Introduction to Japanese Obento :)

Obentō

お弁当・おべんとう

"Bento (弁当 bentō) is a single-portion takeout or home-packed meal common in Japanese cuisine. A traditional bento holds rice, fish or meat, with pickled or cooked vegetables, usually in a box-shaped container. (wikipedia)"

When I was in Japan, I used to make these lunch boxes quite often in the morning :)

The most challenging part about preparing obento is how to make colourful + well-balanced + delicious + filling + cheap meal in a very short time.

Usually, I use one pot for preparing rice & another pan to prepare all dishes to fill in the box.
So, while cooking rice, start with something that has less colour & flavour so that it will not get into other food when cooked in the same pan, and cook something that uses lots of soy sauce or ketchup at the end.

The lunch box also needs to cool down before you put a lid on in order to avoid food poisoning* :)

* It is said that bacteria spread in the environment where the temperature gets around 30-40 ℃. So, cooling your obento box with ice pack or fan before packing is very important! :)

Sometimes in this blog, I'd like to share some of my favourite obento recipes :)

For example...

Basic steamed rice
Rice balls, rolled with teriyaki pork

Japanese omelet - my all-time favourite! :)
Three-colour rice bowl
Gluten-free Japanese-style fried chicken

Cheers!

xxxxx