Today on BENTO EXPO, we're going back to basics

with "Bento-making for Beginners."

And I'm going to be joined by Arisa Adams

who's a newcomer to the world of bento.

Today's dish is "onigiri."

And it's the most iconic bento item

and I'll be sharing my tricks to make a soft and fluffy onigiri

with the perfect shape.

My first onigiri, yey.

We love bento!

(The Global Lunchbox 8-3)

Let's start with a look at a few animal-themed bentos

submitted through the BENTO EXPO website.

First, from Taiwan, a dog-themed bento

with a fragrant sesame oil soup.

It's one of Taiwan's local specialties.

To make the soup, Cathy stir-fries some ginger until fragrant.

Then, she adds king oyster mushrooms along with carrots and water.

Next, she chops up an apple to use in place of rice wine.

It adds a refreshing flavor and mild sweetness to the soup.

She adds some toasted sesame oil which is the namesake ingredient.

It's rich in Vitamin E and antioxidants.

Then she adds goji berries.

In Taiwan, sesame oil soup is eaten as a way to boost energy.

Next, Cathy uses thin noodles and chrysanthemum greens

to make a dog.

She places stir-fried chrysanthemum greens in the backdrop

and then she uses the noodles to create the shaggy hair.

Black beans make the eyes and nose,

and a piece of ham brings the dog to life.

She finishes it off with some edible flower sprinkles,

and her cute and nutritious bento is done.

Yummy!

We love bento!

Next a heartfelt bento by Lenny,

who's living in Japan but originally came from Indonesia.

I used to make bento for my son when he was in kindergarten.

Today, I will make bento again to remember that moment.

Lenny is making "murtabak,"

a popular stuffed bread in Southeast Asia and Arabian Peninsula.

Today, she's using Japanese fried tofu to make her original take on it.

To make the filling, she mixes ground pork, onions and scallions,

and stuffs the pocket of fried tofu with the mixture.

Then, she pan-fries the bundles on both sides to cook them through...

And look!

It looks like murtabak.

Crispy on the outside and flavorful in the center.

For her animal character, she arranges some small rice balls to make the shape.

Then, she arranges thin slivers of nori all over her animal

to make a black and white pattern.

Can you guess what it is?

Yep, it's a zebra.

Rio loved fun character bentos like this when he was in kindergarten

but let's see what he thinks now that he's 15.

Itadakimasu.

I think he still remembers the excitement he felt

upon opening his bento box in kindergarten.

Yummy.

We love bento!

Today we're launching a new segment called "Bento-making for Beginners"

featuring Arisa Adams.

- Welcome, Arisa.
- Hi, Marc.

And hello to everyone else.

I'm Arisa and I am so excited today as a bento beginner.

Today, we're going to be doing onigiri

which are one of the building blocks for making bento.

I love eating onigiri,

but I've never really made my own authentic one before.

No worries. They're super easy.

You just need to remember three things.

Onigiri are made from the rice,

the filling...

and the wrapper.

- Sounds great.
- Yep!

Onigiri is the Japanese word for

"rice that's been pressed into a variety of shapes."

And it's the most popular form of portable food in Japan.

In fact, variations of onigiri were part of some of the earliest bentos.

First, let's start with the main component, which is the rice.

I love the smell of freshly cooked white rice.

So the thing you want to make sure is that we're using hot freshly cooked rice.

If it's cooled down, it's not going to stick.

Gotcha.

Also, make sure you use Japanese short-grain rice,

because long-grain rice is too crumbly.

So, onigiri might fall apart?

Let's just say you will probably end up eating it with a spoon.

Noted.

To make the onigiri, sprinkle some salt on a sheet of plastic wrap

and add a half portion of rice along with your filling in the center.

This is a pitted "umeboshi" which is a type of pickled plum.

And just cover this up with a little bit more rice.

Just like that.

And just bundle this up now.

So, we want to kind of shape it in a triangle already.

So, once you've got the little bundle of rice here,

I'm going to go ahead and shape one hand like a "U."

I'm going to put the bundle in there

and shape the other hand like a "V."

"V." Gotcha.

And we're going to go ahead and just lightly squeeze.

So that's how you get the perfect triangular shape.

Exactly.

And the key here is to make sure you don't squeeze too hard.

We want the rice to still be a little bit fluffy.

When I've tried to make it in the past...

it kind of always ends up in this blob.

So it's nice to know to keep my hands in a "U" and "V."

Blobs are good too, you know?

It's a rice ball, right?

All right, so now you've got our triangular onigiri.

Wow, this is a perfect triangle.

So, now, it's your turn.

Great, let's do it.

Arisa bundles up the rice and...

Now the hands. I do remember.

A "U" shape, correct?

Place the U and V...

Yes.

And then gently,

just as if you're caressing a baby kitten.

That's exactly it.

How much do I do this?

Until you're happy with the shape.

All right.

What do you think?

That looks great to me.

My first onigiri, yey.

So I noticed that when I was rotating it in my hands,

when I put too much pressure on it, it started to feel hard.

I also noticed the filling is kind of at the bottom.

We're going to troubleshoot Arisa's onigiri,

but first, let's pick another filling.

You can fill them with anything that's salty enough

to season all of the rice around it.

