Bikini Bento

Sexy!? Bikini Bento :p

Menu

Bacon wrapped asparagus
Cherry tomatoes
Quinoa & cranberry salad
Mushroom
Rice with salmon mayo + oba shiso leaves

How to make bikini

Cut a piece of nori seaweed like this

Place it on a sliced cheese and cut cheese along the seaweed

Bacon Wrapped Asparagus

Boil water and cook as asparagus.
Wrap it with bacon. Use dry pasta to connect them.
Cook in a pan.

Facebook Bento

I had a lot of purple potatoes at home and was wondering what I can make with those..
Those turned blue-ish when cooked. Blue, blue, blue......Facebook! Decided to make facebook bento:)
My husband could't tell the thumbs-up rice though....:(

Menu

Hamburger steak (recipe: Shio Koji hamburger)
Purple potato croquette (recipe as follow)
Pickled tri-color peppers
Rice balls


Potato Croquette

200g Potatoes
1tbs Butter
1tbs Soy milk
Salt and Pepper to taste
1 Egg
Flour&Panko bread crumbs, enough to coat potatoes

1. Cook potatoes and mash with butter, soy milk, salt and pepper. Shape whichever way you like
2. Coat with flour. Beat egg in a bowl and dip the patties to coat both sides.
3. Coat with panko bread crumbs.
4. Heat oil and fry.

Make a thin egg sheet to create a girl's hair.

1 Egg

1pinch Salt

1. Mix egg and salt with a fork. 

2. Strain the egg mixture.

 3. Heat a non-stick pan over low heat.

4. Add a little oil and wipe with kitchen paper.

5. Add the egg mixture in the pan.

6. Cook over low heat until the surface look not very liquidy. (only takes a minute or so)

7. turn off the heat and put a lid. Let the remaining heat cook the egg completely. 

8. Carefully peel it off from the pan.

9. Cut where the face will be and wrap around a rice ball. ( see the final picture)

Create letter with a sliced cheese. Use cookie cutters or carve with a tooth pick.

Soccer Rice Ball

My husband loves soccer and so excited about up coming FIFA world cup!

I like salmon rice balls, but wild salmon is so expensive...
I found wild caught salmon can at Whole Foods Market and it's not that expensive.

I made salmon flakes with it and it turned out really good.
You can mix it with mayo and use it for sushi roll too. Yum!

Salmon Flakes

1/2can(about 200g)   Wild caought salmon, drained

2~3tsp Sugar

1.5tbs Soy sauce

1/2tbs Sake

Cook all the ingredients in a pan until salmon gets dry.

Chicken Soboro Afro Bento

I had some chicken breasts that I had to use up, so I made chicken crumbles with them.
It's very useful item. You can freeze them and use it for fried rice, noodle or bento dishes.

My husband has a fro hair... Just looks like this bento!


Chicken Soboro ( chicken crumbles)

500g Chicken Breast
50ml Sake
100ml Mirin
100ml Shoyu
1tsp Sugar

1. Ground chicken breast in a FP. ( you can just use ground chicken if you have)
2. Brown meat in a pan. Mix the seasonings.
3. Add the seasoning mix to meat and turn down heat to low. Simmer and reduce liquid.
4. Add salt and pepper if you like.

Shio Koji Hamburger

This hamburger recipe is really good! Nice and juicy, thanks to *Shio Koji!

For 2 people
200g Ground beef
1tsp  Shio Koji
1/4   Beaten egg
1/4cup Japanese panko
1.5tsp Mayonnaise
Paprika, Nutmeg, Garlic powder, pinch each
1tsp Sugar
Black pepper

0. Add shio koji to beef and mix well. Let it sit over night in a fridge.
1. Mix panko and egg. Set aside.
2. Mix the other ingredients and knead. Add the panko and egg. Mix well.
3. Shape and bbq!



*Shio Koji

Shio koji is a rice malt that has been fermented with salt.
This fermented koji marinade will bring out the best flavors from food! It's called magical sauce by some Japanese people!  It's becoming a staple seasoning in Japan.
It contain a lot of enzymes that breaks down the starches and proteins in food into sugars ans amino acids.
It's nutritious and good for digestive system.
You can get this at any Japanese grocery stores or I saw it at Whole Foods Market the other day.
It's called "Umami Enhancer".

