I'm getting more creative with bento-making. This is the first bento that I've made with coloured rice. There are many ways you can colour the rice. The most natural way of colouring is to use strong coloured food like carrot (rice will turn orangey), beetroot (to turn rice into pink) or dried parsley leaves (for green coloured rice) which is of course much healthier for the kids. Otherwise just use food colouring which will save you a lot of time. In this bento, I used green colouring because firstly, I did not have much time, and secondly, I have not used dried parsley in rice before and have no idea if the taste is good. But you really don't need a lot of colouring to tint the rice so I guess it isn't too bad.
Anyway, I decided to make froggies for Aiden's bento the other day and he really like the cute characters. The eyes were cut from a piece of white cheese and the eyeballs, mouth and nostrils (which are not noticeable from the picture but I did give those froggies some nostrils) were cut from nori sheet. I made beef patties as the side with steamed broccoli, a cherry tomato and a small piece of japanese egg roll (which I prepared the night before). Aiden doesn't like broccoli and tomato so I told him I needed to add those in to decorate the lunchbox and he could leave them out if he really didn't want to eat them. Secretly, I was hoping that if I keep putting these in his bentos, he may just eat them one day. Wishful thinking?
Recipe for Beef Patties (in case anyone is interested)
Minced beef
Finely chopped onion
Grated garlic (I sauteed the onion and garlic to release their fragrance before adding them to the minced)
Grated carrot
Grated parmesan cheese
Sea salt
Pepper
Sesame oil
Marinate the above for a couple of hours. Shape them into patties and coat with plain flour before panfrying them.
5 comments:
Hey Dear, you have many 'characters' for the rice patties. Do you use shape cutter or free hand to mould the shape of the rice?
Rynn
I do have a lot of bento equipment! it's japan and the variety here is great. But it depends on what shapes I do. Sometimes I just use my hands but sometimes I use the moulds. In this case, I use the bear shaped molds for the froggies. Why? U interested in making bentos??
I din know you have a blog! Why never tell me??
Oh that blog is mainly for my late Baby(dog). It's quite a sad blog, so ya...... :(
The bentos are very cute! Does making such cute bentos increase the kids' appetite? Thinking of doing for Enson heez. Can you help me buy a few cute shaped mould from Japan if it's not too much the trouble?
I started making cute bentos coz Aiden has to bring his own lunch to school (japanese system. same as Oz. not like singapore got canteen or wat..). He was a very fussy eater so I have to make it look really appealing for him. And he does enjoy the cute designs :)
Sure i can get some equipment for u. I'll get some basic rice molds and funny face hole punchers for u :) I just made a "3 little pigs" bento for him this morning. my most satisfactory work so far!
Great! Thank you so much! Pink Piggies?
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