Season 8-1 Chirashi-zushi Peacock Bento & Glass Noodle Lion Bento

Send us photos of your adorable animal bentos.

Here's some inspiration.

Maki uses glass noodles to help her create a cute lion bento.

Marc makes a peacock bento with mixed sushi rice and vegetables.

Hi.

And a panda-loving bento maker in the Philippines

shares her latest creation.

So good!

We love bento!

(The Global Lunchbox 8-1)

Welcome to BENTO EXPO where we share bentos from Japan

and around the world.

Thank you for joining us.

We love seeing bentos you submit through BENTO EXPO's website.

They are packed with wonderful ideas.

So let's start by checking a few of them out.

OK!

First, a western-style mixed sushi or "chirashizushi."

My name is Michèle.

I'm from Switzerland.

Michèle started making bentos six years ago

after falling in love with Japanese culture.

She adds seasoned rice vinegar to hot rice to make sushi rice

and moves on to prepare the other ingredients.

She uses mushroom in place of shiitake, a classic ingredient for chirashizushi,

and cooks them with her homemade chicken broth.

This gives the mushroom loads of umami.

She adds the mushrooms to her sushi rice

along with cooked carrots, edamame and lotus root

to make a chirashizushi that's brimming with colors and textures.

For the topping, she boils plump blue shrimp farmed in Switzerland

and seasons them with soy sauce

before adding a bed of shredded omelet for her shrimp to rest on.

Finally, a scattering of extra vegetables and mushrooms

creates a pop of color for her bento.

This is good.

As a side dish, she adds a variety of Swiss cheeses

and together with some homemade dried apples,

her bento reflects a little of both worlds.

Michèle's husband and her cat Yonkyo join in to enjoy her bento!

We love bento!

Next, we have a cute panda bento from the Philippines.

Hi, my name is Jhilet.

This is my nine-year-old daughter, Jhianna.

Hi.

Jhianna loves pandas

so Jhilet has made a wide variety of panda bentos for her.

Today, she's trying something new,

but first, let's see what she's cooking up for her main dish.

It's a meaty Filipino comfort food called menudo.

Jhilet cooks pork with tomato sauce and bay leaves

and then simmers them together with liver, sausages, and vegetables.

The secret ingredient is calamansi,

a tangy citrus that adds a refreshing tartness to the hearty stew.

Looking good!

Now, it's time to make the panda.

Jhilet uses a pattern to cut out the parts from a sheet of nori.

Wow, it's so detailed!

Then, she places her outline over a bed of rice

along with the eyes and nose to finish it off.

Nori is perfect for making characters because it can be cut like paper.

For her menudo, Jhilet decorates it with vegetables carved like flowers,

and along with some fruit, her cute yet satisfying bento is ready to eat.

Our family loves the home-cooked Filipino menudo.

So how is it ?

So good.

We love bento!

It's time to get started on our bentos.

OK!

Today, both Maki and I are going to make flavorful bento items

and then we're going to turn them into fun original animal character bentos.

I'm going to stir-fry glass noodles

with a lot of veggies and make a lion bento.

That sounds exciting.

Glass noodles are a transparent noodle made from mung bean or potato starch.

And although they originated in China,

they're widely used across Asia.

Today, Maki's going to use these to make her lion's mane.

She starts by slicing up some colorful veggies into thin strips

so they blend well with the glass noodles.

Then, she stir-fries them.

Wow, Maki, that's a lot of veggies.

Yeah, they go well with glass noodles

and they add great texture.

And they're also a great combination of colors, too.

Yes, right.

Then, Maki transfers the veggies to a tray

and stir-fries the minced garlic and ginger along with "doubanjiang."

Wow, Maki, it's so fragrant.

- You like it?
- Yeah!

Doubanjiang is a chili bean paste

that adds a spicy kick and loads of umami.

Once it gets fragrant, add ground pork.

Oh, I see you've got some coarse ground pork there.

Yeah.

It has a meaty texture and is easy to integrate with the noodles.

Once the pork is cooked, Maki adds sugar, sake, chicken bouillon

soy sauce, oyster sauce and water to create a broth.

And then...

Add glass noodles to the soup.

So you don't need to rehydrate the noodles first?

That makes it easy.

The noodles will cook through in the soup.

And after two minutes...

They're becoming transparent already.

That's why they call them "glass noodles."

Really?

Finally, Maki returns the stir-fried veggies to the pan

and tosses everything together.

See? Hardly any soup left.

Yeah, the soup has all been absorbed or evaporated.

OK, my stir-fried glass noodles are done.

It smells amazing.

So, Marc, try my stir-fried glass noodles.

Wow, look at this. They are so transparent.

(This food was prepared in a separate, hygienically controlled environment.)

The noodles have a firm al dente texture.

And there's just so much umami because it has soaked up all that soup.

And, I am going to use this to make a lion bento.

I can't wait to see it.

Maki uses a bowl to shape the rice,

and then she uses chopsticks and a spoon to create the mane.

Twirl the noodles on a spoon to make the lion's mane.

That's such a cool idea.

It's also easy to eat.

- So it doesn't get all tangled up.
- Exactly.

Then, she adds some more veggies

and makes the face for her lion with carrots and nori.

My lion bento is done.

