Last Christmas my sister got me a bento cookbook written by a very popular blogger (writer of
justbento.com and its companion blog
justhungry.com). We've been trading emails and ideas for bentos for awhile, although her oldest son is only just getting to be old enough to bring lunches to school and my sister is really busy as a professor so I don't know how much time she has to prepare cute lunches. I started making some of these to fancy up the lunchtime because lately, I've been so busy at work I eat at my desk too often. A cute or fancily-packed lunch makes me feel a bit better.
And then Wei-Ling said, "Why are you not blogging about your lunches?"
So here goes! All recipes approximate and taken from other sources.
Today is inspired by justbento's deconstructed banh mi:
Meat: pan fry a skinless, boneless chicken thigh until done. set aside. mix about 1/2 tablespoon sugar, 1 tablespoon soy, 1 tablespoon mirin and pour into the still hot pan. when it starts to bubble, swirl the chicken thigh in the sauce until it is nicely glazed.
pickles: shred (I used a mandolin grater, cutting to small pieces would work too but don't use a cheese grater, too small) carrots daikon, apple into a bowl. sprinkle salt (1 tsp), sugar (1 tsp) and massage for 2-3 minutes until the veggies wilt and give up some water. rinse thoroughly. Put into a jar with brine (1 c warm water, 1/4 C sugar, 1 C vinegar, you can adjust sugar levels to taste) and let sit for at least an hour.
bread: traditional banh mi are served on mini baguettes, but I just put it between two slices of wheat bread. It kind of turned into a monster sandwich. Yum!
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