Balsamic sesame chicken bento



Today, I decided I should give the second sakura bento a try. Like the owan tsukumi one I have, the glossy black exterior is in stark contrast with the red on the inside, but I quite like it.

This bento is rather straightforward in presentation : protein, starch, veggies and fruits and it has five different colours as well which, I have been told, should be present in any bento. I'm not sure about this prerequisite, but either way I love to have colour variety in my lunch.

Today's bento has balsamic sesame chicken, rice with gomashio mixed into it, a selection of green veggies and some forest fruits and clementine for the fruity vitamine part.

I had been looking for fresh romanesco in the supermarket, but the only cabbage types readily available are cauliflower and broccoli. So I had to resort to using frozen ones. I wish I had a famer's market nearby where I would be able to find this kind of special fruits and veggies, because the "mainstream" range ends up being a bit boring after a while. I think I will have to try and visit the vroegmarkt (i.e. early/night market catering for the professionals of the food industry) in Brussels, one of these days. Maybe I'll be able to find coloured cauliflowers and purple carrots over there. These look all so good in other people's bentos :o)

How to balsamic sesame chicken:

I found the recipe for the balsamic sesame chicken on the Justbento blog and it really is delicious. For the sake of clarity I'm copying maki's recipe below

My ingredients (for 2 bentos):

- 300 g of skinless chicken breasts cut into small pieces (because the boneless thighs the recipe called for, aren't sold as such over here)
- 1 TBS of balsamic vinegar
- 1 TBS of soy sauce
- lots of sesame seeds (I started with 4 TBS but gradually added more when I ran out of them)
- olive oil

Combine the chicken pieces, vinegar and soy sauce, and stir around to help the flavors permeate the meat. Leave to marinate for at least 10 minutes.

Heat up a non-stick frying pan over medium-high heat, and add just a litte oil (or use a cooking spray) to coat the bottom.

Drain off the chicken, and coat with the sesame seeds. Press with your fingers so that the sesame seeds stick as much as possible. Arrange the pieces as flat as possible in the frying pan. Pan-fry for about 4-5 minutes on medium-high heat, then turn over and cook for another 4-5 minutes or so. The chicken should be cooked through, and the sesame seeds should be crispy rather than soggy.

This is a quick and easy recipe but definetely something that I will make again.







And sweetie's bento has the same ingredients : balsamic sesame chicken, gomashio rice & green veggies mix to which I added carrots, hummus, olives and a cherry tomato. I packed the sesame grissini for eating with the hummus separately today because they ended up a bit "soggy" in yesterday's bento. I hope they'll stay crisp this time ...

2 comments:

Jacqueline said...

Hmm, this looks yummy!
It's not easy to find every day enough ingredients to have all colors in our meal. But I heard also, that it should be^^
And you made a great job ;)

Karine said...

This sounds wonderful! Great lunch :)