Guess what this one is?

I mean it looks like my favorite, "tuna-mayo."

Exactly.

Except, this is my version of tuna-mayo.

I also add a little bit of miso, which makes it a little bit more savory.

- Do you want to try it?
- Yes!

It's nutty.

You know what this would be really good with?

- What?
- White rice.

Of course!

To get the filling in the center...

Make like a little crater right in the center

to make sure the tuna kind of stays there.

OK.

You can press the filling into the center,

or just make a divot in the rice with a spoon before you add the filling.

Uh-oh...

What's going on?

The rice... the placement wasn't that great,

so, it seemed difficult to get into the triangle.

But you've recovered.

If you just do it a couple of times...

The "U" and the "V," that's all I really need.

That's the key.

And... tadah.

Number two!

Now, let's wrap the onigiri to keep them from sticking to our hands.

Nori is the most common wrapper but you can also use fragrant leaves.

If you're using nori, make sure you get the shiny side on the outside.

It's like a little jacket.

You can actually add a face right here.

- That's so true!
- And make it like a little person.

Or if you're using this side, it kind of looks like Mt. Fuji.

I wrapped the other one in a "shiso" leaf.

And now, it's time for Arisa to try one out.

Itadakimasu!

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

Wow.

The rice really falls apart in your mouth.

That's how you want it.

And I've only really eaten onigiri from convenience stores,

so I've never got to experience the fluffiness

that you get when you make one at home.

So I'll definitely be making my own onigiri.

OK, let's see how Arisa wraps her onigiri.

I want to surprise Marc.

So, I'm trying to think of something that is a little bit fun.

Look at that. I made a sun!

Onigiri number two. Shiso.

And green reminds me of a ghoul called "kappa."

Kappa, they kind of look funky...

it has a really interesting duck mouth.

Tadah! My own kappa.

Hey Marc, are you ready to see what I've created?

- Yep!
- Check it out.

Oh, wow!

I love how you used the leaf as like the kappa's hat.

Yes.

Very impressive.

So, I've got my bento packed here.

- That looks so beautiful.
- Thank you.

You have some protein, you have some veggies...

You just want a colorful assortment that makes it exciting to open up.

- It's my turn?
- Yep!

Awesome.

Use leafy greens to prop up your bento items.

Packing a bento is like packing a suitcase

and you want to start with the biggest items first.

Fits perfectly!

So, then you want to go to the next biggest thing

and kind of find spots for that.

And you just keep working smaller and smaller.

Give it a little love.

So, I guess, this is my bento, my first bento!

That's impressive.

Thank you, I love how it looks.

And it's going to taste good, too.

That's true!

Arisa and I used the same ingredients to pack our bentos

but each one reflects a bit of our personality.

What would your onigiri bento look like?

I made my very first onigiri today.

And we turned them into bentos.

It was easy and...

oishii!

Bento Topics.

Today, from Misaki in Kanagawa Prefecture,

a port town that has long prospered as a base for deep-sea fishing.

It's famous for its tuna.

The tuna are frozen while still at sea to maintain quality.

They're icy-white in appearance.

Wholesalers check the tail section of each fish to judge quality

before making their selections.

This is today's best tuna.

The high-quality fat is sweet and full of umami.

This popular restaurant serves Misaki tuna.

In addition to the typical "toro," or fatty belly,

the restaurant also serves parts that are hard to find elsewhere,

including tuna roe and offal.

The specialty is a dish of roasted tuna head.

Locals say that the head tastes the best,

especially the eyeball.

Here's the eyeball. Very juicy!

Yamada Yoshio was born into a family of fishers.

He and his family opened this restaurant 52 years ago.

He incorporated the dishes that tuna fishers loved

into his restaurant's menu.

He's now passed on the reins to his son

who has expanded their menu to include over 200 dishes.

I grew up eating tuna.

It's my life.

Yamada's grandson cuts up the tuna in front of an audience every morning.

We use every bit of the tuna.

Our menu has all kinds of tuna dishes.

We'd love people to try them.

This is the restaurant's specialty bento

packed with an assortment of dishes made with a variety of tuna parts.

One highly nutritious and chewy section

is marinated in a special miso sauce and grilled.

The tuna is infused with an exquisite smoky miso flavor.

The tail was used to examine the quality of the tuna.

Now the fatty part of this section is deep-fried.

This fatty part is the most delicious.

Tuna roe is simmered with ginger

and other seasonings in dashi.

Fishers often give gifts of tuna roe.

It's a long-held local specialty.

Ingenuity and tradition are packed into this tuna bento

that showcases the potential of the fish to the fullest.

What do these locals think?

Smoky with a sweet and savory flavor. Delicious!

How's the tuna roe?

The mild seasoning brings out the flavor of the roe. Yum!

It's a bento that holds all the best of Misaki.

We love bento!

It's bento time.

Let's open these up.

I think we did a pretty good job.

- I think you did a great job.
- Thank you!

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

but just remember, they need to be your own original characters.

We have another episode of "Bento-making for Beginners" coming up soon,

so we hope to see you then.

All right.

- Shall we dig in?
- Let's do it.

All right, I'm going to grab an onigiri here.

Itadakimasu!