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    Yum-Yum Bento Box: Fresh Recipes for Adorable Lunches
    Yum-Yum Bento Box: Fresh Recipes for Adorable Lunches
    Yum-Yum Bento Box: Fresh Recipes for Adorable Lunches
    Ebook305 pages1 hour

    Yum-Yum Bento Box: Fresh Recipes for Adorable Lunches

    By Crystal Watanabe and Maki Ogawa

    4.5/5

    ()

    Read preview

    About this ebook

    This book makes creating colorful, cute, and tasty Japanese-style lunches easy and fun!

    Learn how to craft your favorite foods into a variety of shapes—from caterpillars, cars, and puppy dogs to pretty flowers, princesses, and kitty cats to make the yummy, healthy lunches that are all the rage in Japan. Featuring chapters on Cuties & Critters, Fairy-Tale Friends, and Special Day Treats, plus a handy shopping guide, easy recipes for mini snacks, general tips and tricks, and so much more, Yum-Yum Bento Box is the perfect guide for beginner bento makers and expert chefs alike. Stop wasting money on pre-packaged lunches—and start making beautiful, healthy bentos!

    Includes:
    · An introduction to Japanese Lunches
    · Packing a Bento Box
    · Bento Boxes, Tools, And Accessories
    · Ingredients
    · Cuties & Critters
    · Fairy-Tale Friends
    · Special-Day Treats
    LanguageEnglish
    PublisherQuirk Books
    Release dateFeb 5, 2013
    ISBN9781594746505
    Yum-Yum Bento Box: Fresh Recipes for Adorable Lunches

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    Reviews for Yum-Yum Bento Box

    4.5/5

    10 ratings2 reviews

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    • 5/5
      Everything it says on the cover. The recipes are surprisingly easy too. This book is almost as much fun to read as it is to cook with, thanks to the author's cute photos.
    • 5/5
      From Lilac Wolf and StuffI wanted this book for so long, but I have to admit I didn't think it was anything I'd be able to pull off. I still haven't tried anything yet, but the difference is now I think I can.They break down lots of recipes to make these cute little bento lunches. They go into the history a bit, and all the tools of the trade. Then they give cost cutting ideas to get the same effect without having to buy a whole new kitchen. Crystal and Maki also encourage creativity and use of leftovers as well as balancing out the meal.I also thought I'd need to get a special bento box, but this is another myth they slash. There are traditional and contemporary boxes, but you can simply buy a small storage container as well. Thanks goodness, I have boxes on hand for that.I'm really looking forward to making these during time off from school, while we go on our adventures instead of just getting fast food. The small storage would easily pack up into coolers for us to enjoy later on.

    Book preview

    Yum-Yum Bento Box - Crystal Watanabe

    Copyright © 2010 Quirk Books

    All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced in any form without written permission from the publisher.

    Library of Congress Cataloging in Publication Number: 2009943046

    eISBN: 978-1-59474-650-5

    Designed by Jenny Kraemer

    Production management by John J. McGurk

    Photography by Maki Ogawa

    Author photograph by Maki's son Kai Ogawa, who wants to be a cameraman when he grows up.

    Quirk Books

    215 Church Street

    Philadelphia, PA 19106

    www.quirkbooks.com

    Visit www.yumyumbento.com!

    Table of Contents

    Hello, Obento! An Introduction to Japanese Lunches

    Packing a Bento Box

    Bento Boxes, Tools, and Accessories

    Ingredients for Happy Faces

    Cuties & Critters

    Baby Bear

    Caterpillar

    Chickens

    Eek! A Mouse!

    Fluffy Lamb

    Frogs

    Guardian Angel

    Hawaii Sun

    Hungry Fishy

    Kitty Cat & Goldfish

    Miss Octopus

    Piggy Burgers

    Polar Bear

    Retro Girls

    Sandwich Cuties

    Sunbathing Crabs

    Teddy Bear Grilled Cheese

    Tiger Cubs

    Walruses

    Fairy-Tale Friends

    Enchanted Forest Friends

    Flopsy, Mopsy, and Cottontail

    Goldilocks and the Three Bears

    I'm Bringin' Home a Baby Bumblebee!

    The Ladybug Picnic

    Little Elves

    Little Red Hen

    Little Red Riding Hood

    Magical Spring Flowers

    Mushroom Friends

    Musubi Man

    Peter Pan

    Redheaded Princess

    Secret Garden

    Teeny Tiny Polar Bear

    Three Little Pigs

    Twinkle, Twinkle Little Star

    Special Day Treats

    Autumn Leaves

    Beach Party Hot Dog

    Best Friend Bears

    Birthday Present

    Boy's Day

    Car Trip

    Christmas Penguins

    Early-Bird Omelet

    Easter Baskets

    Girl's Day

    You

    Pancake Mouse

    Pizza Party!

