We've got another episode of "Bento-making for Beginners" here on BENTO EXPO.

And today, we're making "tamagoyaki."

I'll be showing you and Arisa my tricks

for easy and "oishii" tamagoyaki.

Oh no, it's a bit brown.

It's okay, Arisa.

It just takes a little practice and patience.

We love bento!

(The Global Lunchbox 8-4)

Let's start with a look at some of the wonderful bentos submitted through our website.

Our first bento comes from Venezuela in South America.

Today, we're going to prepare a bento using arepa.

I'm sure you are going to love it.

Arepa are a stuffed flat bread made from cornmeal

and they're one of the most popular dishes in Venezuela.

Luisa adds water to pre-cooked cornmeal

and kneads the mixture into a dough.

I'm going to add zucchini.

Adding grated zucchini is Luisa's twist,

and it adds great color and flavor to the dough.

Then she browns the bite-sized patties in a pan.

Toasty.

For the stuffing, she prepares a mixture of shredded chicken,

avocado and yogurt.

It's a popular Venezuelan filling.

It's creamy.

It sounds crispy!

Luisa stuffs her arepa to make a sandwich.

The green hue is beautiful.

And it's one of her kids' favorites.

For something sweet, Luisa prepares homemade granola

with oatmeal, nuts, and raisins.

It's a healthy dessert that goes great with yogurt.

It looks nutritious and delicious,

and I bet it will be a hit with the kids.

I love it.

You should definitely try it.

We love bento!

Next from Singapore, a mother and son duo make a surprise bento.

I made this bento because my girl loves cats,

so I want to give her a surprise.

Jun Hao teams up with his mom to make this bento.

First, they stir-fry onions and canned tuna with soy sauce.

Then, they stuff it inside a rice ball seasoned with "furikake."

They add other features to the big round "onigiri" using more rice.

Then, Sing Yee uses edible ink to draw a design on edamame

and look!

It's a big cat with glowing eyes.

To complete the look, they add whiskers made of glass noodles.

They even drew some faces on steamed buns.

So how is the surprise, Rui Xi?

It tastes very nice.

It is delicious and I enjoy it very much.

We love bento!

I'm here with Arisa Adams.

And today, I'm going to be showing you

how to make tamagoyaki or Japanese rolled omelet.

Hi, Marc, thanks for having me.

It's great to have you here.

And I'm so excited to be here as a bento beginner myself.

And today, I'm going to be showing you my style of tamagoyaki

using these eggs and some seasonings...

and this tamagoyaki pan.

Sounds great, but...

tamagoyaki looks pretty difficult to make.

No, you just need a couple of tricks

and a little bit of patience.

All right. It doesn't sound too difficult.

It's super easy. Trust me.

Tamagoyaki is a classic bento item

and the layered omelet adds a pop of color and protein to any bento.

Everyone has their own version,

but today, I'm going to show you an easy way to make one

that's moist and tender.

Let's start with the egg mixture.

I'm going to start with the seasoning ingredients.

Great.

So I've got some potato starch, some sugar, soy sauce...

and some water.

And just mix this together to dissolve that starch.

Why potato starch?

So that's actually going to help this liquid bind with the egg,

but it's also going to make the egg super moist.

Wow, I didn't know that.

And once the starch is dissolved and you don't have any clumps,

we're going to add in the eggs.

I'm just going to poke the egg yolks,

and then we're going to use the side to side motion like this.

So I see that you're using these long chopsticks.

In my household, we typically use a whisk to whip our eggs.

We don't want to whip these eggs.

That's why we don't want to use a whisk.

The idea here is not to incorporate air.

So you actually want to use more of a beating motion.

For my tamagoyaki, I really like mine to be moist and tender.

So that's what I'm going for.

- Do you want to give it a try?
- May I?

- Go for it.
- Awesome!

The side to side motion.

You want to stand the chopsticks straight up and down.

And go side to side. There you go.

So, Marc, what do you think?

My eggs look like a pretty solid shade of yellow.

You can see there's like some bits of egg white here that we just need to beat in,

so, I'll just jump in real quick and...

All right, it's going to go in there.

Work it all in there.

All right, so these are ready to fry up.

Let's do it.

I cook it over medium-low heat to keep the egg from browning.

So the key to my tamagoyaki is temperature control

so we're able to cook it through without causing it to brown on one side.

OK, so like you said, patience.

Exactly!

Use a paper towel to spread the oil and soak up any excess.

So our pan is warmed up and it's time to add in our egg.

Cover most of the bottom of the pan,

and then we're going to quickly, kind of tip the pan

to distribute the egg across the bottom of the pan.

What a great sound.

All right, and then once it's mostly set,

free it up from the edges here.

And then I'm just going to start rolling...

So, this is where the layers start to come in place.

Exactly.

It's a nice yellow.

It's a nice yellow,

and once you get to one side, I'm going to go ahead

and just give it a little press to give it that shape.

And then we can just push it off to one side, just like that.

- And we're going to start all over.
- Interesting.

Be sure to lift up the roll each time you add a layer

so you can get the next layer to adhere to the one before it.

