A WEEK OF VEGAN BENTO NO.3

BENTO NO. 1 ( EGGPLANT TERIYAKI RICE BALL)

Sautéed Shishito or asian green capsicum

Ingredients:

Shishito- 4 to 6 pieces (You can also use bell pepper)

Chopped garlic- 2 cloves

Olive oil

Salt and pepper – pinch

Instructions:

1. Wash the shishito thoroughly.
2. Score each piece to avoid shishito for popping while cooking
3. In a small pan, drizzle some olive oil and cook the chopped garlic until golden brown.
4. Add the shishito or bell peppers and saute until nice in color
5. season with salt and pepper.

Eggplant Teriyaki Rice ball

Ingredients:

Eggplant- 2pcs

Soy sauce- 2 Tbsp

Sake/ Japanese cooking wine- 2 Tbsp

Brown Sugar- 1 Tbsp

Konbu Dashi- 1 Tbsp

Water- 2 Tbsp

White rice

Nori

Instructions:

1. Cut the Eggplant lengthwise.
2. Soak in water for few minutes and pat dry.
3. In a small bowl, mix the other ingredients and set aside.
4. In a frying pan, sear the eggplant with olive oil until nice in color each side.
5. When both sides are nice in color, add the liquid mixture and cook in low heat.
6. Turn off the heat and keep the remaining liquid and mix with white rice.
7. Make a rice ball and wrap with eggplant and nori.

Finish the bento by adding some cherry tomatoes and salad leaves! ☺️ and also sesame seeds!

BENTO NO. 2 ( YAKI UDON)

Ingredients:

Carrot- 1 piece

Red bell pepper- 1/2

Cabbage- 1/4

Aburaage- 2 pieces

Kikurage( Wood ear mushroom) few pieces – Soaked in water for few minutes

White onion- 1/2

Cooked Udon noodles- 2 packs

Sauce:

Konbu dashi- 1 tsp

Soy sauce- 50g

Uster sauce ( Vegan Worcestershire sauce) – 50g

Water- 50ml

Toppings:

White sesame seeds

Spring onions

Nori

Instructions:

1. Cut the vegetables

2. In a medium pan, drizzle some olive oil and saute the vegetables, Aburaage and kikurage.

3. Add the cooked udon noodles

4. Add the sauce and continue to saute until well combined.

5. Put in the bento box and sprinkle some sesame seeds, chopped spring onions and nori. 😊

BENTO NO. 3 ( VEGETABLE SKEWERS AND SWEET POTATO MISO)

SKEWERS

Ingredients: (Makes 6 skewers)

White onion- 1/4

Shishito or asian green pepper( Or you can use bell peppers instead)- 6 pieces

Soy meat ( Boiled and squeezed)

For the soy meat marination:

Soy sauce- 30g

Mirin- 20g

Sesame oil- 1tsp

Grated ginger- 1 tsp

Minced garlic- 1 tsp

For the batter:

All- purpose flour- 50g

Water- 70g

Bread crumbs

Instructions:

1. Marinate the boiled soy meat for 10 minutes.

1. Prepare the vegetables

3. Skew the vegetables and the marinated soy meat

4. Season the skewers with salt .

5. Cover the skewers with the batter and bread crumbs evenly.

6. Fry the skewers in a clean oil until golden brown

Sweet Potato Miso

Ingredients:

Sweet potato

Miso paste- 1 Tbsp

Soy sauce- 1 Tbsp

Brown sugar- 1 Tbsp

Sake or Japanese rice wine- 1 Tbsp

Water- 200ml

Salt

Instructions:

1. Cut the sweet potatoes into chunks.
2. Soak in water for a few minutes to remove excess starch.
3. In a frying pan, saute the sweet potato and sprinkle some salt.
4. Add the rest of the ingredients and mix well.
5. Cook the sweet potato in medium heat until soft and liquid reduced.

