Bento is a classic Japanese-style take-out dinner. Japanese housewives consider it their duty to be able or to learn how to cook such dinners well for their households. Most often, bentos - containers with rice and fish - are taken by children to school. But adults also collect or purchase ready-made food boxes in stores to eat at work.
Bento history
The concept of boxed dinners appeared in Japan as early as the twelfth century. Of course, in those days, bentos were not like modern ones. They were small bags in which lunch was taken to work. Most often it was boiled, and then dried rice. They ate them either dry or poured boiled water. After several centuries, the Japanese began to make beautiful carved wooden boxes and there they kept their dinners.
Bentos are usually school lunches. In wartime, school canteens could not provide children with lunch, so the students carried food with them. After World War II, the bento entered the life of the Japanese even more firmly. Microwaves appeared, taking lunch with them and warming up at work became commonplace. Although traditional bentos do not heat up, they are eaten cold.
Bento Boxes
If you decide to make a dinner in the style of a Japanese bento, the recipe should certainly be based on rice, fish and boiled vegetables. Boxes can be either ordinary plastic or real works of art made of wood. There are boxes in several tiers. But more often in stores there are boxes that are somewhat reminiscent of American lunch boxes. They consist of one or more small compartments delimited by a partition.
Bento Composition
Before you start cooking a lunch box, you need to decide what products the bento consists of. The recipe is most often based on boiled rice, fish and pickled or boiled vegetables. The favorite dish of the Japanese is rice balls, small sushi and boiled vegetables in the form of various figures.
It is important to know exactly how to make a bento. The recipe must include dishes that are able to withstand and not deteriorate at room temperature. Traditional Japanese dinners do not need to be stored in the refrigerator, heated in the microwave or, conversely, cooled.
Remember, if you cook hot rice or put sausages in a bento, etc., the products must cool before closing the lid. Japanese bento dinners, recipes, the nuances of their preparation - all moments for the Japanese are subject to certain rules. Starting from the purchase of lunch boxes and ending with the proper storage of cooked dishes.
Bento Views
- Susizume - special sushi for takeaway dinners.
- Noriben is a simple dish consisting of boiled rice packed in a nori leaf.
- Toriben is a chicken dish.
- Makuno-uti is a home-made bento recipe that includes rice, pieces of fried fish and boiled eggs.
- Jukuben - special children's dinners with an original serving of dishes.
- Sake bento - lunch consisting of rice and salmon.
- Kiaraben is an artistic type of bento. All dishes are carved or decorated in the form of animals, trees, flowers, butterflies, etc.
Bento Recipe Options
- Steamed rice. In the center is a dried plum. Chicken cutlet and vegetables complement this lunch.
- Sticks of boiled carrots. Rice balls. Fried chicken with teriyaki sauce.
- Fresh boiled soybean and vegetable side dish in the form of carrot sticks.
- Fried or steamed rice. Steam vegetables and special sauce.
- Japanese dumplings Geza and pickles or boiled vegetables.
We make a bento at home on our own
Before you start preparing Japanese bentos, the recipes of which we will give just below, it is important to remember a few simple rules. First, cook as much food as you can eat. Portion is the main feature of bento. Standard: 4 servings of rice, 2-3 servings of vegetables and one serving of meat or dessert.
Secondly, if you are going to constantly prepare your child for a bento school, then try to choose high-quality containers or lunch boxes. They must be tightly closed.
Thirdly, to cook a classic Japanese bento, the recipe will require vibrant products. Do not be afraid to experiment with color, this is only welcome. Orange carrots, white rice, red cabbage, green pickled cucumber - there are many options, the main thing is color.
Fourth, when you are preparing a bento, do not be afraid to experiment and use various improvised means for cooking: toothpicks, stencils, brushes, etc. Even spices can be complements of the picture.
