The bento was really tasty, especially the vegetable burritos, and I think the meal as a whole turned out to be visually appealing. Also it didn’t contain any heavy meat dishes (I’m not much of a meat fan). Preparation went smooth and it didn’t take much time once all the components were cooked/steamed (after washing the rice, I put it in the rice cooker and added all the vegetables for the burrito inside the steaming container of the rice cooker). Afterwards it was just pure assembly. The only thing that didn’t go that well were the eggs. I left them in the water too long so they were a little overcooked :/
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Veggie burritos
Ingredients
200g canned red beans
70g corn, cooked
70g peas, cooked
70g carrot slices, cooked soft
1 shallot, finely chopped
salt, pepper
chili powder (you can also add any Mexican spices you normally like)
ketchup or salsa for serving
2 tortillas
Preparation
Put the beans in a medium sized bowl and crush them with a spoon/fork. Add the other vegetables and the shallot. Incorporate well until you get a firm mixture (the other vegetables will get crushed a little too, which is normal and intended), add the spices and the seasoning while you are mixing.
Heat 2 Tbsp of olive oil in a large skillet. Once hot, turn the heat to medium and transfer the mixture into the pan. Let it cook now while stirring occasionally until golden brown.
Remove from heat. Fill the tortillas with the veggie mixture and add a little ketchup or salsa.
The bento was put together rather quickly and pretty much everything is easy to make: While I put the rice to cook I used the steaming container that came with the rice cooker and steamed the green beans at the same time. Then I cut the carrots in julienne stripes with my kitchen mandolin, salted them and put them aside. After that I diced the sweet potatoes and put them in a little pan with water. While the potatoes were simmering I put together to batter for the salmon cakes and cooked them in a pan. Once that was done, everything else was pretty much done as well and I could fill my bento box. I liked the taste of the salmon cakes and for myself I packed 2 salmon cakes cut in a half. The above pictured bento was for hubby. The vegetables gave the whole thing a nice balance and the meal didn’t feel too heavy.
What I didn’t like about this bento
Sweet potatoes were a little overcooked, going to cook them a less next time. The salmon cakes were somewhat too big for my taste and the pan that I used to make them in was simply not suited. It didn’t distribute the heat equally so the cakes were dark brown on one side and not brown at all on the other side. Lastly I hoped that the sweet potatoes would be yellow rather than orange but unfortunately that wasn’t the case. They pretty much look like carrots but oh well :p
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Recipes:
Quick carrot pickles
Ingredients
2 large carrots
2 tsp salt
2 1/2 Tbsp rice vinegar
1 1/2 Tbsp mirin
1 tsp soy sauce
Cut the carrots in julienne stripes, add the salt and mix well. Put the carrots aside for 30 mintues. Drain the carrots from the salty liquid and rinse them. In a small bowl combine vinegar, mirin and soy sauce. Add the marinade to the carrots and let infuse anywhere between 5 minutes and 3 hours (depending on how much time you have). Serves 2.
——————– Salmon Cakes
60g smoked salmon
1 green onion
2 buns, bagels or large slices of bread (can be old)
1 tsp of Dijon mustard
3 eggs
salt, pepper
If the bread isn’t dry yet: cut it in small dice and layer a baking tray with cookie sheet. Spread the bread crumbs on the sheet and put in the oven at approximately 150°C for 8-10 minutes. In the meantime: chop the salmon finely and slice the green onion. Remove the bread crumbs from the oven and crush them with a heavy bottle. In a medium sized bowl combine the onion the salmon and the bread crumbs. Beat the eggs a little and add them. Also add the mustard and salt/pepper to taste. Mix everything well until you have a nice firm batter that can be shaped. Should the batter be too liquid, gradually add flour to thicken the batter until it reaches the desired consistency. In a large pan heat 3 Tbsp of olive oil. Meanwhile shape 5-6 round cakes from the batter and lay them on a cutting board. Once the oil is hot turn the heat to medium low and cook the salmon cakes in the pan until they are golden brown on both sides.
Visually thumbs up. Pretty happy about the balance of colors and the overall detail of this bento. The ricotta cheese went really well with the pancakes but you can also eat them with apple sauce if you have a suitable container to transport it. Oh, why the heck apple sauce you’re asking? Well in Germany potato pancakes (Kartoffelpuffer) are often served with apple sauce… and actually it goes really well! It’s like baked camembert with redcurrant jelly or goat cheese with honey. And yes I can assure you that my taste buds still function properly ^^ Vegetable stir fry had a really nice taste to it. My husband who only eats vegetables if they are drowned in potato purée actually liked them!
What I didn’t like about this bento
If you plan on packing potato pancakes in your bento you better make a bunch for dinner and use the leftovers in your bento the next morning because it takes quite long to make them. It took me about 20 minutes which I’d consider way too long in the morning. The green beans were a little overcooked and the sandwich was simply too much (if you only have time to eat once). If you can have several breaks the sandwich is actually perfect for a little afternoon snack at about 3 or 4 pm.
