How To Make A Bento Set
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1) Split the meal equally.
You have two ways of doing this. You can follow the 4:3:2:1 ratio (4 rice portions, 3 side dish portions, 2 vegetable portions and 1 pickled vegetable portion or a dessert of your choice.) or you can settle for the 1:1 ratio (1 rice portion and 1 side dish portion with the side dishes having a ratio of 1 meat portion to 2 vegetable portions.) The layout could be of the conventional type or you can go for some variety and bring in other ingredients of your choice. The goal is to serve a meal that provides a lot of nutrition and is tasty as well.
• There are some alternatives to rice such as inari, sushi or onigiri. Other types of rice like the Spanish rice or pasta can also be tried.
• The protein requirement should be met by the side dish and you can opt for pork, fish, chicken or beef. You could grill or fry them and for vegetarians, you can opt for beans or tofus which are good sources of protein.
• Cabbage that is shredded and dressed up lightly is another good option. You can also go for an assortment of sliced vegetables with potato salad.
2) Get hold of a bento box with slots to identify the correct ratios.
The right place to pick this up is at any Asian store or you can even buy it online. You must remember that since the food portions in Asian countries like Japan are much smaller than those in the West, you would have to make the necessary changes in the ratios. If you are unable to find a bento box, then make it yourself by finding a square box and apportioning the food accordingly. You can make use of baby carrots or even crackers as dividing partitions to enable you to make the distribution properly. Other options are Muffin and cupcake cups.
3) Go for food items that are colored and bright.
If you have to create a favorable visual impression, then the food items need to be of the brightly colored type and that also means better nutritive content. Usage of white rice, cheese and hard-boiled eggs are an excellent contrast to brightly colored food items of orange, red and green colors.
4) Ensure you keep the food tightly packed together if you have not been able to find a bento box with partitions. This way you can avoid the food from moving about in the box.
1. Starch items like rice typically constitute about fifty per cent of the total meal.
2. Put odd sized food items like a chicken piece or dumpling first and make space for them.
3. Those that are flexible like salads, vegetables can be packed in the available open spaces and they will settle neatly into them.
4. Make sure you pack the smaller but tougher food items such as cherry tomatoes, pudding containers into the gaps available. This will help you make the bento look more attractive.
5) Make use of stencils to give prominent and attractive shapes to the food items.
You are also free to play around with some theme while decorating the bento. Using food colors and mixing them with sour cream, cheese, butter and frosting them will make the presentation quite different and appealing.
• The edges have to be distinct and you need to place the ones with strikingly different colors, sizes and shapes together. Those that look similar need to be kept away together and should not be mixed with the other pieces. Do not allow those with contrasting flavors to come together – such as a pastry piece with that of fried rice.
• Design the food with some animal faces and other geometric shapes. For instance, using a couple of slices of a hardboiled egg and using paprika to insert a dot in the center of the yolk would constitute a good eye pair.
• Accentuate specific sections of the food like its center by adding seasonings and garnishing them.
• Use fruits, cheese, kamaboko and vegetables to create wonderful shapes like that of diamonds, stars and hearts using cookie cutters.
• Purchase specific sauce bottles that can be refilled to store loose snacks and sauces. These are available online and are made specifically for bento.
Tips
• Make a simple beginning and then graduate to something more complex as you get the hang of it. Do not try to make something very fancy at the outset as you can get bored and could give up.
• Remember making bento takes time and you need to have the patience for it. Do not rush it. A good bento is made only when you can devote a lot of time, effort and interest to it. This is what makes a good bento look more attractive, tasty and makes it stand out.
• It helps if you can adhere to a particular ratio which delivers both nutrition and prevents weight gain. This will ensure you are eating more of the healthy stuff.
• If you are going to be using rice very frequently, then you would do well to buy a rice cooker that has a timer so that each time the rice can be cooked when you want it and you need not cook it in advance and have to keep it overnight.
• You can also flavor the rice by making use of some seasonings made at home or by purchasing furikake that are available in small packets and can be bought at any Asian market. The seasonings can also be made use of to create attractive patterns and images with the help of appropriate stencils.
• To decorate onigiri, you can make use of Nori which is dried seaweed along with soy paper that is available in a variety of colors. A practical and convenient way to make use of Nori is to make the punched shape of your choice on paper such as heart, palm tree or star and keep adding other punches at the desired places. You can then make Nori strips and use them to punch the required shapes, use the strips to tie up the wrapped food for added contrast.
• It is natural for deep fried stuff like meat and vegetables to have excess oil within them. This can be soaked up by placing the meat and vegetables on a good layer of shredded cabbage as it has good absorbent properties. You can also use rice for this purpose.
• Make sure the rice and other ingredients that are hot are allowed to cool down prior to the bento getting closed. This is to prevent the steam from condensing within the box and that can make the food damp.
• The bento that you have finally made would be good enough to be prepacked and stored in the freezer. You however have to remember that only certain foods like noodles, chicken, fish and cherry pie fillings that are frozen can be thus kept.
Warnings
• Take care that there is no chance for the food to get poisoned. It is necessary to cook the food adequately and you must store the bento in a cold place like the refrigerator. This is especially true for school going children who take their lunch to school.
• Do not mix up dry solid and wet food as it will make the entire meal damp and won’t be very tasty to eat.