Wow, looks great!

Maki rolls veggies in sliced beef

to make a colorful garden beef roll bento.

It's a fun way to eat fish and veggies.

Marc's bento features "Satsuma-age,"

a sweet and savory fish cake.

We love bento!

We love bento!

(The Global Lunchbox 6-17)

Welcome to BENTO EXPO,

your guide to the wonderful, delicious world of bento.

- I'm Marc Matsumoto.
- And I'm Maki Ogawa.

Thank you for joining BENTO EXPO.

As always, we've received some delicious looking bentos from around the world,

so let's start by checking some out.

Okay.

First, from Taiwan, a bento expressing love for a dog.

Hello, I'm Isa from Taiwan.

Today I will make a Shiba Inu bento

because my brother has a Shiba Inu and she is very cute.

Shiba Inu is a Japanese breed originally bred for hunting,

but it's since become a beloved pet around the world.

Isa starts her bento by making round and triangular "onigiri"

to make the face and ears.

Next, she uses soy sauce and "nori" to color the fur

and give it an adorable expression.

She even adds some cheese to give her Shiba Inu

its trademark furrows in its brow.

It is cute, isn't it?

She wraps another onigiri with nori to give her dog a friend.

And look. It's a black Shiba-Inu!

For the side, she fries tonkatsu, or pork cutlet.

These are going to go great with the onigiri.

Isa's cute Shiba Inu bento is done.

But wait, there's more!

She's made enough to share with friends.

I know if I create cute bento and share it,

that will make people happy.

We love bento!

Next, from Canada, a bento packed with Filipino flavors.

I am from the Philippines but I live in Montreal, Quebec, Canada.

Today I'll be making a Filipino bento because I miss my country.

First, to make her headline dish,

Katrina boils instant noodles and eggs together.

What a clever way to save time.

Then she stir-fries shrimp and fish cake,

both standard items in this Filipino classic,

and she adds the seasonings from the instant noodles.

This is an afternoon snack my dad used to make me as a child.

The boiled noodles go into the pan

and get seasoned with Filipino fish sauce, or "patis."

Whenever I smell these seasonings,

I am transported back to the Philippines.

And Katrina's colorful "pancit canton" is done.

Next, she makes her husband's favorite roast chicken.

Slathering on some mayonnaise is the key.

Mayonnaise will give your chicken that golden brown color.

This goes into the oven to roast and...

Voila, nice and golden brown.

Gorgeous.

Katrina's sunny bento is packed with the flavors of the Philippines.

It may be cold in Quebec, but this bento is sure to warm you up.

Actually, it's really good.

We love bento!

It's time to get started on our bentos.

Today, Maki and I are going to be arranging traditional regional dishes

to make them perfect for bento.

So Maki, what are you going to be making for us today?

Today I'm going to use all these colorful veggies

to make garden beef roll bento

inspired by "yawata-maki" from Kyoto.

That sounds delicious.

Yawata-maki is a traditional dish from Kyoto

that's often made by rolling burdock root

and carrots in eel or thinly sliced meat.

In Maki's version, she uses sliced beef and colorful veggies

to make her bento look like a flower garden.

She starts by blanching asparagus.

And then she blanches red cabbage separately

so it doesn't discolor the asparagus.

Now she cuts up her veggies so they're easy to roll.

You can use any vegetables you have on hand to make these colorful rolls.

Okay, it's time to roll these up.

On thinly sliced beef,

place purple cabbage,

asparagus and red bell pepper.

And baby corn.

This plays a huge role.

It's a rainbow of vegetables.

And let's maki-maki!

Roll tightly.

See? You can easily make a roll like this.

The potato starch coating helps hold the rolls together

and creates a crust for the sauce to soak into.

Maki adds the rolls to the preheated pan with the seam-side down.

Fry until the rolls get nicely browned.

She rolls them to brown evenly.

Wow, looks so nice!

Now for the finishing touch.

Then add our 3S sauce.

The potato starch crust absorbs

the sweet and savory 3S sauce and forms a glaze.

Smells so good!

Maki covers the pan with the lid

to steam the rolls for a few minutes.

And...

Okay, let's open.

Wow, looks great!

My garden beef roll is done!

Look. The baby corn looks like a flower.

It's beautiful, Maki!

Itadakimasu!

The beef is well-seasoned with 3S sauce.

These veggie-filled rolls are both healthy and colorful.

Try to make your own garden!

These rolls have a great balance of protein and veggies,

and they instantly turn a bento into a colorful flower garden.

For kids, Maki makes a cute chick by using carrot and cheese.

These beautiful garden rolls will fill you up

while giving your spirits a boost.

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

I'm going to be using this cod along with all of these veggies

to make Satsuma-age from Kagoshima in the south of Japan.

Satsuma-age is a fish cake that gets its name from Satsuma,

the historical name for Kagoshima.

It can be made with a wide variety of ingredients mixed in,

and today I'm going to show you an easy way to make it using a food processor.