Carrot and Corn Salad
To make a salad you will need: three tablespoons of canned corn, 100 grams of cream cheese, 70 grams of Korean carrots, an omelette egg, salt, pepper - to taste. This salad can be seasoned with olive oil or homemade mayonnaise. Here, as they say, a matter of taste and proper nutrition.
To make a bento salad, the recipe requires finely chopped cream cheese into small, long bars. Add canned Korean corn and carrots to it. Mix the salad and season it with oil or mayonnaise. Then salt and pepper. Although you can not do this, because carrots already contain many spices.
Put the salad in one part of the bento lunch box. The recipe is simple, but it will be much more satisfying and tastier if you add an omelet to it. As a rule, one egg for an omelet is enough for the Japanese, but you can fry more.
Vegetarian rolls
Sushi or rolls are a favorite food of the Japanese, and very often they put them in a bento. The recipe for making vegetarian rolls is very simple and quick. You will need: rice, rice vinegar, nori sheets, bell pepper, cucumber, avocado, soy sauce.
These rolls are prepared, as well as regular ones, except that they do not contain fatty and high-calorie butter, cream cheese or fish. Vegetarian rolls consist of layers: rice, avocado, cucumber, bell pepper. Layers can be varied, as well as the type of rolls. They can be made with rice up or wrapped in a nori leaf.
Rice casserole
Rice and chicken are the main and favorite ingredients that are quite common in Japanese bentos. Easy recipes consisting of fried chicken and boiled rice do not take much time with the housewives.
To make a quick casserole, you will need: one hundred grams of rice, 200 grams of water, 100 grams of chicken, salt, onion, spices, vegetable oil, 100 grams of fat sour cream and one egg.
Boil rice in slightly salted water. Preheat the oven to 200 degrees. In the meantime, we begin to prepare the remaining ingredients. Chicken breast must be cut into small cubes. Chop onions finely. At will, you can add improvised products to the casserole - leftovers in the refrigerator (tomato, mushrooms).
We take a deep dish (a baking sheet, a frying pan or a special baking dish) and spread the rice there. Top with a little butter and sprinkle with spices. The next layer is chicken breast fried until golden brown. Then lay the rest of the ingredients: onions, tomatoes, mushrooms, etc. Top layers should be poured with a mixture of fat cream (sour cream) and eggs.
Bake at a temperature of 200 degrees. Cooking time 10-15 minutes. Sprinkle grated cheese over the casserole a couple of minutes before cooking and let it melt in the heat of the oven.
Braised Chicken Breast with Vegetables
As we have already noted, chicken with rice is a favorite combination that includes all simple bento recipes. Japanese cook chicken, deep-fried and, of course, stew.
For cooking you will need: 150 grams of chicken, vegetables to taste (bell pepper, carrots, onions, leeks, tomatoes). Salt, spices, ground pepper. Vegetable or olive oil for frying vegetables. Soy sauce.
All ingredients are cut into cubes or small strips. Vegetables are laid out in a pan and roasted for a couple of minutes. Then chicken breast is added to them, and the whole composition is poured with water mixed with soy sauce.
Lettuce leaves are required for packing cooked foods in a bento box. Since rice is always served to the chicken, it is necessary to cook it and cool a little until the moment of laying. Using lettuce leaves, we fence off two zones: rice and chicken. The Japanese will never make a hash of food. They will lay out everything carefully so that each dish is in its place.
Japanese bento. Reviews
Bento is a great alternative to annoying thermoses and bulky lunch containers. The bento box contains exactly as much food as a person can eat for lunch. The food is not mixed due to the convenient design of the box and partitions. The lids of the boxes also fit snugly against the walls, so you can safely take even liquid soups and okroshki for lunch.
Bento - very compact dinners. It would seem that it is impossible to get enough of such food. However, it is not. The main secret of bento cooking is the combination of a small amount and a very hearty meal. You can take a small rice ball, a slice of oily fish and some boiled vegetables. Nutritious, healthy, not high-calorie and very satisfying.