Friday, October 28, 2011

Bento Cooking

Sushi is a traditional Japanese food that can be included in Bento cooking.


Cute little packages of food that taste good and are fun to create--that's right, it's Bento. Bento is the Japanese style of cooking and preparing food that is practically an art form. This style of food is placed in a Bento Box, which is usually a lacquered, divided box, and includes rice and other traditional Japanese ingredients. Bento is usually a cold dish served at lunch presented as neatly as possible, but the possible combinations of ingredients and dishes are virtually unlimited.


Instructions


Preparing Bento








1. Plan your Bento menu. Choose traditional items such as rice, noodles, egg, fish and vegetables. Select a Bento box that will fit the items you have chosen for your Bento menu.








2. Begin cooking the dishes that will take you the longest so that you will have all of your Bento dishes ready at the same time. Start your rice first so it will cook while you prepare other ingredients. Cook the rice in an automatic rice cooker or add 1 cup of rice to 2 cups of boiling water in a medium sauce pan, stirring gently. Cover the pan, turn the heat down to low and allow the rice to cook for about 15 minutes or until the rice is tender. Use the rice as a side dish to go with meat and vegetables, in a sushi roll or form it into rice balls.


3. Cook the meat of your choice according to your favorite recipe. Look for recipe ideas on the recipe section of the blog Cutecooking.com. Place the meat into one divided section of the Bento Box. Choose one or more popular Bento meat selections like chicken, fish, beef or tofu as a meat alternative.


4. Select several vegetables common in Japanese cooking: carrots, daikon, broccoli, cabbage, cucumber, snow peas, bell pepper, ginger and onion. Slice the vegetables and cook them in your desired method, such as steaming or boiling in salted water. For a more creative touch, use a small cookie cutter to cut out cute little vegetable shapes.


5. Add one or two other special dishes that are often included in a Bento meal, such as a Japanese omelet known as tamagoyaki, dumplings or gyoza, curry, sushi rolls or spring rolls. For recipe ideas, try Japanese cookbooks or websites like Bento.com.

Tags: food that, that will, your Bento, Bento Bento, Bento menu, dishes that, included Bento