Put in your lunch box, you can also add some salad too! For the sauce, I just drizzled some Japanese Worcestershire sauce and mayo on the side. 🥰

BENTO NO. 4 (HIJIKI SPRING ROLL AND AND SAUTEED LOTUS ROOT)

HIJIKI SPRING ROLL

Ingredients:

Dried Hijiki- 20g (Soak in water for few minutes until doubled in size)

Carrots- 1pc (Julienned)

Aburaage or fried tofu- 1pc

Konjac stips- 200g

Boiled soy beans- 100g

Soy sauce- 60ml

Mirin- 30ml

Konbu dashi- 1 tsp

Water-100ml

Slurry for thickening- 15g of cornstarch and 30ml of water

Spring roll wrapper- 10pieces

Instructions:

1. Saute the carrots with olive oil and season with a pinch of salt.
2. Add the Hijiki, aburaage, konjac strips and boiled soy beans.
3. Add the soy sauce, mirin and konbu dashi and water and continuously cook for about 10 minutes.
4. Add the slurry so that it would be easier to wrap with the spring roll wrapper.
5. wrap the hijiki with a spring roll wrapper, make sure to use a bit of water to seal completely.
6. Double wrap the spring roll to avoid for the filling from coming out.
7. In a a frying pan, fry the spring roll until golden brown

MACARONI SALAD

Ingredients:

Boiled Macaroni pasta- 20g

Vegan mayonnaise- to taste

Black pepper-to taste

Cucumber- 1/2pc

Salt- pinch

Instructions:

1. Thinly slice the cucumber
2. In a bowl, put the sliced cucumber and a pinch of salt. Mix it together and set aside for a few minutes.
3. Squeeze the cucumber to remove excess water.
4. Mix in the boiled macaroni pasta and add the mayonnaise and season with black pepper.

Sauteed Lotus Root

Ingredients:

Lotus root (Peeled and Sliced)- 150g

Curry Powder- 2 tsp

Soy sauce- 1 Tbsp

Instructions:

1. In a frying pan, saute the lotus root with some salt.
2. Add the curry powder and the soy sauce.
3. Adjust the seasoning if needed.
4. You can add some chopped green onions too!

BENTO NO. 5 ( SEARED KONJAC AND GRILLED VEGETABLES)

Our last Bento for this week! 😊 Let’s do our best!

SPINACH AND ABURAAGE RICE

Ingredients:

Fresh spinach- about 8 big stems with leaves

Aburaage(Fried Tofu) – 2pcs

Sesame oil- for sauteing

Salt- 2 pinch

Yukari powder(Perilla leaf powder)- optional

Instructions:

1. Cut the Aburaage and spinach into julienne.
2. In a pan, drizzle some sesame oil and saute the aburaage and spinach
3. Add some salt. And cook until soft.
4. Mix with the white rice.
5. Sprinkle some Yukari powder to taste.

SEARED KONJAC

Ingredients:

Konjac/ Yum cake- 1 block (200g)

Grated ginger- 1 tsp

Soy sauce- 2Tbsp

Water- 50ml

Sesame oil- 1tsp

Dried Chili (Optional)

White sesame seeds for garnish

Instructions:

1. Wash the Konjac to remove fishy smell.
2. Score the Konjac vertical and horizontal.
3. Cut into cubes.

4. In a pan, drizzle some olive oil and and sear the Konjac with grated ginger.

5. Add the soy sauce and water, cook for about 2 minutes in low heat

6. Add the sesame oil and dried chili.

GRILLED VEGETABLE

Basicaly, I just used some leftovers vegetables from our fridge! You can add more if want! I used red and yellow bell peppers, young corns and string beans! Just drizzle with some pink salt and pepper and some fresh rosemary from our garden ☺️

I cooked mine in our mini griller. But if you don’t have griller at home, you can just saute these vegetables until nice in color 😊

Hope you would enjoy these Bentos! Thank you so much! 💚