Today, Maki and Marc prepare bentos with "shichimi togarashi,"

a blend of seven spices that is used all throughout Japan.

We love bento!

And from Alaska, a bento featuring fresh local crab and venison.

We love bento!

(The Global Lunchbox VII-1)

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.

We love seeing your delicious bentos sent in from around the world

through BENTO EXPO's website!

They are so inspiring, too!

They are, aren't they!

So let's start by taking a look at how a few of them were made!

OK!

First from Alaska in the US, a bento packed with a taste of nature.

My name is Leah, I live in Eagle River, Alaska.

My name is Rebecca, I live in Anchorage, Alaska.

Alaska is brimming with wildlife

and today, Leah's going to cook up a bento

using local ingredients gathered by Rebecca.

Their first dish will be using Dungeness crab.

Leah starts by mixing flour and beer

to make a light and airy beer batter.

Beautiful Dungeness crab.

The sweet crab meat is combined with tofu and veggies,

and then pan fried to make crispy crab fritters.

And there they are, ready to taste.

Then, some halibut caught by Rebecca

is coated with the remaining batter to make beer battered fish.

It's a true Alaskan treat.

Next, Leah makes meatballs

using ground venison that was hunted by Rebecca.

It's very lean, there's very little fat in it.

The taste is really beautiful and rich.

The meatballs are topped with a cherry sauce

that's the perfect contrast to the venison.

The fried fish and crab fritters are wrapped in tortillas

so they can be eaten by hand.

For the salad, Leah uses two types of Alaskan seaweeds

and tops them with beets.

Now it's time to take this outdoors!

We love bento.

Next from Rin, a bento for her "adopted work daughter."

Hello, everyone.

I'm Rin from Thailand and today I am making the bento.

Let's start it.

Rin always prepares an extra bento.

Let's hear how it got started.

One day, my colleague was joking and said

"I will be your 'daughter.' Please make my bento, too!"

For today's bentos, Rin is making Thai-style "kara-age,"

seasoned with nam pla, or Thai fish sauce.

It's salty and good!

Rin coats the marinated chicken with batter and deep fries it,

but it's not done yet.

Her kara-age comes with a fragrant herb sauce.

Rin adds lime juice, nam pla, chili peppers,

and cilantro to a blender and purees them.

This spicy and sour sauce is super fragrant

and it should go great with kara-age.

Rin packs her kara-age along with colorful fresh veggies.

I feel happy whenever she eats my bento.

Yummy!

And it has given me a dream that I will open a nutritious bento shop.

Just before lunch time, Rin gets salmon "sashimi" out of the fridge

and arranges it on brown rice with edamame and chili

to make a cute rice bowl.

It's a surprise bento for her "work daughter."

So Ploy, how's your bento?

Yummy!

We love bento.

It's time to get started on our bentos!

OK!

Today, both Maki and I are going to be making our bentos using this.

It's called "shichimi togarashi."

It's a seven-spice chili blend that includes chili peppers,

"sansho peppers," sesame seeds, and citrus zest

and it's a popular condiment to spice things up.

So Marc, what are you going to make using shichimi togarashi?

I'm going to be making a simple and delicious Shichimi Chicken Bento.

Wow, it sounds great!

My Shichimi Chicken can be made in a matter of minutes

by marinating it the night before.

The fragrant aroma and the mild heat from the shichimi togarashi

can bring even a boring protein like chicken to life.

Let's cut the chicken into bite-sized pieces.

I'm using skin-on chicken thighs, but breast meat will work as well.

Now let's make the marinade!

I've got a bowl here and I'm going to go ahead and add in our soy sauce,

our brown sugar and some shichimi togarashi.

I like mine pretty spicy,

so I'm going to add about half a teaspoon here,

and add some mayonnaise.

And then we just need to mix this up.

This is going to give the chicken a savory, sweet flavor

with a nice spicy kick,

and that mayonnaise is going to help coat the chicken

with our shichimi togarashi,

and it's also going to ensure that it stays moist.

Mmm, it smells fragrant already.

Then add the chicken pieces to the marinade

and mix it together to coat each piece evenly.

Then you want to let this marinate for at least 15 minutes

or you can do this the night before to save time in the morning.

I've got a pan that's been heating over medium heat,

and we're going to go ahead

and add in our chicken with the skin-side down.

Now, mayonnaise is basically a combination of oil and eggs,

so we don't need to add any oil to our pan. All right.

Let these fry until the skin side is nice and brown.

Let's check this out.

Yeah, that's looking perfect.

I'm going to go ahead and flip all these pieces over now

and we just need to let the chicken cook through on the other side.

You can see that the mayonnaise has created a coating

that helps the shichimi togarashi stick to the chicken.

Oh man, this smells so good.

So our Shichimi Chicken is done.

Serve it with a side of shichimi togarashi.