Let's start by preparing the fish.

I cut the skinless and boneless cod into chunks

before adding them into a food processor.

All right, let's go ahead and add this skinless, boneless cod into our food processor,

and then add some rice flour, egg, sugar, some ginger juice,

this is going to make it smell really nice, some sake, soy sauce,

and finally, a bit of salt.

Let's go ahead and get the lid on here. We're going to go ahead and run this until it's nice and smooth.

The ginger juice is going to help smooth over any fishy notes,

and the other ingredients are going to add a nice savory sweet taste

that's the signature flavor of Satsuma-age.

After about 3 to 4 minutes, you should have a nice, smooth paste.

Okay, and your mixture should end up smooth and jiggly just like this.

Now let's add our mix-ins.

Today I'm using canned corn, as well as chopped green beans and onions

for a combination of colors and textures.

And we're just going to fold this into the fish mixture.

But you can really use any vegetable here like carrots or burdock.

Even edamame works really well.

Okay, and once all our vegetables are evenly distributed like this,

our fish paste is done.

Time to shape and fry these up.

And I'm just going to go ahead and get my hands wet first here.

This is going to keep the fish paste from sticking to my hands.

Then you want to get about a golf ball-sized piece of fish paste here

and squeeze it between your hands.

Shape it into a patty like this.

And I'm going to drop the patty into the oil.

These flat patties are the traditional shape,

but you can give them any shape that you like.

Flip these over to make sure they brown evenly,

and we're going to fry them up until they're golden brown on the outside.

As they fry, they'll puff up and float to the surface.

But we still want to give them a little more color.

Okay, once these are nice and fluffy and golden brown like this,

they're done.

Satsuma-age are delicious hot,

but they get even better as they cool.

It's so colorful.

You've got the crispy bits of green beans and corn in there with the sweet onion,

and it mixes so well with that fish paste.

It has that nice balance of sweet and savory with a little bit of ginger.

And you can get creative with what you put inside.

I packed alternating layers of Satsuma-age, lemon and shiso

with sesame spinach and a shredded carrot salad.

With the variety of taste, textures and colors,

this bento is sure to brighten up your day.

Today, both Maki and I made beautiful bentos

based on regional Japanese dishes, so we hope you'll...

Give it a try!

Bento Topics.

Today, from Australia's largest city, Sydney,

an English dish that's made its way down under.

The meat pie has become so popular,

it's considered to be Australia's national dish.

National meat pie contests are held every year.

Everybody loves the meat pie, you know.

This is one of Sydney's most popular pie shops.

It offers over 10 different kinds of freshly baked pies every day.

The secret to a light and flaky pie crust

is to knead the dough well, roll it out,

and fold it over repeatedly,

then set aside to rest overnight before folding again.

It takes a lot of hard work to make a flaky pie crust.

The secret to the delicious filling lies in using beef gravy.

Gravies are important for Australian meat pies.

Now, when you bite into a pie, you want to have enough gravy.

The shop's best-selling pie features a filling of

ground beef, carrots, herbs, and of course, gravy.

After coating with butter, the pies are baked in the oven.

And here they are.

The combination of flaky crust and juicy filling is divine.

Aussie meat pies are meant to be drizzled with ketchup

and eaten with one's hands.

Now, that's a good pie.

Hello. I'm Kerry, and this is Camilla.

Kerry is a school teacher.

She makes bentos for her daughter.

Today, she's going to make a meat pie using steak.

Bye!

All right, let's go.

Come on!

Camilla wants to become a veterinarian when she grows up,

so Kerry's bentos for her always have a cute animal theme.

Her adorable bentos have been featured in magazines.

I love making them for her.

And I like hanging out with my mum.

First, the filling.

She browns bite-size pieces of steak.

She then simmers them with beef stock,

butter, tomato paste, onions and more.

To this she adds a secret ingredient,

a savory spread made from yeast extract.

It's a staple in Aussie homes.

It's just going to add a little flavor to our meat filling.

Okay.

Put our lid on it, turn it on.

After eight hours in the slow cooker,

the steak is tender enough to melt in your mouth.

Umm, it smells so good!

So we'll open up our pie maker.

Kerry makes full use of this handy pie maker.

She sets the dough and filling inside.

And after just 10 minutes,

the meat pies are done.

Open it up!

They are looking nice.

She turns the meat pies into koalas

using tortilla chips for ears,

and olives for the nose and eyes.

Add some fruit and vegetables,

and the koala mum and cub bento is finished.

Now for some quality time together on the beach.

- Do you like it?
- Yeah.

We love bento!

So, to all you bento makers out there,

head over to BENTO EXPO's website

for all of today's recipes.

And while you're there, send us a photo

of your favorite bento for a chance to be featured.

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

but we hope you'll join us again here

soon on BENTO EXPO.

- Maki, shall we eat?
- Yeah,

- can I try your Satsuma-age?
- Yeah.