    Rainy Day Umbrellas

    Sailboat

    Snow Day

    Sports

    Summertime Sammies

    Sunny-Side Up

    Additional Recipes for Mini Snacks and Save-It-for-Later Lunches

    How to Make a Hatching Chick

    Shopping Guide

    Glossary

    Metric Conversion Chart

    Acknowledgments

    Hello, Obento! An Introduction to Japanese Lunches

    Japanese boxed lunches are called bento (or, reverently, obento). These yummy, healthy meals are all the rage in Japan, where mothers think of them as an expression of love for their children. Bento boxes can be made from scratch, but they are also a great way to enjoy leftovers. Children and adults alike love to eat and make character-driven bento boxes, called charaben (or kyaraben). We hope you'll mix and match the recipes in this book to create your own tasty, portable meals. Yum-Yum Bento Box is a collection of some of our favorite lunches for our children and ourselves. They are almost too cute to eat!

         According to a popular Japanese saying, it is important to Eat with your eyes. This means more than just taking time to savor lovely, appetizing foods. Small, thoughtfully arranged dishes encourage portion control. And a rainbow of fruits, vegetables, fish, meats, rice, tofu, and cheeses central to the Japanese diet have given that country's population the highest longevity and lowest obesity rate in the world.

    When my son started kindergarten, he cried and cried. I hoped that my bento would make him happy!

    —Maki

         The bento tradition dates back centuries. As early as the 1500s Japanese farmers packed lunches to eat in the fields. In the late 1800s, Japanese immigrants moved to Hawaii to work in the sugarcane fields, and they brought the bento box tradition with them. These portable lunches have become a part of the island culture and are made at home and sold in takeout restaurants, supermarkets, and convenience stores. Just ask President Barack Obama, who grew up in Honolulu—he'll know exactly what a bento is. Today, online communities are an increasingly popular forum for sharing bento-making tips and techniques. It's a fun way to show our creations and learn new tricks. Like many mothers, we enjoy preparing simple, cute character bento boxes, called charaben or deco ben (because they are decorated bento). In this book, you'll find three types of character bentos: Cuties & Critters, modeled after pets and pals; Fairy-Tale Friends, inspired by magical stories; and Special Day Treats, perfect for celebrating big days or brightening up tough ones.

    I found the online bento community and since I was starting Weight Watchers at the time, I decided to use bentos to regulate my portions. It worked!

    —Pikko

         Lovingly made bento boxes ease Japanese children into preschool by connecting school and the outside world with comforting foods from home. Mothers get up in the wee hours of the morning to prepare special obento for their children. At school, the finished creations are shared, compared, and even judged in cafeteria competitions. Online, bento makers share recipes and photos on Flickr, forums, and personal blogs. We gather inspiration from TV animation, old postage stamps, antiques, holidays, picture books, and our childrens' drawings. Bento is a fun, creative outlet, but another benefit can't be denied. Child obesity rates around the world continue to rise at an alarming rate, which leaves parents wondering: How do we get our children to eat healthier? How do we eat healthier? With its focus on smaller portions, adorable presentation, attractive color schemes, and tasty tidbits, bento is one answer to that question. We hope this book will provide you with fresh recipes, time-saving tricks, and helpful resources for your own adventures in bento making!

    —Pikko & Maki

    A good bento box packs in little tastes of everything—including occasional treats like bacon, cheese, and dessert. It's all about creatively presenting a fresh, well-balanced meal that's a delight to make and eat.

         When assembling a bento box, aim for a 4:3:2:1 ratio of food groups.

         Making your bento look full and attractive can be accomplished with a few simple additions. There's no recipe for beautiful garnishes: Use whatever fresh, colorful fruits and vegetables you have on hand to fill the gaps and add a pop of color to your bento. Green is easily added with broccoli, parsley, asparagus, and sugar snap peas. Red is easily added with whole or cut cherry tomatoes and strawberries. To save time, boil all your veggies together, removing them individually with a slotted spoon as soon as they are cooked.

         Try to include colorful foods from every hue in the rainbow in each bento box. That will ensure a healthy balance of nutrients as well as a pretty presentation.

    Bento Boxes, Tools, and Accessories

    A list of all available bento supplies would be endless, but there are a few key items and many inexpensive alternatives. For example, drinking straws and craft hole punches work just as well as most bento punches. Small hobby scissors are much more affordable than Fiskars micro-tip scissors. A toothpick can apply tiny whiskers to a kitty cat just as nicely as a special set of tweezers. And regular plastic storage containers can be used instead of fancy bento boxes.

    A donburi bento box has two separate layers: one for holding rice and one for holding the food served on top of the rice. Under the top layer

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