Today, bentos inspired by regional dishes.

Marc makes a Hokkaido specialty: lamb and veggie stir-fry.

Maki's bento features "toriten" fried chicken, a dish from Oita.

From the US, a chicken and rice bento made with antioxidant-rich saffron.

It looks just like a cake!

We love bento!

(The Global Lunchbox 7-7)

Welcome to BENTO EXPO,

where we share bentos from Japan and around the world.

Thank you for joining BENTO EXPO.

Hey, Maki, I think we've got some new bentos on BENTO EXPO's website.

- I love looking at them.
- Yeah. Me, too.

- So let's start by checking some out.
- OK!

First, a bento that's loaded with energy

and brimming with Persian flavors.

I'm a Persian mum living in the United States.

Today, I'm going to make a bento for Artin,

with a traditional Persian rice dish called "tahchin."

Tahchin is a celebratory dish in Persian culture.

The vibrant yellow color comes from saffron,

which has a sweet grassy fragrance,

and Aida grinds the threads and adds them to ice to make saffron water.

Then she makes a mixture of egg, yogurt, and saffron water

and stirs in some cooked long-grain rice.

The color is so beautiful, isn't it?

She layers the rice with chicken in a round mold

and tops it off with some fragrant cinnamon before baking it in the oven.

What a wonderful smell!

To finish it off, Aida garnishes the tahchin with barberries and pistachios,

and just look at how fluffy it is on the inside!

For her side dish, Aida makes a refreshing salad

with tomatoes, cucumbers, and onions seasoned with dried mint and lime juice.

She also packs in some chickpeas and yogurt,

and her Persian bento is ready to charge her kids up

and power them through the day.

So good!

We love bento!

Our next bento is packed with protein and an assortment of colorful veggies.

Hi, I'm Jessie from Taiwan. This is my son.

Hi. My name's Ken. I like my mommy's bento.

Jessie packs a nutritious bento

brimming with the flavors of Taiwan for Ken every day.

Today, she's using water bamboo shoots

and they sound super crunchy!

These are the summer vegetables that kids like.

For another layer of texture, Jessie stirs fries them with baby corn

and finishes them off with salt and pepper.

What a fun combination of textures and colors!

For her main dish, Jessie slices up some fish.

She coats the thinly sliced sea bream with egg and starch before frying it

and then she makes a sauce using freshly squeezed orange juice,

lime juice, and soy sauce.

A light refreshing sauce, that's perfect for summer!

Sauce goes well with the fish fry, it has an appetizing flavor!

Jessie also adds Ken's favorite fruit to the salad.

I bet the sweet and sour tastes of the pineapple

go great with the fish and vegetables!

So how is it, Ken?

Yummy! Yummy!

We love bento!

- It's time to get started on our bentos!
- OK!

Today, both Maki and I are going to make bentos

inspired by regional Japanese dishes.

I'm going to make crispy toriten,

a local dish from Oita Prefecture,

which is very easy to make and delicious!

Oh! That sounds good!

Toriten literally means Chicken Tempura in Japanese.

It's made with chicken coated in a light and crispy batter.

For Maki's toriten bento,

she's going to be using two types of batter for a pop of color.

To ensure her chicken ends up moist and tender,

she divides the breast up into three pieces based on how the meat fibers run.

Here, the grain runs horizontally, so cut it vertically.

- Oh, I see, you always want to cut against the grain of the chicken.
- Yes.

This prevents shrinking, so the chicken will be tender.

Wow, that's a great tip, Maki.

Next, Maki seasons the sliced chicken with grated ginger, garlic,

toasted sesame oil, sugar, sake, salt, and pepper.

And mix well.

Wow, that sesame oil with ginger and garlic smells so good already.

If it's seasoned well, it'll taste good even when cold.

For the batter, Maki adds flour, potato starch,

egg, and water to a bowl.

Then mix lightly. Do not over-mix.

This is the key to making a light and airy batter.

Next, Maki's going to batter the marinated chicken and fry them up!

Dip a piece of chicken and drop it in the oil.

- Look at the way the batter is blooming.
- Yes!

This light and frilly batter is the hallmark of good toriten.

Oita Prefecture is one of the nation's top consumers of chicken

and toriten is a classic comfort food there.

OK, the first batch is done.

Oh, it's crispy.

For the second batch, Maki adds "aonori" to the remaining batter.

It's a fragrant flaked nori that adds a beautiful green color to the batter.

OK, my toriten is done!

It smells amazing!

So Marc, try my toriten.

All right, I'm going to try the normal one first.

It almost melts in your mouth,

and that batter on the outside is nice and light.

I'm going to try out the aonori now.

That aonori tastes like the ocean.

- This is going to be delicious in a bento, Maki.
- Thank you.

Mmmmm!

Maki packs her toriten with a colorful medley of vegetables.

For kids, she uses two pieces of "chikuwa" fishcake

and fills the holes with corn to make a pair of cute chicks!

Redolent of ginger, garlic, and toasted sesame oil,

Maki's toriten is a mouthwatering addition to any bento!

