bento

With juicy marinated chicken coated in an ultra-crisp shell, Karaage (から揚げ) is a staple of Japanese home-cooking and one of the most popular items to pack into a bento box lunch in Japan.

Karaage (から揚げ)

soy sauce

sake

fresh ginger ((grated))

skin-on boneless chicken thighs

potato starch

vegetable oil ((for frying))

lemon

Whisk the soy sauce, sake and ginger together in a bowl to combine.

Add the chicken and mix well to ensure each piece of chicken is coated with the marinade. Cover and refrigerate, allowing the chicken to marinate for at least 1 hour or up to 4 hours.

When you are ready to fry the karaage, add 1 inch of vegetable oil in a heavy bottomed pot and heat until the oil reaches 340 degrees F (170 C). Prepare a paper towel-lined rack.

While you wait for the oil to come up to temperature, dredge the marinated chicken in potato starch to coat each piece evenly and set the pieces of coated chicken on a tray.

When the oil ready, fry the coated chicken in batches. Don't overcrowd the pot, and I recommend batching pieces of chicken that are roughly the same size.

When the karaage hits an internal temperature of 160 degrees F (71 C), transfer them to the prepared rack and let them rest for a few minutes before serving them.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xC1f4NYKfxs

With a crisp shell surrounding juicy chicken, Karaage (Japanese Fried Chicken), is a staple of Japanese home cooking and one of the most popular bento items.

Chicken Karaage (Japanese Fried Chicken)

Tamagoyaki is a delicious Japanese Omelette that's a staple of a traditional Japanese breakfast. Made by rolling layers of seasoned egg together, Tamagoyaki is a quick an easy side dish that's perfect for adding some protein and a splash of color to a bento box lunch.

Tamagoyaki (Japanese Rolled Omelette)

eggs

evaporated cane sugar

usukuchi soy sauce

salt

vegetable oil

Break the eggs into a bowl or large cup with a spout.

Add the sugar, soy sauce, and salt to the eggs and beat them together while trying to minimize the air you incorporate into them.

Preheat your pan over medium-low heat until it's hot.

Add the oil to the pan and use a folded up paper towel to spread it around the pan, ensuring every surface of the pan (including the sides) are well oiled. You can use the oil-soaked paper towel to re-oil the pan if you find the eggs are starting to stick.

Pour enough egg into the pan to evenly cover the bottom of the pan with a thin layer of egg, and let this cook until it's not runny on top anymore, but the egg is still wet.

Carefully roll the egg from one end using chopsticks or a spatula. You want to roll it as tight as possible so that you don't have air pockets inside. Once you get the egg rolled, you can use a spatula to press the air out of the roll and help the layers adhere to each other.

If you are using a round pan, fold the sides of the egg towards the center so that when you roll it, the egg ends up a consistent thickness.

Repeat steps 5 and 6 until you run out of egg.

If you used a round pan, or if the shape of your tamagoyaki didn't turn out well, you can turn the warm tamagoyaki out onto a sheet of plastic wrap and then wrap it tightly. As it cools, the egg will set into the desired shape.

If you are serving your tamagoyaki immediately, you can cut it into 4-8 slices immediately. If you plan to include your tamagoyaki in a bento box, let it cool completely before slicing it.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cVgfGcSeTNI

This Tamagoyaki (卵焼き) recipe can be made in a round frying pan with just 4 ingredients. It is a delicious Japanese omelette that is a breakfast and bento box staple in Japan.

Tamagoyaki (Japanese Omelette)

Bento Box with Tonkatsu as a main is called Tonkatsu Bento. It consists of cooked rice, tonkatsu and a small amount of a few side dishes. It is intended to be eaten at room temperature.&nbsp;I have written my instructions on how to pack the box to make it look like the photo of the bento box in the post. But you don’t need to place the ingredients in the same way.Because bento is usually made mostly from the left-over dishes or make-ahead dishes, the time indicated in this recipe only shows the time to pack the bento box.

Bento Box - Tonkatsu Bento

rice ((note 1))

tomato

cabbage

Tonkatsu

Black sesame seeds

Bulldog tonkatsu sauce

mini foil cupcake liner ((note 6))

While the rice is still hot or warm, place the rice in the bento box and let it cool.

Put snow pea shoots goma-ae in a foil cupcake liner and place it next to the rice.

In a small space next to the cupcake liner containing goma-ae, place tomato wedges.

1st Box

Place the potato salad at one end of the box.

