Ika sashimi bento



As this post titles already indicates, today's bento has a Japanese feel to it. Shopping in Asian supermarkets over the weekend clearly left its marks.

For the toptier (left), I used storebought edamame salad (I haven"t found the beans yet to make it myself), rice onigiri with red shiso furikake and salmon eggs, ika sashimi on top of iceberg salad (the reason why this bento is staying in the fridge until lunchtime) and carrot kinpira.

When making rice for today's bentos I made enough to fill 7 bentos so I froze 5 portions of it. I am still looking at ways to speed up the bento making and if this works, it will save me not only time but also some dishes. I'll keep you posted on the results of my freezing experiment.

In the other tier I added simmered kabocha and some fruity vitamins for dessert : blackberries, clementine and plum slices.

The plum is rather a surprise and is part of my renewed attempt of widening my fruit likings. For years I didn't want anything to do with plums, but this weekend I decided I should try one again. After all I didn't like fennel for years and now it's one of my favourite veggies. As they say Only fools don't change their minds. and being no fool, I gladly admit I was wrong. Plums are yummy :o)

The simmered kabocha is again a (slightly adapted) JustBento recipe, but it ended up being a tad too sweet for my liking. I guess I'll cut back on the sugar next time round.

How-to simmered kabocha (Kabocha no nitsuke):

- 1/4 of a whole fresh squash (found at Tagawa superstore this weekend)
- 310 ml or 1 cup water with 1/2 tsp. of dashi powder
- 2 Tbs. mirin
- 2 Tbs. sugar (will try 1 Tbs next time)
- 1 Tbs. soy sauce
- Pinch of salt

Put all the ingredients into a pan and bring up to a boil.

Lower the heat and simmer, turning the kabocha pieces from time to time, until the liquid has reduced to half - about 20 minutes. Leave to cool in the liquid - the kabocha will absorb flavor from it as it cools. Drain off lightly to pack into a bento box.




Sweetie has a day off today, so didn't really need a bento but for convenience sake, I made one anyway. No need to loose good habits :o)

Bottom tier has simmered kabocha, zebra tomatoes (first time I encountered these, I hope they taste as good as they look), leek sprouts and beemster cheese.

Top tier has white rice with a black sesame heart, carrot kinpira, iceberg salad on the mozzarella balls and ham rolls.

Smakelijk.

2 comments:

Jacqueline said...

Wow, those look great! I love your big, black laquered box! Especially if it's filled with so much yummy things ^.^ The onigiri looks really beautiful!!
Ah, you have got some zabra tomatoes! The look so great! But I think they taste like normal ones ^-^

Angi said...

Wow those tomatos remind me of bowling balls. They look really awesome!