I'm going to add a little bit of extra shichimi

because I like it spicy.

You've got that savory sweet sauce with that spicy fragrant shichimi.

The mayonnaise has locked in the juices from the chicken

so it's super juicy and tender.

That's delicious!

I packed this with a sweet and creamy "kabocha" salad

for a wonderful contrast to the spicy Shichimi Chicken.

And the bright aroma of the citrus zest

and the sansho pepper in the shichimi togarashi

keeps the bento light and refreshing.

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

I'm going to make very tasty and fragrant Shichimi Sausages

using a zipper bag!

That should be interesting.

Maki's Shichimi Sausage is another great bento item

that you can prepare in advance,

and her method leaves very few dishes to wash.

Let's see how she does it.

Maki starts by chopping the "shiso leaves" to make the sausage mixture.

To a zipper bag, add ground pork, chopped shiso leaves,

garlic powder, salt, pepper and our shichimi.

And mayonnaise as a binder.

Then mix well.

Shichimi adds flavor and fragrance to the meat.

Mixing in a bag means less dishes. A big help for making sausages.

Once it's mixed, Maki flattens out the meat in the zipper bag.

And now it's time for her trick.

So, I will show you a great way to form this meat mixture into sausages.

By using a chopstick to press divits into the meat,

and then pinching them in half,

Maki is able to evenly divide it into small sausages.

Then put it in a freezer until it freezes completely.

Once they're frozen, they can be easily broken apart

and placed directly into a preheated pan.

Brown both sides well.

Wow, looks so nice.

Smells good.

Maki rolls the sausages around until they're browned on all sides

and then...

Add some water and steam.

Let's open!

Wow, so fragrant!

My Shichimi Sausage is done!

Itadakimasu!

The shichimi enhances the flavor and gives it a nice kick.

It's so Japanese.

Make a large batch and freeze for bentos.

Maki sprinkles some extra shichimi togarashi

onto her sausages for adults.

And for kids, she's designed a cute pig using ham and "nori."

By adding shichimi togarashi to your spice drawer,

you can easily infuse your bentos with a ton of flavor and a spicy kick.

Today, both Maki and I used fragrant shichimi togarashi

to spice up our bento, so we hope you'll...

give them a try!

BENTO TOPICS.

Today, from Tokyo in spring,

amidst blooming cherry blossoms.

People celebrate the coming of spring

by enjoying "hanami," cherry-blossom viewing.

This woodblock print from about 200 years ago

depicts women having a picnic while gazing at cherry blossoms.

They're enjoying a bento.

What could they be eating?

This is a reproduction of a "hanami bento" from the time.

The elegant multi-tiered bento is designed to hold festive hanami food.

The drawer contains little plates with a fan motif.

This bottle contains sake,

often imbibed under the cherry blossom trees.

The food is packed in a four-tier box.

The first tier contains bamboo shoots,

bracken, fish, and "tamagoyaki."

The second tier features sushi topped with sea bream,

which comes into season in spring.

The third tier contains sashimi, and the fourth tier, sweets.

A luxurious full-course meal in a bento.

Hanami bentos were designed to celebrate the coming of spring.

Dining under the cherry blossoms was a joyful special occasion.

Festive hanami bentos are still enjoyed today.

This three-tier bento is painted with cherry blossoms

and is packed with food that celebrates the arrival of spring.

We visit the restaurant that prepared the bento to see how it's made.

The chef pulls out a sea bream,

also featured in the historical reproduction bento.

As sea bream comes into season in spring,

the females turn cherry blossom pink in color.

This earned them the name "sakuradai."

Sakuradai comes into season along with the cherry blossoms.

That's precisely when they become most delicious.

The thinly sliced sakuradai is seasoned with salt,

placed on a cloth, and topped with a young sansho leaf or kinome,

and sushi rice.

The cloth is gathered and twisted to form a round, bite-size sushi.

It's threaded onto a skewer along with salmon sushi.

A cute and delicious finger food, perfect for hanami!

Next, another sushi full of spring flavors.

Simmered "kanpyo," "shiitake," and nori are mixed into sushi rice

and wrapped in a thin sheet of egg.

This is then wrapped in a salted cherry blossom leaf.

It's infused with the scent of cherry blossoms.

In addition to sushi, the hanami bento also features bamboo rice

and breaded fried fish and shrimp

made to look like "nanohana" blossoms.

The bento is complete.

It looks gorgeous, doesn't it?

It's a festive bento packed with spring flavors.

A hanami bento, made to celebrate spring's arrival.

Wow, the traditional hanami theme bento is beautiful, isn't it?

- Yeah, it looks so delicious.
- It does.

So head over to BENTO EXPO's website

and send us a photo of a flower-themed bento,

like this one from Singapore,

or this one from Thailand.

It's a chance for you to share your creations

with bento makers from around the world!

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!
- Bye!