Place shredded cabbage next to the potato salad, allowing sufficient space for the tonkatsu to fit in.

Place the tonkatsu pieces to fill the box.

If the container of tonkatsu sauce is small enough to fit in the corner of the bento box, put it in the box. Otherwise, pack it separately.

2nd Box

The main dish of today’s bento is Shumai but my Shumai Bento is a colourful bento - the rice is covered with Japanese scrambled eggs and green peas, and decorated with the flower-shaped carrots. The pickled red cabbage adds an extra colour to the already colourful bento!Because bento is usually made mostly from left-over dishes or make-ahead dishes, the time indicated in this recipe only shows the time to pack the bento box.

Bento Box – Shumai Bento

Shumai ((note 2))

½ portion Iri Tamago

½ portion Peas from Sanshoku Bento recipe

carrot

tbsp Sweet and Sour Pickled Red Cabbage

okazu

Fill about half of the bento box with the rice, allowing for 1cm / ⅜” margin at the top (see the first photo in this post).

Place Shumai pieces next to the rice, filling most of the remaining space of the bento box.

Put Pickled Red Cabbage in the okazu cup and place it next to the shumai.

Cover half of the rice with Iri Tamago and the rest with Peas.

Place the flower-shaped carrots over the line between the egg and the peas.

Get your kids excited about their school lunch with this kawaii Piggy Spam Musubi Bento! Wildly popular in Hawaii, spam musubi is super easy to prepare and you can get your kids to help out too.

Piggy Spam Musubi Bento

SPAM® (7 oz)

½ Tbsp neutral-flavored oil (vegetable, canola, etc)

rice

nori (seaweed)

spaghetti

Gather all the ingredients.

Cut 3 slices of spam. Add a little oil to the frying pan and cook the spam until lightly browned on both sides.

Line the spam tin with plastic wrap. Scoop rice into the tin and gently press the rice together.

Pull out the plastic wrap and remove it. Place a slice of spam on the rice.

Cut out a strip of nori and wrap it around the spam-and-rice sandwich.

Use a nori punch or a pair of scissors, cut out pig’s eyes and nostrils from the nori sheet.

Cut out an oval shape from the slice of ham for the pig’s snout. Then cut out six smaller ovals for the pig’s ears and feet. Cut out an inverted “V” at the edges of four of the ovals to form the cloven hoovers.

Place the ham and nori on the spam.

Use a spaghetti noodle to secure the ham onto the spam and pack spam musubi into the bento box.

These Yaki Onigiri, or grilled rice balls, have a layer of fluffy rice sandwiched between two ultra-crispy layers of browned rice. Seasoned with butter and soy sauce, they make a mouth-wateringly delicious meal from just a few basic ingredients.

Yaki Onigiri (Grilled Rice Balls)

Japanese short-grain rice

water

butter

Use the measuring cup and water lines on the cooker bowl to cook 1 rice cooker cup of rice.

If you&#039;re doing it on the stove, wash the rice in a few changes of water until it runs mostly clear. Drain it in a sieve. Add the rice to a tall pot along with 1 US cup of water. Cover the pot with a lid, and then bring the water to a boil over high heat. As soon as it&#039;s boiling, turn the heat down as low as it will go. Set a timer for 13 minutes. After the timer goes off, turn the heat off and let the rice continue steaming for another 10-15 minutes. Do not open the lid at any point during the cooking or steaming process.

Once it&#039;s done steaming, pour the soy sauce evenly over the rice and use a folding and cutting motion with a spatula or rice paddle to evenly distribute the soy sauce until the rice is uniform in color.

Level off the top of the rice and then divide it into thirds like a pizza.

If you&#039;re shaping the onigiri by hand, click this link for specific instructions. If you&#039;re using an onigiri press, just get it wet and stuff each mold with a segment of rice. Press the onigiri together more than you normally would for onigiri so that it holds its shape.

Put the onigiri on a parchment-lined tray. Dust each onigiri with a thin layer of potato starch by passing it through a fine-mesh sieve like a tea strainer. Flip the onigiri over and dust the other side. Try not to get starch onto the sides of the onigiri.

Put a non-stick frying pan over medium-low heat and when it is moderately hot, add about half of the oil and arrange the onigiri, so they're sitting on a small pool of oil.

Fry undisturbed until they're golden brown and crisp on one side (about 7-10 minutes).

Flip them over, and then add a bit more oil to fry the second side until crisp and browned.

Finish the Yaki Onigiri off by melting some butter directly onto each browned surface of the onigiri and then roll them on their 3 sides to cook any stray starch.