You want to repeat this process three to four times

or until you're out of egg.

There are no holes.

It's a perfect solid.

Well, this is the key. Not getting too many bubbles

because these are going to pop and leave a hole in your tamagoyaki.

I tore it a little bit, but I'm not going to be too worried about it.

We can go ahead and just kind of press it into shape here.

You're not going to notice.

It's a lot more forgiving than I would have imagined.

It's very forgiving.

And at the end of the day, it's going to taste the same,

even if it doesn't look perfect.

I think our shape's pretty good, so our tamagoyaki is done.

Wow, that is one beautiful-looking tamagoyaki.

All right, let's cut it open

through the center there.

How does it look?

Look at those layers. They look so cool.

All right, let's get you a piece.

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

It's really fluffy and moist.

You could actually feel each individual layer in your mouth.

I love how it just falls apart.

Now, it's Arisa's turn.

I love that sound.

You can't get enough of that sound.

- Get it off...
- The edges.

Oh no, it's a bit brown.

Your heat's still a little bit too high.

That's OK, we've still got a few layers to go.

Yeah, it's going to add a little contrast in the middle.

- Patience, right?
- Slow and low.

The most important part of tamagoyaki is the last layer

so let's see how Arisa does with her next ones.

Put the egg on the bottom, right.

A little bit underneath there.

- There you go.
- Not too bad.

If you tip the pan up a little bit,

it helps sort of move the egg in the direction you want it to go.

I think I'm kind of getting this.

You're getting it.

And the pan is really helping me create the shape that I want.

So, I got a little rip.

It's OK, you got one more layer, so, we'll fix it.

So our last round... here we go!

So I would probably let this set a little bit more than the last layer

so that it won't tear as easily.

OK, patience.

If you make it uphill, it's not going to slide.

Beautiful!

All right, I'm not done yet.

You need like the gumption to just go for it.

I'm breaking a sweat.

There you go. Look at that.

My first tamagoyaki! Check it out.

I'm proud.

It's just patience, layer by layer, trial and error.

What do you think?

It looks good. You've got layers in there,

and you don't have too many air pockets or anything.

Yeah, I messed up the first round a little bit but it's barely noticeable.

Not too bad for my first tamagoyaki, right?

It's fantastic.

Just remember that temperature control and patience are the key

to making a beautiful yellow tamagoyaki that's super moist.

And here's a packing tip.

Cut a slice of tamagoyaki at an angle.

Then flip one of the pieces over.

Flip one of them over.

And just put the two cut sides together and what's it make?

It makes a heart!

Arisa packs her tamagoyaki hearts together with salmon and veggies.

- It's made with love.
- Packed with love.

Packed with love, that's my theme.

Love makes everything taste better.

It turned out to be something I'm really proud of.

And we turned these tamagoyaki into beautiful bentos.

And it was easy and...

oishii!

Bento Topics.

Today, from Yanagawa in Fukuoka Prefecture,

a castle town famous for its network of canals

that totals 930 kilometers in length.

River cruises are a great way to enjoy the area's scenic views.

The canals used to serve as a vital source of water for local people.

They were also teeming with eels, a Yanagawa specialty.

Today, the town is home to nearly 30 restaurants

specializing in eel dishes.

"Seiromushi" is a style of cooking that involves steaming.

Here, bentos of grilled eel steamed with rice

are a popular choice for special occasions.

In the Edo period,

this restaurant was the first to begin serving eel in this way.

This restaurant opened more than 300 years ago.

The cooking method hasn't been changed at all.

Nowadays, the restaurant has switched to using farmed eels.

But the cooking method remains the same.

The filleted eels are grilled over charcoal

and dipped several times in a sweet and savory sauce

made with a soy sauce unique to this region.

Multiple basting is key to cooking the eel

so that it's packed with flavor.

We call the board over the tub a slide.

The sauce from the eel slides into the tub, enriching the sauce.

The original sauce has been replenished for generations.

The sauce is also used to season the rice.

The rice is packed into individual boxes

and steamed to seal in the flavor.

It's then topped with grilled eel coated with sauce,

as well as thinly shredded egg omelet,

before being steamed again.

The second steaming allows the rice to absorb the umami-rich sauce.

So the umami is sealed in.

The steaming box is then placed in a lacquered bento box to be served.

This painstaking cooking method concentrates

the flavors of the eel, sauce, and rice into every mouthful.

No wonder it's become a bento for special occasions.

This couple enjoys their bento at the restaurant,

as they celebrate three months together.

The eel is so tender and fluffy.

We wanted to celebrate by having something special.

And here, Yoko is introducing her Australian partner, Ben

to her parents.

We announced that we are having a baby together,

so it was kind of a celebration for us, I guess.

What does Ben think?

It was delicious.

The sauce complemented the eel quite well.

It's a lasting memory.

A bento legacy, helping to create lasting memories.

We love bento!

It's bento time.

Let's open these up and have a look.

It looks so pretty.

- You think you'll make it again?
- Of course, yes.

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 some more episodes of "Bento-making for Beginners" coming up,

so we hope to see you soon.

- Bye!
- Bye.