Aunt and Niece Onigirazu

Well I was going to call it Oyako Onigirazu but that would not have been appropriate as it refers to Chicken and Egg. This is Duck and Chicken Egg so I figured Aunt and Niece would be just about right d:P

Menu:

Smoked duck onigirazu

Tamagoyaki onigirazu

Cherry tomatoes

"Delicious and filling!" reported Roast Meat, although since today's his last exam paper, probably anything would have been as well received.

Chuka Kuraage Don Bento

This is Takoyaki's last school bento for the year. It's the school hols for her, hurray! Poor RM is still struggling with revision for final year exams...

Menu:

Chuka kuraage (bought)

Steamed rice

Tamagoyaki (recipe here)

Blanched Spinach

Cherry tomatoes

Chicken Spring Onion Sandwich

Menu:
Leftover steamed chicken mixed with chopped spring onion and mayo (sandwich)
Broccoli
Cherry tomatoes
Apple chunks

Very Chinese Bento

Very filling too. Takoyaki's.

Menu:
Stir fried naibai 乃白 greens

Steamed rice

Beancurd chicken (Tay's)

Orange chunks

Patties over noodles

Not very healthy but incredibly yummy.

Menu:
KOKA mee goreng noodles (cooked as per package directions)
Mini beef patties (recipe here)
Cherry tomatoes
Chopped spring onions

Long Time No See Urara Boxes

I have not brought these two out to see the light of day for... at least a year? I just skimmed through my blog and the last picture I found that contains one of these boxes was on 28 Oct 2014, so it's really about a year ago!

To think I was once so crazy over these Urara boxes (I made a big fuss about them on FaceBook), and scrambled all over Singapore looking for the matching chopsticks, bag and any other paraphernalia I could find (I didn't find a single one except for the boxes). Ahh... those were the days of bento hunting and shopping.

The truth is, these low cost China-made, two-tiered slim bento boxes by the Japanese company Nakano Co. are not very leakproof unless they are kept upright and secured with a tight band. The hermetic lids for each tier aren't very... er... hermetic. 

From the way my kids dump their bags on the floor and wherever else they have to bring them, I sincerely doubt any gravy I provide will contentedly stay inside the box instead of leaking out all over the bag. I guess I have come to rely on the leakproof ones such as the Korean-made Lock&Lock for bentos with gravies or drippings, metal-walled bentos for oily, non-saucy foods, and our Totoro/Kiki boxes for practically everything.

However, last night as I was packing up the food for today, they seemed to call out to me with forlornness and I couldn't resist picking them up and including them in my plans.

After assuring the kids that minimal gravy would be present (except what is already on the chicken), I set forth to give them (the boxes, not the children!) some TLC.

Menu:
Honey soy sauce chicken, deboned
Blanched broccoli
Cherry tomatoes
Steamed rice with furikake

Everything is either leftover from dinner or else just washed if necessary and added to fill up the space and increase flavour. A very traditional bento.

Unfortunately, Roast Meat woke up ill this morning so he had his for lunch at home.

Neverending Onigirazu Craze

I bought some ham specially for making onigirazu. However, this leg ham from House of Gourmet is rather salty. Well, the rice isn't seasoned so the flavours should balance out. The other fillings in the wrap are leftover roast chicken, cucumber and cheese slice.

Chicken Pie from Polar Bento

If it can even be called a bento...

And it's the last day of September?? Takoyaki is smack in the midst of exams while the same are looming on the horizon for RM. I simply cannot imagine my roly poly RM taking PSLE next year.

Hazy Days of Bento

Bentoing in a closed kitchen (thanks to the haze) is no fun at all. I recall how I planned the renovation of my new kitchen at my new home and really miss the fresh breeze coming through the windows. But life has to go on, right?

Takoyaki knew this was coming when we had it for lunch yesterday. Always cook more, I say! And use the planned overs (kept hygienically) for bento the next day.

Menu:

1. Kimchi soup (reheated this morning before going into the warmed food jar) 
2. Kiwi slices and grapes (washed, cut and packed yesterday)
3. Steamed rice (packed by Takoyaki yesterday)

Sandwiches Poles Apart

Here are two different types of "sandwiches" - a standard egg mayo sandwich aaaaaannndd... onigirazu!

Yes, the diligent mum has once again gone rather bonkers and prepared two different bentos for her two fussy (and opposite) children.

First up is the new sensational Onigirazu. This time I made with Thai Jasmine rice (leftover) as an experiment, to see whether, since the whole thing is bound up with nori, it will do as well as Japonica rice. We shall await the feedback of Roast Meat. The fillings are surimi crabstick and a one-egg square omelette made with my tamagoyaki pan. Looks rather like two three-eyed aliens.

I was reading JustOneCookbook's bento posts recently and was at first inspired to make Ajitsuke Tamago, but then I remembered that Takoyaki doesn't like that (the fusspot!). So the egg ended up getting hardboiled and mixed with Kewpie mayo.

Onigirazu

I have jumped on the bandwagon. Here is my first try at the latest bento craze in Japan - Onigirazu.

Onigirazu are simply a rice sandwich, wrapped with a sheet of nori. Why are they better than the traditional onigiri? Well, they have substantially more filling (which we love!) and they are soooo much easier to make than onigiri. You can use ANY filling you like, the possibilities are endless! One strange one which we saw was kimchi over sliced cheese, which seemed rather... weird to us.

There are many vids and sites on how to make onigirazu online. Check them out!

I've just done something simple - kimchi chicken (planned over) with corn kernels.

I stopped buying nori sheets for quite some time because I don't often make makizushi and the rest of the pack just went soggy after a while. Now I'll be buying this again since it's so simple to make onigirazu!

Tom Yum Noodles. By request.

RM had no school today and we planned to have instant noodles for brunch, so when Takoyaki heard she decided she wasn't going to miss out! Cos we seldom have instant noodles.

My version of Tom Yum noodles is cooked with chicken soup noodles and tom yum paste instead of the tom yum flavoured instant noodles which are usually... too spicy and too little in terms of sustenance. She likes this better also, although I added too much nam prik pao (tom yum paste) and she texted me from school to complain... hee....

Sardines VS Bak Gua

Bak Gua sandwich for Takoyaki who does not like sardines. Most fish, actually. Fusspot. I enjoyed myself impaling the tomatoes onto the sandwich. Muahahaha...

Tomato sardine pocket sandwich for RM. It was fun to take my pocket sandwich maker out of storage.

Spaghetti Con Le Sarde Bento

My version though, cooked and tastes completely different from the authentic one. Ok essentially it's just canned Sardines with Tomato Sauce tweaked to my tastes and tossed with cooked spaghetti. I hope you weren't expecting anything fancy. Hahaha!

Planned over for RM's school meal tomorrow. This tastes really nice, surprisingly.

Sandwiches... boring...

But easy to prepare and pack when I am short of ingredients and mojo.