I brought a pack of shio koji when I visited my friend, Ally last year. She loves to cook, so I thought she would enjoy this seasoning. She explains well about shio koji on her blog. She is a great food blogger!
 Please see her blog post, "Ingredient Spotlight: Shio Koji". She is also showing how to use it.
I will try to introduce more recipes with this shio koji on this blog:)





To make a cheese puppy, create shape cutters with a soy milk carton.
Cut cheese with these and make the face parts with nori sea weed.

Yakisoba Bear

One of my husband's favorite Japanese food!
It's so easy to make (I use yakisoba mix sold at Jp grocery stores) that I cook yakisoba when I feel lazy:pEy

Face parts: Turkey ham, cheese and nori seaweed

Homemade Japanese Curry Roux

My husband looooves Japanese curry!!
I always use boxed instant curry roux when making Japanese curry.
However, it contains a lot of fat. preservatives and other unhealthy ingredients!
So I decided to make it from scratch.
This is as easy as using instant curry roux:) Miso helps it bring out rich flavor.


Ingredients

60g flour
45g Canola oil
10g Curry powder
1tbs Shio Koji, or 1tsp Salt
*See the older post about Shio Koji

1clove Garlic
Ginger, same size as a clove of garlic
1 Onion
1 Potato
1/2 Carrot
1 chicken breast
800ml Water


1tbs Sugar
1tbs Honey
1tbs Ketchup
2tbs Miso
1/2can Diced tomato

Soy sauce to taste


1. Mix flour, oil, curry powder, shio koji or salt together and set aside.
2. Mince garlic and ginger. Cut vegetables and meat into small pieces.
3. Heat a little oil in a pot and add garlic and ginger.
4. Add vegetables and chicken. Cook until the veges get soft.
5. Add water, sugar, honey, ketchup, miso and canned tomato. Cook over low heat about 15 mins.
6. Add the curry paste from step1 and mix well.
7. Taste it and add a little soy sauce if you need.
8. Cook about another 10min over low-heat.



Bear face parts

Ear-eggs
Eyes-egg whits + seaweed
Nose-rice + seaweed
Hands-rice

Heart- red pepper

Shio Koji Creamy Corn Pot Pie

I will introduce a Japanese magical seasoning today.
I use it when I marinade chicken or fish, pickle vegetables.
I like to use it for any recipes that call for consomme bouillon. It is a good replacement.

The magical seasoning is........

Shio Koji !!

Shio koji is a rice malt that has been fermented with salt.
This fermented koji marinade will bring out the best flavors from food! It's called magical sauce by some Japanese people!  It's becoming a staple seasoning in Japan.
It contain a lot of enzymes that breaks down the starches and proteins in food into sugars ans amino acids.
It's nutritious and good for digestive system.
You can get this at any Japanese grocery stores or I saw it at Whole Foods Market the other day.
It's called "Umami Enhancer".

I brought a pack of shio koji when I visited my friend, Ally last year. She loves to cook, so I thought she would enjoy this seasoning. She explains well about shio koji on her blog. She is a great food blogger!
 Please see her blog post, "Ingredient Spotlight: Shio Koji". She is also showing how to use it.
I will try to introduce more recipes with this shio koji on this blog:)



Creamy Corn Chowder

1 Chicken breast
2 Potatoes, big
1~2 Onion
1 Carrot
1 Canned sweet corn
4tbs Flour
400ml Soy milk
500ml  Water
1 tbs Shio Kouji

1. Cut chicken, potatoes, onions, carrot into small pieces.
2. Place corn in a FP and mix until smooth. Set aside.
3. Heat butter in a pot and cook the chicken and the vegetables. Add shio koji
4. Turn off the heat and mix flour until you don't see any powder.
5. Add the corn, soy milk and water. Turn on the heat. Cook over medium-low heat until thick.
6. Add salt. pepper to taste. You could add more shio koji. But if you do, add tsp at a time.

Making pie tops.

Follow the instruction on a package of frozen pie sheet.
Cut as shown to make rabbit.
Poke holes and brush mixed egg.