Marc makes a fragrant autumn rice bento with lots of mushrooms. Maki rolls up a cute and colorful sushi bento. From Omori in Tokyo, a bento featuring nori, or sheets of dried seaweed.
Wrap and roll!
Tadah.
Today, Maki makes a colorful wrap and roll sushi bento
that's sure to delight.
Look at that.
Marc makes a fragrant mushroom rice bento adorned with autumnal colors.
Bento!
And a mother and daughter from the Philippines make a bento
of spring rolls with a family recipe.
We love bento!
(The Global Lunchbox 8-12)
Welcome to BENTO EXPO,
where we share bentos from Japan and around the world.
Thank you for joining us.
We love seeing the beautiful looking bentos
you submit through the BENTO EXPO website.
They are packed with wonderful ideas.
So let's start by checking a few of them out.
OK!
First from India, a bento with a spicy South Indian curry.
I started making bento for my husband and son
so that I can pack a wholesome meal in one box.
Priya is going to pack eggplant or brinjal curry
along with a flavorful mixed rice into her family's bento today.
Mustard seeds...
She starts by infusing some oil with spices and aromatics.
This is a traditional technique called tempering.
Add the brinjal.
Then she adds masala powder and chili powder.
Wow that's looking spicy already!
Now I add some tamarind juice to it.
The tamarind adds a tangy taste while the coconut adds a sweet richness.
And she finishes it with cilantro.
Next, she's making lime rice to go with the curry.
She fries green chilies, curry leaves, and onions to bring out their flavor.
Then, she adds some turmeric.
She adds the mixture to the rice along with fried peanuts.
And for the final touch...
Lime juice, this is the main ingredient.
The refreshing lime juice brightens the flavor of the rice.
Priya also makes chapati, an Indian flat bread,
and her son Dhanush helps her to pack the bentos.
A vibrant bento packed with flavor and love.
So how is it?
We love bento!
Our next bento is from Lorena,
who's from the Philippines but lives in Japan.
I'm Lorena.
I'm Akina.
And we will make...
bento!
Today, they're making Lorena's mom's spring roll recipe.
They start by stir-frying pork with lots of veggies to make the filling,
and what sets this recipe apart is the addition of sweet potatoes.
It is a nutritious and delicious ingredient to make them even more flavorful.
Next, Akina takes over, wrapping the spring rolls.
Mom, this is hard!
Nice job, Akina!
They fry up golden brown and crisp on the outside
and colorful on the inside.
Akina is in her high school band,
and her mom's bentos help power her through her day.
Looks like legs!
That's jackfruit, and it's getting wrapped with bananas
to make a sweet spring roll, another family recipe.
They look delicious!
- So good!
- Nice job.
Cooking spring roll is a way for me
to pass my mother's memory down to my children.
Wow, that's a family-sized bento and it even has sushi!
We love bento!
It's time to get started on our bentos.
OK!
Today, both Maki and I are going to be making bentos to celebrate a special occasion.
Yes! So Marc, what is your bento for your special occasion?
Well, I'm going to be using these ingredients to celebrate the autumn harvest
and make a mushroom rice bento.
I'm getting hungry hearing that.
Autumn is the season for mushrooms,
but it's also when newly harvested rice hits the markets
so it's the perfect combo as the leaves change color.
I start by soaking the washed rice in a rice cooker bowl
with a little less water than usual.
Then, I season some chopped chicken thighs with salt,
and move on to prepare three types of mushrooms.
I start by shredding the maitake mushrooms by hand.
So I really love maitake mushrooms,
because they are loaded with this meaty umami flavors.
You just want to get them into bite-sized pieces.
The next ones we're going to do are called "shimeji" mushrooms.
Just cut the bottom off.
They have a great texture, so shred these apart as well.
Finally, I have some fragrant shiitake mushrooms.
Just trim off the tough part of the stem, and slice it up.
Now we're going to cook these ingredients together to season the rice.
So, our trio of mushrooms.
First I'm going to saute the mushrooms until they're nice and brown.
Smells good already! It is the smell of umami, right?
Exactly.
It really smells like meat, doesn't it, like we're frying up a steak?
Alright, you can see nice browning on our mushrooms,
so let's add our chicken.
Once the ingredients have some color,
season them with sugar, soy sauce and sake.
Burn off all this liquid
so that doesn't add to the water in the rice and make everything mushy.
And once there's no liquid left in the pan,
let's get this over into our rice.
Slide this right in.
And we're going to smooth off the top here,
but you don't want to mix it into the rice.
And shut this, and hit start and let the rice cooker do its thing.
I can't wait!
Wow, look at all the mushrooms in there.
Now, all we need to do is mix the mushrooms into the rice and fluff it up.
Alright, and our mushroom rice is done.
This smell makes me so hungry.
Try some out, Maki!
Itadakimasu!
Double umami from chicken and mushrooms!
