Recipe & Video: Winter Bento Box

Contributed by Washocook

Winter isn’t a time to have a picnic outdoors, but that shouldn’t stop you from packing your bento box. You can take it with you to work, school, or even the ski slopes or ice-skating rink! Hearty and healthy, this winter bento box features two different kinds of recipes for chicken plus ham and green pepper Kinpira. Bento boxes have been an important part of Japanese food culture for hundreds of years, and now with this winter bento box recipe, you can bring this ancient technique right into your home kitchen It’s a perfect portable meal to keep you going strong this winter!

What is Takikomi Gohan?

Takikomi Gohan is a steamed and seasoned rice dish with vegetables, meat, or seafood (or all of the three). It’s a popular menu item, and Japanese people traditionally make this using seasonal ingredients to enjoy the changing of the season. It’s not very hard to make at all, so it’s a perfect recipe for when you’re tired of regular white rice. In this winter bento box, we do mixed rice with chicken, but if you want, you can also try our mixed rice with clam recipe.

What is Kinpira?

Kinpira is a type of Japanese cooking method that translates to “sauté and simmer.” First, you thinly slice the ingredients, and then you sauté them in seasonings like sugar, soy sauce, and mirin, and then steam them until they are perfect. The most famous “kinpira” dish is made with carrot and burdock roots or lotus roots. Traditionally, roots vegetables are the base for this dish. But some make kinpira with asparagus, zucchini, celery, etc. This bento box features ham and green pepper, but if you want more vegetables than meat in the winter bento box, check out our recipe for colorful broccoli and carrot kinpira.

Cooking Tips

• By rubbing onions with salt, it will reduce onion’s pungency when making potato salad.
• When preparing chicken karaage, make sure to remove the crumbs from oil while you fry chicken.

Meet Washocook

In 2014, Noriko Tominaga launched Washocook that introduces home-style Japanese cooking for foreigners. At the same time, UNESCO recognized Japanese cuisine as a UNESCO Intangible Cultural Heritage. As the curiosity for Japanese cuisine increased, Washocook started offering cooking classes to visitors from all over the world. The concept of Washocook’s recipe is simple: a recipe that anyone can cook within 20 minutes per dish. When in Japan, check out classes from Washocook!

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Winter Bento Box

Ingredients

Japanese Mixed Rice with Chicken

• ¼ lb Chicken Thigh
• ½ Carrot
• 1 piece Deep Fried Tofu Abura Age
• 2 cup White Rice

Seasoning

• 1 ½ cup Dashi Stock
• 1 Tbsp Soy Sauce
• 2 Tbsp Sake
• 1 Tbsp Mirin
• 2 tsp Dashi Powder
• A pinch of Salt

Japanese Style Fried Chicken (Karaage)

• 1 ¼ lb Chicken Thigh
• 5 Tbsp Katakuri Powder
• 5 Tbsp Flour
• Salad Oil, for frying

Seasoning

• ½ tsp Salt
• 1 Tbsp Sake
• 1 tsp Soy Sauce
• ¼ tsp Black Pepper
• 2 clove Garlic, grated
• 1 tsp Dashi Powder

Ham and Green Pepper Kinpira

• 2 Green Pepper
• 10 slice Ham
• 1 ½ Tbsp Soy Sauce
• 1 ½ Tbsp Mirin
• 1 Tbsp Sesame Oil

Japanese style Potato Salad

• 3 Small Potatoes
• 1 Carrot
• ½ Yellow Onion
• ¼ Cucumber
• 6 slice Ham
• 8 Tbsp Mayonnaise
• 2 Tbsp Vinegar
• 1 tsp Sugar
• Salt and Pepper, to taste

Instructions

Japanese Mixed Rice with Chicken

1. Slice chicken thigh into thin and small pieces.
2. Peel carrot and cut into very thin julienne.
3. Slice deep fried tofu (abura age) into thin strips.
4. Wash rice and drain. Place in a small pot.
5. Add all of the ingredients of the seasoning into the pot. Add chicken, carrot, and fried tofu as well. Turn on the heat and cook over high heat until it boils (about 7-8 minutes).
6. Once boiled, turn down the heat to low and cook for additional 13-15 minutes covered, until rice is cooked.
7. Turn off the heat and steam it for additional 10 to 15 minutes, covered.
8. Fill half of the bento box with rice.

Japanese Style Fried Chicken (Karaage)

1. Cut chicken thigh into a bite size pieces.

2. Mix all of the ingredients of the seasoning and mix with chicken thigh. Rest in the fridge for 10 minutes.
3. Add flour and mix well. Then, add katakuri powder and mix well.
4. Heat up plenty of oil in a large frying pan, being the oil to about 350F.
5. Carefully place chicken into the oil and fry for about five minutes, or until chicken turns into light golden color.
6. Remove chicken from the oil and drain excessive oil from the chicken.
7. Place a few fried chicken into the bento box to fill about ¼ of the bento box.

Ham and Green Pepper Kinpira

1. Slice green peppers and ham into small pieces
2. Pour sesame oil into a pan and cook green pepper over medium heat until tender.
3. Add ham, soy sauce, and mirin to the pan and stir-fry for additional one minute.
4. Fill about ¼ of the bento box with green pepper and ham kinpira.

Japanese style Potato Salad

1. Peel potatoes and cut into small pieces. Peel carrot and cut into thin slices.
2. Slice cucumber into thin slices. Rub in salt and squeeze to drain.
3. Slice onion and sprinkle plenty of salt.
4. Boil potatoes and carrots in a small pot. Cook until tender.
5. In the meantime, whisk mayonnaise, vinegar, sugar, and plenty of salt and pepper in a small bowl to make a dressing.
6. When the potatoes and carrots are done, drain well and add them into the dressing. Mix well to combine. It’s okay if some of the potatoes get mashed in the mixing process.
7. Rub the salted onions and rinse with water. Drain, squeeze, and add them to the potato salad.
8. Add cucumber and ham to the salad and mix them together. Add more salt and pepper to taste.
9. Fill in the space next to fried chicken and green pepper & ham in the bento box. Make sure to separate the salad from other items using aluminum foil.