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Potato Pancakes
Ingredients
500g waxy potatoes
1 egg
40g flour
salt/pepper to taste, a little nutmeg if you like
olive oil or butter, as you prefer
Preparation
Peel the potatoes, rinse the starch off a little and grate them. You can also cut them in julienne stripes if you have a suitable kitchen mandolin.
Add the egg, the flour and the spices. Mix well until you get a nicely smooth batter.
Heat the olive oil in a pan. Once it’s hot, drop generous spoons of the batter in the pan. Flatten the piles of batter with the spoon to a thickness of 1 cm approx. Cook over medium heat until golden brown from both sides.
Repeat until no batter is left. Makes about 7-8 pancakes.
Serves 4, enjoy. This goes really well with ricotta, cream cheese, crème fraîche or apple sauce.
Tuna Salad (recipe below… and you’ll want that one!)
Whole-wheat bread with nuts (for the salad)
Brussel Sprouts with Parmesan
Little Chocolate Cake
What I liked about this bento
This bento was quickly assembled. Quick steaming the brussel sprouts (in the microwave if you want) at the same time putting eggs to boil and cutting vegetables for the tuna salad. After grating the Parmesan and making the vinaigrette for the salad the sprouts were ready and I sprinkled them with Parmesan cheese and put them quickly in the oven for the cheese to melt. At the same time I finished the salad and put everything into the bento box. The whole bento was ready in about 15 minutes. What I’m most happy about is this simple but delicious recipe for brussel sprouts. Parmesan fits very well with it and seems to enhance the flavour of the sprouts instead of covering it. I’m definitely planning to eat them more often now that I know how to cook them so they don’t taste bland. Ah yes and the tuna salad… let’s just say it’s a recipe I discovered a few years ago and it is a big favourite of my family every since. I could eat that stuff right in the morning, continue the whole day, then take a 10 minute nap just to continue chomping it…
What I didn’t like about this bento
Visually I wasn’t too proud of this one. It looks interesting and different from what I usually do but still… colors weren’t as balanced as I would have liked (some yellow missing) and overall it doesn’t look very detailed. Also I found that there were too many brussel sprouts… I should have probably used half and added some Tamagoyaki instead.
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The best Tuna salad in the history of Tuna salads
Ingredients
1/2 shallot, finely chopped
1/2 red pepper, diced
1 hard-boiled egg, chopped
1 little can of tuna (not the one in oil)
2 Tbsp pickled cucumber, finely chopped
100g yogurt
2 Tbsp mayonnaise
2 tsp mustard
2 Tbsp pickled cucumber juice
salt, pepper
Preparation
In a small bowl combine yogurt, mayonnaise, mustard, pickle juice and mix well. Season to taste.
Drain the tuna and flake it with a fork.
In a large bowl mix shallots, red pepper, egg, tuna and cucumber. Add the vinaigrette from step 1 and incorporate well. Adjust seasoning if needed.
What I liked about this bento This was incredibly easy to prepare because of the simple ingredients: instant couscous, canned carrots, chickpeas, red beans, tuna, 2 eggs (one sliced and one in the taboulé), steamed beetroot and an apple. Nothing of this has to be fresh (can use canned or frozen vegetables) but all of it can be fresh if you have the ingredients at home and if you have a little more time. Taboulé for me is a perfect thing to eat at lunch. It’s like a salad in which you can put whatever you enjoy and whatever is currently in season, with the sole difference that taboulé is a lot more filling than a salad due to the couscous. This is by no way an authentic taboulé, which is originally a Lebanese/Arabic dish that became a firm part of the French cuisine. It is normally made with shallots/onions, tomatoes, mint and lemon juice. My taboulé is a simple variation of this dish that is quickly made and tastes fantastic. What I didn’t like about this bento
There was a little too much food. As I said, the taboulé in itself is quite filling so after eating it I had a really hard time finishing my first bean burger. I didn’t eat the second one. Also I made the mistake to chop the mixture for the bean burgers in the food processor which made it way too soft. Normally the chunks of beans help keeping the burgers firm, so next time I’m going back to the crush with a fork method.
————— Taboulé
Ingredients
100g uncooked instant couscous, medium sized
1/2 shallot
2 Tbsp of chopped and steamed carrots (can use canned carrots)
other vegetables you like, for example peas
1 small can of tuna (not the one conserved in oil)
Put the couscous in a middle sized bowl and fill the bowl with cold water to the same height as the couscous. Add a little salt and oil and stir well with a fork. Let the couscous absorb the water, which should take about 1 minute.
Cover the couscous with a microwave proof plate or lid and put it in the microwave. Cook the couscous for 1 minute at max power, let rest inside the microwave for two minutes.
Remove the couscous from the microwave and with a fork stir it well by being careful to seperate the grains. Couscous should not stick and have lumps, the grains should be loose. Try a little and see if the grains are cooked. If they aren’t fully cooked, repeat the micro-wave procedure once.
Add the vegetables, the tuna and the egg. Also add the vinaigrette and incorporate well. Refrigerate until use.