Serve the grilled rice balls wrapped in shiso or nori.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EanC36yrfv8

This foolproof Yaki Onigiri technique ensures a grilled rice ball with an ultra-crispy crust on the outside that\'s seasoned to the core.

Yaki Onigiri

Teriyaki Salmon Bento consists of cooked rice, teriyaki salmon and a few small side dishes. Traditionally bento is meant to be eaten at room temperature without re-heating. It is surprising that cold Salmon Teriyaki is quite flavoursome without reheating. It is not fishy at all. Today’s bento box is a traditional wooden bento box called ‘Magewappa’. Please read the blog for more details.Because bento is usually made mostly from the left-over dishes or make-ahead dishes, the time indicated in this recipe only shows the time to pack the bento box.

BENTO BOX – Teriyaki Salmon

grams/1.1

radish (, cut in half (note 4))

Dashimaki Tamago (Japanese Rolled Omelette)

Hijiki Seaweed Salad

mini foil cupcake liners ((note 6))

While the rice is still hot or warm, place it in the largest compartment of the bento box and let it cool.

Put green bean goma-ae in a foil cupcake liner and place in the corner of the rice compartment.

In one of the empty compartments, place Teriyaki Salmon pieces, then radish pieces to fill the space in the corner.

In the other empty compartment, place Dashimaki Tamago slices, almost vertically to allow space to place Hijiki Seaweed Salad.

Put Hijiki Seaweed Salad in a foil cupcake liner and place it next to the egg.

Japanese Hamburg Steak, or Hambāgu(ハンバーグステーキ) as it's known in Japan, is like a single serving meatloaf with a tender, juicy patty that's loaded with flavor and glazed with a sweet and savory sauce. For my version, I finish it off by deglazing the pan with red wine to make an umami-rich sauce that's the perfect compliment to the big beefy round of seasoned hamburger.

Japanese Hamburg Steak (ハンバーグ Hambāgu)

onion ((finely diced))

garlic ((finely minced))

ground beef

soft tofu

panko ((~1 cup))

oyster sauce

nutmeg

black pepper

dry red wine

ketchup

chunou sauce ((or a 50:50 mix of Worcestershire:ketchup))

Put the chopped onions and garlic into a microwave-safe bowl and cover with a lid or plastic wrap. Microwave the onions at 800 watts for 4 minutes. They should end up soft and be just starting to brown. Leave the onions covered and allow them to cool down enough to handle.

When the onions have cooled a bit, add the beef, tofu, panko, egg, oyster sauce, nutmeg, and black pepper. Put some food-safe gloves on and knead the mixture together until it is uniform in color and texture.

Make eight oval patties about 1-inch thick, by tossing the meat back and forth between two cupped hands. This removes any air pockets that will cause your Hamburg Steak to fall apart when you cook it.  If you're making the patties ahead of time, or plan to freeze them, be sure to place the patties on a layer of parchment paper. Otherwise, you can form them and put them straight into the pan.

Add the vegetable oil to a large pan with a lid and heat over medium heat until hot. You'll get more flavor in your sauce if you use an uncoated pan, however, it will make it harder to flip without breaking them, chose your pan carefully.&nbsp;

Add the patties to the pan without overcrowding it. I usually do this in 2 batches of 4. Fry them on use side until they've formed a dark brown crust.

When they've browned on one side, use a spatula to flip them over carefully and brown the other side. The patties should be well browned on both sides, but they don't need to be cooked through all the way since we're going to steam them. Transfer them to a plate.

Once you've fried all the patties, drain off any excess oil with a paper towel, being careful to leave the caramelized beef juices on the bottom of the pan. Put all eight patties back into the pan and then add the wine and cover with a lid. Steam these for 2-3 minutes.

Remove the lid and transfer your hambagu back onto a plate. Add the ketchup, oyster sauce, and chunou sauce and stir briskly to emulsify the sauce.

Once the sauce is nice and thick, add the patties back in one at a time, rolling each one around to glaze it with the sauce.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hbIlW0odmKs

Like a single serving meatloaf Japanese Hamburg Steak has big juicy onion and beef patties glazed in a sweet and savory sauce, and is one of the most popular home cooked meals in Japan.

Hamburg Steak (Hambāgu)

A recipe for Spaghetti Neapolitan from the cookbook, Effortless Bento!

