Bentoism

As Thanksgiving approaches, I have not been packing bentos much. We ordered a frozen Turducken which arrived today and has taken up most of the freezer space. And the best way to make space for all the Thanksgiving goodies? Finish what's in the fridge first.


For tomorrow's lunch, I cooked up a simple meal of rice with tamagoyaki over it, and accompanied with a stirfry of shrimp, scallops and celery. The shrimp and scallops have been frozen in my freezer for over a month. It's time to clear them out.

I really like how the Lock & Lock box with its separate cups holds the stir-fry with gravy (left) separate from the rice and tamagoyaki (right).

I made these inside-out Teriyaki Chicken rolls a few weeks ago, and shared with a piece with a friend at work. She had asked me for the recipe but I kept forgetting to write it down. Just as I sat down tonight to do so, a better idea occurred to me. Why not blog about it, prepare Friday's lunch and take some pictures all at the same time?

Teriyaki Chicken Rolls (makes 2-3 rolls)
For teriyaki chicken
1 large chicken breast, butterflied
3 tbsp light soy sauce
2 tbsp cooking sake
4 tbsp mirin
2 tbsp sugar
1 tbsp grated ginger

For sushi rice
1 cup white, short-grained rice
2 tbsp sushi vinegar
2 pieces dried kelp (optional)

For egg skin
2 eggs
1/4 tsp sugar
1/4 tsp hon-dashi granules

For sushi
1 small cucumber
Japanese mayonnaise
1 cup toasted sesame seeds

Instructions
In a bowl, mix all the seasonings together and stab the chicken lightly with a fork. Marinate chicken for 10 -15 minutes. Remove chicken from marinade and pat dry with a paper towel. Do not discard marinade.

Prepare sushi rice. See my spam sushi post for instructions on preparing sushi rice.

Preheat frying pan on medium high heat. Grease it lightly with cooking spray and lay chicken down on hot pan to sear. When it is 2/3 done on one side after 3 - 4 minutes, flip over and let cook for another 1 - 2 minutes.

Add marinade to the pan with the chicken and allow the marinade to come to a boil. Stir regularly, and from time to time, braise the chicken with the marinade. After 5 - 10 minutes, the sauce should thicken and form a glaze over the chicken. Turn off heat and remove chicken from pan to cool. Strain the teriyaki sauce in the pan and set aside in either a squirt bottle or small container for later use.

Break eggs in a mixing bowl. Add sugar and dashi granules, and beat the eggs. In a rectangular pan on medium heat , coat lightly with cooking spray and add enough beaten egg to cover the base. When the egg begins to cook, run chopsticks along the edges of the pan to loosen the omelet and flip it over. After two minutes or so, remove omelet from pan and set aside on a paper towel.

When the chicken has cooled, cut into 1/2 x 1/2 inch strips. In a slicer, cut cucumber into long strips.

To make inside-out sushi, I like to wrap my bamboo mat in plastic wrap. It's easier to peel plastic wrap from sticky rice than to pluck sticky rice from the bamboo mat. On the mat, spread a layer of sushi rice, place an omelet over rice. Spread a thin layer of shredded cucumber over the egg, squeeze a strip of Japanese mayonnaise across, and layer chicken teriyaki strips over it.

Pick up the edge of the omelet and roll up the chicken and cucumber strips. After, pick up the bamboo mat and roll up the rest of the sushi. Peel back the bamboo mat and sprinkle on a layer of sesame seeds before rolling it back up to press in the seeds. Remove log from bamboo mat. Cut and serve. Warning-this can be tricky. Some pieces of sushi roll fell apart while I did this. I only did this because I don't like seaweed with chicken teriyaki.

An easier way is to roll it up like a typical maki, with the seaweed on the outside. If you enjoy seaweed with chicken teriyaki, like my husband does, that would probably be the better way to roll your maki.

The slide show should help guide you along in this recipe. Have fun!