The maitake tastes like meat.
It is, the texture is like meat fiber, right?
Delicious!
To decorate the mushroom rice, I cut some slices of daikon
and roasted beets using a maple leaf cutter
and pickle them overnight with sushi vinegar.
And look how vibrant the daikon has gotten.
I also cut out some boiled carrots
to make a variety of autumn leaves for my bento.
I packed my bento with stewed kabocha and fried tofu
for some more substance,
and my mushroom bento is ready for an autumn picnic.
So, Maki, I see you've got a bunch of colorful ingredients here
like green, and coral and gold...
Yes! I'm going to make a colorful and stylish
wrap and roll sushi bento that I can eat with my old friends.
"Wrap and Roll," that's my jam.
Sushi rolls are a beautiful option for a friendly get together,
and Maki has some great tips for making elegant sushi rolls
that taste as good as they look.
Her first trick is the sushi rice.
The key is to add roughly crushed walnuts along with sushi vinegar,
toasted sesame seeds and chopped "shiso" leaves.
- I bet it makes it nice and nutty.
- Yes!
The walnuts add texture, flavor, and aroma.
The shiso and sesame seeds make it extra special.
It looks good already.
Let's make the roll!
Maki places sushi rice on plastic wrap and...
Wrap like this...
and... roll.
I see what you're doing.
See, wrap and roll!
Wow, it's a perfect cylinder and look at that.
Beautiful, right?
For her third trick, she's going to make them look even better.
She cuts thin slices of cucumber with a peeler and salts them.
Then, she makes a thin omelet, being careful not to brown it.
Place the roll and...
Wrap and roll.
Tadah!
For her next roll, Maki staggers slices of smoked salmon.
Wrap and roll!
Tadah! Salmon roll is done!
For her cucumber roll, Maki places a slice on either end of the roll
and lays the rest of the cucumber on top in a crisscross pattern.
Then, it's time to...
Wrap and roll!
Tadah, cucumber roll is done.
Wow, Maki, that's beautiful.
Look at that color.
Itadakimasu!
The smoky salmon, the crunchy nuts,
the little poppy bits of sesame seeds in there,
it adds so much flavor and texture.
- I love this.
- Enjoy!
She decorates her egg roll with a band of cucumber skin.
And then, she adds decorations made from cucumber,
pickled red daikon, and sliced lemon
to make the rolls even more festive.
Perfect for impressing guests.
Today, both Maki and I made colorful bentos
that will make any occasions feel special.
So we hope you'll...
give them a try!
Bento Topics.
Haneda Airport is nicknamed the gateway to Tokyo.
Today, we visit nearby Omori.
Facing the bountiful waters of Tokyo Bay,
Omori was a major producer of nori beginning in the Edo Period.
Indispensable for sushi rolls and many other dishes,
nori are sheets of dried edible seaweed.
Omori was the birthplace of nori cultivation.
Nori cultivation on the coast of Omori began around 300 years ago.
People began growing and harvesting the nori from the sea.
They would then process it into square sheets.
Omori's nori cultivation industry
was unable to withstand the tide of urbanization
and came to an end in the 1960s.
However, the area is still home to many nori wholesalers.
This shop has been in business for 150 years
and supplies the finest nori to some of Japan's leading restaurants.
When held up to light, good nori has a pretty dark green color.
It's lustrous.
One bite, and the aroma fills your mouth.
Then comes the burst of flavor. It's so special.
Recently, this bento covered with top-grade nori
has become popular among nori fans.
Here's a more typical bento featuring nori.
It's called "nori-ben," short for "nori bento."
Nori-ben often have a layer of nori
between the main and side dishes and the rice.
This Omori bento shop shows how to prepare their nori-ben.
One of the key ingredients is umami-rich "katsuobushi"
or skipjack tuna flakes.
The katsuobushi is placed in the bottom of the bento box,
and mixed with soy sauce.
This serves as the base for the rice.
The rice is then covered with top-grade nori.
You first enjoy the taste of nori and rice.
Then comes the katsuobushi.
So you get a double burst of flavor.
Fried whitefish is typically placed on top of the nori.
It has quite a visual impact.
Equally popular are "chikuwa" fish cake fritters.
The batter contains "aonori,"
a green nori with a distinctive fragrance of the sea.
The batter has a strong aroma of the sea.
It's sure to boost the appetite.
With the addition of vegetables and "tamagoyaki,"
the nori is completely covered.
The nori-ben is ready to be enjoyed.
These Omori residents are nori-ben fans.
Looks good!
Smell nice.
Smells like the sea.
The seaweed is delicious.
So good.
Every bite carries the scent of the ocean.
We love bento!
I love nori-ben,
especially the moment you open the bento box!
Yeah, that briny aroma always makes me hungry.
We're looking forward to seeing your picnic bentos,
so send in your photos to BENTO EXPO's website.
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!
- Bye!