Spaghetti Neapolitan

hot dogs

onion

green bell pepper

eringi ((trumpet mushroom))

(180 grams) spaghetti

(10 grams) butter

Worcestershire sauce

salt and black pepper

Slice hot dogs on the bias. Thinly slice onion and mushroom. Julienne bell pepper.

Boil spaghetti according to package directions.

Heat oil in frying pan. Add butter, then hot dogs, onions, mushrooms and bell peppers in that order and sauté.

Add spaghetti to pan and sauté. Add ketchup and stir to coat. Season with mixture A to finish. Serve immediately or let cool and cover with a lid to freeze.

Chicken Katsu Bento served over rice with Tamagoyaki, blackberries, strawberries, and broccoli. Delicious Chicken Katsu for dinner or lunch!

Chicken Katsu Bento

short-grain rice

chicken katsu

tonkatsu sauce ((for my homemade recipe, click here))

strawberries

blackberries

tomatoes

broccoli ((pre-blanched))

tamagoyaki (Japanese rolled omelette) ((pre-cooked))

Fill up half of bento box with Japanese rice. Let it cool so that hot/warm rice will not warm up other cool food.

Take leftover chicken katsu out of fridge or freezer and bake at 400ºF (200ºC) for a few minutes in a toaster oven (or oven) until it&#039;s warm.

Place chicken katsu on top of rice and drizzle tonkatsu sauce on top (or put it in a different sauce container).

Wash strawberries, blackberries, and tomatoes, and pat dry. Cut if necessary. Place nicely in the bento box along with broccoli and tamagoyaki.

Cool down completely before closing the bento box.

Healthy chicken teriyaki bento with sunomono, apple bunnies, tomatoes, and furikake on top of rice.

Chicken Teriyaki Bento

chicken teriyaki ((pre-cooked))

lettuce ((for garnish))

sunomono (cucumber salad) ((pre-cooked))

apple bunny/rabbit

furikake (rice seasoning)

Fill up half of the bento box with Japanese rice. Let it cool so that hot/warm rice will not warm up other cool food.

Reheat leftover chicken teriyaki in a frying pan until it&#039;s warm thoroughly.

Wash lettuce and tomatoes and pat dry. Place nicely in the bento box.

Pack cooled chicken teriyaki on top of lettuce.

Put sunomono in a silicone cup and put it in the bento box. Make sure you do not include any liquids.

Pack apple bunnies in an open space in the bento box.

Sprinkle furikake on top of slightly cooled rice.

Bento lunch box with Tonkatsu, tomato, golden kiwi, and broccoli. Yummy Japanese lunchbox to go! 

Tonkatsu Bento

tonkatsu ((pre-cooked))

lettuce

red radish

broccoli ((pre-blanched, see Notes))

salad dressing ((of your choice))

Take leftover tonkatsu out of fridge and bake for a few minutes in a toaster oven until it's warm.

Place tonkatsu on top of rice and drizzle tonkatsu sauce on top (or put it in a different sauce container).

Wash tomatoes, lettuce, and radish and pat dry. Cut if necessary. Place nicely in the bento box along with broccoli.

Pour dressing in a sauce container (I bought in a local Daiso, a Japanese dollar shop).

Authentic Chicken Nanban recipe, made with fried chicken coated in a crispy egg batter that's soaked in a sweet and sour nanban sauce.

Chicken Nanban

celery (finely chopped)

scallion (minced)

mayonnaise (Japanese mayo works best)

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Top 37 bento recipes from across the web

The most viewed bento recipes by Recipe Cart users, saved from over 6,000 sites. Or, go to our Recipe Search Engineic_arrow_forward_48px

Top Tags

Karaage (から揚げ)

Tamagoyaki (Japanese Rolled Omelett...

Bento Box - Tonkatsu Bento

Bento Box – Shumai Bento

Piggy Spam Musubi Bento

Yaki Onigiri (Grilled Rice Balls)

BENTO BOX – Teriyaki Salmon

Japanese Hamburg Steak (ハンバーグ Hambā...

Spaghetti Neapolitan

Chicken Katsu Bento

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Teriyaki Chicken Sandwich

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Shio Koji Karaage Bento

Sanshoku Bento

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Karaage Bento

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Soboro Bento

Gyoza Bento

Apple Bunny (Apple Rabbit)

Sweet and Sour Chicken Bento

Tempura Bento

Garlic Miso Chicken Bento

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Korokke Bento

Chicken Nanban Bento

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The most viewed bento recipes by Recipe Cart users, saved from over 6,000 sites. Or, go to our Recipe Search Engine