Now, what could be a European-style bento?

To me it looked like a “chirashizushi/Decoration sushi”!
Aright, the boiled shrimps do look foreign…
Anywa th Missus, after steaming and preparing the sushi rice mixed it with par;ey, capers, broken boiled egg and walnuts.

The sliced stuffed olives do add a Spanish note…
At least it was tasty and colorful (and well-balanced)!

The salad-dessert dish included “petit-vert”/ a Brussels sprouts and cabbage hybrid. Very tasty and crispy! Carrot salad as always, boiled black beans (sweet) and Shizuoka Ameera Rubbins Pearl Tomatoes. The latter two were sweet enough to make for the dessert!

Alright, it is European and delicious at that! LOL

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Today’s Lunch Box/Bento (’11/18): Chahan Bento!

March 22, 2011 dragonlife Leave a comment

The Missus was left with plenty of rice from last night dinner, so she prepared “Chahan”

Chahan/チャハン means “Fried Rice” as is understood in Chinese gastronomy.
The Japanese are very fond of this rice dish and prepare it in an infinite number of manners and styles.
The Missus simply fried last night night7s rice with a little oil, minced Japanese cucumber picles and shredded “kanidama/surimi”
Simple ni\ough with nice colors again and healthy. She added some Kyoto-style pickled cucumbers for extra taste.

The side dish was very Japanese in concept with an eye for balance, both in health and design.

Chikuwa/fish paste tubes filled with shiso leaf and sweet umeboshi/Japanese pickled plum. Chikuwa are popular in many manners, including oden.
“Snap Endou” or green peas in their pods. They are called “mange tou” (“eat all”) in French. Just boiled they are sweet and tender.

The “tamagoyaki”/Japanese omelette contained sakura ebi/cherry shrimps only found in our Prefecture. A great morsel! The plum tomatoes were sweet and could be considered the dessert part. Finally the Missus included her carrot tagliatelle salad.

Very satisfying!

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Today’s Lunch Box/Bento (’11/17): Healthy Pasta Salad Bento!

March 19, 2011 dragonlife Leave a comment

All these gastonomic reports for my official work at Agrigraph Japan is not always helping my health and the Missus has to think about my waistline from time to time!

Thinking of heath and balance the Missus prepared her favorite pasta/spaghetti (she is an addict!) and once the had cooled down seaoned them wit some dressing of her own.
She added smoked salmon, capers and kawairedaikon/daikon sprouts and some lemon.
Simple and colorful!

The salad dish too was simple, colorful and healthy:
On a bed of carrot salad a semi-hard boiled egg, liced plum tomatoes, cucumber and penty of cress. I added sesame dressing I keep handy at work.

Dessert? No need, really! LOL
Very, very healthy! Alright, and tasty, too!

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Today’s Lunch Box/Bento (’11/16): Square Dance Bento

March 18, 2011 dragonlife 4 Comments

When I saw those two rectangular boxes aligned together i couldn’t help thinking of a square dance as I have never heard of a rectangular dance! LOL

The rice dish was simple enough in concept as the Missus steamed it with mixed beans, chopped carrots, corn and hijiki/sweet seaweed and mixed the whole together once cooked. It made for some interesting color combination and satisfying eating!

Although the side dish looks a bot complicated it was pretty straightforward, too!
Boiled broccoli, boiled eggs and boiled spinach inside a double layer of inari/fried tofu pouches, boiled white cauliflower, plum tomato, boiled kabotcha and home-pickled cabbage (in amazu/sweet vinegar).

Some Shizuoka-grown Benihoppe/Red Cheeks strawberries for dessert added the finishing touch to a very healthy (and tasty) bento!

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Today’s Lunch Box/Bento (’11/15): Healthy Sushi Rolls Bento

March 2, 2011 dragonlife 2 Comments

The Missus is back into her sushi mode!
And as her sushi rolls are always of the healthy kind, I’m always ready for them!

After having steamed the rice and prepared it as sushi rice, she prepared 3 types of rolls/maki all rolled in lettuce:

-1 plain with pepper ham

-1 where she mixed the rice with curry furikake to obtain the yellow color and rolled around fresh cress/cresson.
-1 where she mixed the rice with finely chopped Japanese cucumber pickles to obtain a greenish color and rolled around finely cut carrot salad.

The “salad” box comprised finely chopped carrot salad, boiled black nbeans, finely cut pimentos, chopped celery, baby leaves and walnuts.

Had it not been for the ham this bento would have been vegan/vegetarian!
Healthy and tasty!

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Today’s Lunch Box/Bento (’11/14): Teriyaki Salmon Bento

March 1, 2011 dragonlife Leave a comment

The weather has been pretty grim the last two days with the coming spring rains, but it is difficult to complain when you consider the water is needed. But it does not help with my work at Agrigraph and I have to find venues for reports away from the farms.
At least the Missus keeps me well-fed! LOL

The Missus actually complained that her bento today reflected the stae of the weather…
I know better than contradict her and told her not to wory.
Anyway she steamed plain rice and sprinkled some umeboshi/Jpanese pickled plum furikakke and sesame seeds over it.

The Missus likes shiosake/円鮭/salted salmon, but I prefer it with extra seasoning, so she fried the salted salmon in teriyaki sauce. She left the skin for decoration, but I discarded the latter.
She had plenty of various vegetable salads ready in the refrigerator, so she added her own gobo kinpira/stir-fried burdock roots salad and boiled broccoli.

Plenty more vegetables in the “side box”!

From the extreme right, simple spinach salad with katsuobushi/dried bonito shavings, carrot and pimento salad, boiled cauliflower and lettuce.

And tamagoyaki for dessert!

The weather will be fine tomorrow but I’m looking forward to the same!

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Today’s Lunch Box/Bento (’11/13): Smoked Chicken Bento

February 23, 2011 dragonlife Leave a comment

One the Missus’ favorite ways of preparing chicken is to smoke it.
She has many recipes, but I couldn’t check this one as she did it overnight!

So after she had steamed the rice and fill a box with it, she fried slices of smoked chicken together with pieces of red pimentos and celery (stick and leaves) with a little wasabi dressing and plentyof black sesame seeds to cover and season the rice with the juices.
Simple in concept but very tasty!

More vegetables came into the second box in the shape of salad: carrots with black beans, lettuce and sesame dressing and crushed peanuts, pickles: home-pickled mini melons and daikon, and dessert: boiled violet sweet potato.
A soft-boiled egg completed the lunch for more proteins and balance.

Very satisfying!

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Today’s Lunch Box/Bento (’11/12): Vegan & Vegetarian Sushi Bento

February 22, 2011 dragonlife 2 Comments

Although I’m not a vegetarian I’ve wanted for a long time the Missus to concoct me an entirely vegetarian bento. Not only she complied, but she made it a sushi as well!

She first steamed the rice and prepared as sushi rice before mixing plenty of sesame seeds in.
She then proceded to cover the lot with vegetables.

She fried sliced lotus roots in spices for a hot addition to the plain boiled green peas in their pods.

Then, keeping in mind the color arrangement and the whole balance, she first added a shredded carrot salad seasoned with gomadare/sesame dressing and crushed peanuts, and next gobo kinpira/stir-fried hot burdock roots (seasoned with chili pepper and black sesame seeds). She finally topped the whole with some sliced plum tomato.

For salad and dessert she prpared a vegan/vegetarian kabocha and black beans salad to which she added fresh lettuce and Akihime strawberries from Shizuoka!

I don’t plan to be a vegan or vegetarian but my sometimes tired body can really appreciate the cuisine now and then!

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