- Marc, you have a lot of veggies!
- Yup!

I'm going to be cooking this lamb and these vegetables

to make a bento inspired by Hokkaido in the north of Japan.

- But, what about the kiwi?
- That's my secret.

I'm so curious.

Hokkaido is one of the first areas to raise sheep in Japan,

so unlike the rest of the country,

lamb is a popular meat in this northern island.

My bento today is inspired by "jingisukan,"

a grilled lamb and vegetable dish.

The vegetables take on the flavor of the seasoned lamb,

and the combination goes great with rice.

To ensure the marinade has enough time to work its magic,

I'm going to start preparing the thinly sliced lamb the night before.

To make the marinade, I grate the onion and garlic into a bowl.

And this is where we add my secret ingredient.

So interesting!

Yeah, so kiwi fruit contains a proteolytic enzyme that breaks down proteins.

It's going to make our meat super tender.

You don't need it too much, otherwise, it will get sour,

and to this add our 3S sauce, toasted sesame oil, salt

and black pepper.

So let's mix this up.

So kiwi fruit can help cover up some of the gaminess in the lamb.

- I can't wait.
- OK.

And add our lamb. Make sure the sauce gets between each piece of lamb.

OK, so put this in the fridge overnight to marinate.

The next morning, drain the extra marinade and set it aside for later.

Then we're ready to stir-fry the lamb with all these veggies!

Go in with our lamb that we drained.

- It smells so nice, 3S sauce, garlic.
- Yeah.

The sweet and savory marinade is the trademark flavor of jingisukan,

and this is what's going to season our veggies.

Once the lamb is fully cooked, transfer it into a tray.

And we're going to go ahead and add in our vegetables

into this fat and the meat juices from the lamb.

It's going to go great together.

OK, and once the vegetables are starting to brown, but they're still crisp.

- Add the meat back in...
- Wow!

along with that sauce that we reserved.

- Oh! I'm starving.
- Yeah, it smells so good, doesn't it?

And once all that liquid in the pan has evaporated,

our lamb stir-fry is done.

So Maki, try out my lamb stir-fry.

I'll eat the lamb and veggies together.

The meat is very tender and fruity. Thanks to the kiwi.

The veggies have absorbed all the flavors.

I want to eat this with rice.

- You have to wait for me to pack my bento for that one.
- OK!

Add the lamb and veggies onto a bed of rice

and garnish it with scallions and red pickled ginger.

Packing the lamb on the rice

lets all the flavors percolate through the rice

and it makes the whole thing easier to eat!

Today, both Maki and I made bentos inspired by

two different regions of Japan,

and they are both super easy, so we hope you'll....

Give them a try!

Bento Topics.

Today, from Georgia, a country in the Caucasus region.

Famous for its rich food culture,

Georgia is said to be the birthplace of wine.

"Khachapuri," or bread filled with cheese,

is a beloved national dish.

There are many regional variations.

Here's one popular version.

Georgian cheese is placed along the edges of the flattened dough

and rolled up to form a boat shape, which is then filled with more cheese.

Our supplier delivers natural cheese straight from the farm.

It's the most important ingredient, and ours is very good.

This variation originated along the coast,

which is why it's shaped like a boat.

The egg yolk represents the sun,

a hope that fishermen heading out to sea will enjoy sunny weather.

A perfect match of crispy bread,

rich melted cheese, egg yolk, and butter.

It's eaten by mixing the cheese, egg yolk, and butter in the center

and dipping the bread into the gooey mixture.

It's really tasty.

This is a traditional market in the capital of Tbilisi.

It stocks herbs and spices essential to Georgian cuisine.

Tata is a music teacher.

She's going to make a khachapuri bento with her daughter, Taso.

First stop: a cheese store, to buy a traditional fresh cheese.

This is really good.

Next, walnuts for a side dish.

Almost all Georgian dishes contain walnuts.

Now, they are ready to cook!

Tata makes her khachapuri by folding the cheese into the dough.

She uses as much cheese as she does dough.

She coats the dough in an egg wash that contains yogurt,

pops it in the oven, and it's done.

She cuts it into bento-size pieces.

Next, a local dish made with walnuts and eggplant.

She adds a colorful spice made from marigolds

and pulverizes the walnuts into a paste.

That's a nice yellow.

Taso uses a mortar and pestle to grind coriander and garlic.

She adds spices and combines it with the walnut paste.

She also adds pomegranate seeds.

The paste is tasty even on its own.

Tata layers the paste and grilled eggplant

and tops with slices of bell pepper.

She seems cheerful!

The bentos are packed with traditional Georgian cuisine

and an assortment of fresh fruit and vegetables.

They sing a prayer before the meal.

Tata's son and father-in-law have joined them today.

What do they think?

You can see it on her face.

It's delicious!

We love bento!

That Georgian bento looked delicious, didn't it?

Yes, I love seeing regional dishes.

Maki and I love getting bentos from around the world

through BENTO EXPO's website,

so head over to our website and share some photos of your favorite bento

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!