That's such a cool-looking bento, Maki.

It makes you happy.

It sure does!

And it has such a great balance of textures, tastes, and colors.

Marc, what are you going to make for your bento today?

Well, I am going to be making a flavorful mixed rice,

and then topping it with these colorful ingredients to make

a chirashizushi peacock bento.

A peacock?

"Chirashizushi" means "scattered sushi."

And it usually involves sushi rice mixed with other ingredients

and covered with toppings.

For my chirashizushi, I'm going to arrange the toppings to make a peacock.

Let's start by preparing the ingredients for the mixed sushi rice.

So I'm not going to be using any meat in my bento today,

but I've chosen ingredients that are packed with umami and protein.

Great.

I've gone ahead and rehydrated some shiitake mushrooms here.

And we're going to be using the stock.

It's super flavorful. So we're going to save that for later.

I dice up the shiitake mushrooms as well as the fried tofu.

It's a great source of protein that absorbs flavors like a sponge.

Then, I'm going to chop up some bamboo.

I love the crunchiness of bamboo shoots.

Yeah, it's going to add a really nice texture to our chirashizushi rice. All right.

Then, I'm going to simmer these ingredients with shiitake broth

along with sugar and salt until there's no liquid left.

Let this cool to room temperature.

And then, I'm going to fold these into some seasoned sushi rice.

The finely diced ingredients mix easily with the rice.

That's the idea. You want to get a little of everything in each bite.

Now that our mixed sushi rice is done,

let's prepare our toppings.

I'm going to start by cutting our boiled purple carrot out

using a pair of scissors.

Oh, I can see it!

It looks like a peacock doesn't it?

All right, let's go ahead and put together our peacock.

So, I'm going to start with the feathers.

And I'm going to be using snow peas today.

You want to go ahead and fan them out.

Put this right in the center of our feathers to make the body of our peacock.

Cute!

Then, I'm going to use slices of baby corn with burdock pickles

to make spots that we can add to our peacock feathers.

Finally, I'm going to use a sesame seed to make the eye

and a tuft of chervil for the crest.

It came to life!

Yeah, it just came alive, right?

To finish this off, I'm going to use some "benishoga" or red pickled ginger

to create a burst of color and flavor in the background.

Beautiful!

So, Maki, you want to try it out?

Thank you.

Itadakimasu.

(This food was prepared in a separate, hygienically controlled environment.)

Marc, this is so good.

The rice is full of different flavors.

The toppings go so well with sushi rice.

I'll try this at home.

Please, I can't wait to see what you come up with.

It may not have any meat

but this chirashizushi is flavorful and satisfying.

Today, both Maki and I made simple bento items

but by arranging them into cute animal shapes,

we were able to make it into something special.

So we hope you'll... give them a try!

Bento Topics.

Today, from the diverse nation of Singapore.

Here, Indians make up the third largest ethnic group.

Many live in Little India, north of the city center.

One of its landmarks is this century-old Hindu temple.

Embellished with beautiful carvings,

it offers peace to the community.

The Tekka Centre is a colorful food market

indispensable to everyday life.

In addition to selling a wide range of spices,

it also has many hawkers serving Indian dishes.

One of the most popular is paratha, a flat bread.

Eggs and onions, or other vegetables are laid over a thin dough,

which is folded over and pan-fried.

It has a crisp and flaky crust

but is soft and fluffy inside.

Served with a spicy curry sauce,

it's mouth-wateringly good.

Indian people like this.

Nice market.

Anuradha, a bento maker from India shops here regularly.

What's she buying today?

So these are the fresh, fresh "methi" leaves.

Methi is a leafy vegetable used in traditional Indian medicine.

Anuradha is going to use this nutrient-rich methi to make paratha.

Are you excited to eat methi paratha today?

Yeah!

Give me high five. Let's go.

Anuradha moved to Singapore in 2014 for her husband's work.

To remind her son of his heritage,

she began making healthy Indian bentos and shared them on social media.

Her simple and healthy recipes have attracted over 60,000 followers.

I felt my page is helping a lot of mommies out there.

I'm really happy that I'm getting the kind of response from the social media.

Her methi paratha has received a lot of likes

and is one of Aarav's favorites.

They mix the methi leaves into the flour.

This is really nice.

She adds spices that enhance the bitterness of methi.

Then mixes everything with ghee, a clarified butter.

It makes our paratha very soft.

Aarav helps make paratha in the shape of a flower.

After cooking both sides to a golden brown, they're done.

I learned from my mother, my mother learned from her mother...

This is the recipe that has been passed on through the generations.

India's traditional food culture, passed on through bentos.

Now for a healthy snack of dried fox nuts

caramelized with unrefined cane sugar.

It looks just like caramel popcorn!

Aarav loves to eat paratha with ketchup.

A nutritious bento of methi paratha

and caramelized fox nuts.

Time to eat.

He couldn't wait to dig in.

How is it?

We love bento!

Methi paratha! So curious.

Yeah, and it's a great bento item that you can eat with your hands.

We're looking forward to seeing your animal character bentos on our website.

Just remember, they need to be your own original characters.

Well, that's all the time we have for today,

but we hope you'll join us again here soon on BENTO EXPO.

- See you soon.
- Bye!