Today, a look at some of the bentos posted on our website

that received the most likes in the second half of this season.

Give them a try!

Maki makes a bouquet with colorful veggies rolled in pork.

And Marc's "chirashisushi" bento looks like a field of spring flowers.

We love bento!

(The Global Lunchbox 8-20)

Our first bento is from Nayana in the UAE

that she made for her twin sons.

Let's talk to her.

Congratulations, Nayana.

Congrats.

Thank you, Marc and Maki.

Me and my family are so excited that our cheese "paniyaram" bento

received so many likes.

Paniyaram is a popular snack food in southern India where Nayana is from.

She makes the dough by fermenting the pureed rice and lentils overnight.

And look how it turned out.

It's fermented very well.

Next...

We add cheese mixture.

I bet this is a great combination with the fermented batter.

Then Nayana cooks this using a special pan to create the round shape.

And they look just like Japanese "takoyaki."

It's perfect.

They're flavorful and packed with protein.

She packs the balls in a bento box,

along with cucumbers and carrots to brighten it up.

Then she adds chicken nuggets on the side and her bento is done.

So, dig in, boys.

This is so delicious.

Can you make this every day for us?

Yes, I will make it always for you.

We love bento!

I love how wholesome your batter is.

And I bet that cheese makes them super delicious.

Yes, my twin boys love them,

and bento is a great way to have them to try the food of their home country.

I love how beautifully you arranged the bento.

Glad to hear that, Maki.

I realized that my boys enjoy eating more when the bento looks appealing.

So, I share my ideas with my fellow moms also.

Many of them always tell thanks to me for that.

We love hearing stories like that.

And we hope to see some more of your bentos on here.

Sure, thank you for giving me this opportunity.

- Bye.
- Bye!

Next, we have a bento from Tanya in the US

who likes to pack stories into her lunch boxes.

- Congratulations, Tanya.
- Congratulations.

Hi, Marc and Maki.

I'm very happy to be here.

Tanya has posted many of her bentos on our website

and they're packed with fun themes for her son.

This time she received a lot of likes for her rabbit-themed bento.

She starts by spreading cookie butter on sandwich bread and rolls it up.

Then she uses edible ink to stamp on some cute bunny rabbits.

She cuts some small carrot sticks using a crinkle cutter

and then she tops them off with leaf-shaped picks.

A rabbit's favorite snack.

For her main dish, Tanya breads and fries some bite-sized nuggets of fish

to make her son's favorite, popcorn fish.

Packed with some ketchup and fruit,

her fun bunny-themed bento is ready to eat.

Yummy.

- Very yummy?
- Very yummy.

We love bento!

I love how you made that bento rabbit themed.

Yes, carrots are one of his favorite vegetables,

so I thought it would be cute and fun to make it into a rabbit-themed bento.

I love how crispy that popcorn fish looked as well.

We're looking forward to seeing your next story bento on here.

Yes, absolutely.

Thank you, Marc and Maki. Bye.

Bye!

Be sure to share your bentos with us for a chance to be featured.

It's time to get started on our bentos.

Okay.

Today, both Maki and I are going to be making spring-themed bentos

that you can share with your friends and family.

Yes, I'm going to roll all the ingredients here

using thinly-sliced pork to make...

maki-maki flower bento.

That sounds beautiful.

"Maki-maki," or "rolling things up"

is a great way to combine meat and vegetables

to make a colorful bento with a balance of nutrients in each bite.

To prep the veggies,

Maki starts by salting some shredded red cabbage with salt.

Then she blanches the rest of the veggies in boiling water.

Parboiling the veggies makes them sweeter.

You just have to focus on cooking the meat.

She finishes her prep by cutting the blanched veggies

into thin sticks like this.

So, let's start the maki-maki process.

Let's roll!

Lay the pork, then the veggies that will form the flowers.

Then the green beans for the leaves.

So, let's maki-maki!

This will become a purple flower.

I can't wait to see what the cross-section looks like.

Maki repeats this process for the bell peppers and carrots.

For the baby corn, she places the green beans down first

to keep the corn from rolling away.

Then she seasons these with salt and pepper

before dusting them with potato starch.

These get placed seam side down into a hot pan

to seal them shut and brown one side.

Now, let's flip them over.

It looks nice and crispy on one side.

- And it smells really good.
- Crunchy.

Once the pork is cooked through,

Maki adds a splash of soy sauce to glaze the rolls.

Soy sauce goes well with rice.

OK, the rolls are nicely cooked.

And it smells so toasty and good.

Hope they'll blossom.

Wow, now I see the flower!

Just looking at these makes me happy.

So, my maki-maki flowers are done!

So, Marc, try some.

OK, let's try the dandelion with the baby corn inside.

It's savory and really well seasoned on the outside,

but it's crunchy and refreshing on the inside.

And with this great variety of textures and colors,

I can just keep going around and eating them all.

Carrots next.

Spring has come.

Maki packs her flower garden of rolls with green pea "onigiri"

and she garnishes one of them with a flower made from potato and cheese.

It's the perfect bento to share during a spring picnic.

Wow, Marc, you have a lot of ingredients here.

Well, I'm going to be using these ingredients

to make a spring blossom chirashisushi bento.

Chirashisushi is made with sushi rice

topped with various ingredients scattered on top.

Today, I'm going to use some spring vegetables

along with some colorful proteins

to make a blooming meadow in my bento box.

The first thing I'm going to do is cook our veggies in dashi stock.

So, we're going to start by boiling our carrots and the bamboo.

Boil them for 10 to 12 minutes so the carrots are tender

and they've absorbed the flavors of the dashi.

Then I'm going to use the same dashi to blanch the snow peas.

Next, I'm going to boil some "nanohana,"

which is a type of mustard green that symbolizes spring in Japan.

All the vegetables are seasoned with dashi in one pot.

Yeah, but we're not done yet.

We've got one more ingredient that we're going to cook in this dashi stock.

And that's our shrimp.

Just bring this back to a boil.

I always do shrimp last, so it doesn't make the veggies fishy.

Next, I'm going to slice the shrimp in half.

I marinate these in sushi vinegar

to both season and keep them fresh.

Then I'm going to stack and roll two thin omelets

and slice them into thin threads to make "kinshitamago"

or "golden egg threads."

Now we're ready to assemble our chirashisushi.

All right, let's make our spring garden.

I'm going to start by adding our sushi rice

to our large bento box here.

And I'm going to be using some golden egg threads here to add a nice backdrop.

A field of yellow flowers!

Exactly.

Then, I arrange the seasoned vegetables and shrimp on top

to make our spring meadow.

Spring has come here too.

- It puts you in a fun mood, doesn't it?
- Yeah.

So, my spring chirashisushi bento is done.

Beautiful!

So, Maki, are you ready to try a taste of spring?

- Yes.
- Go for it.

The bamboo shoots and carrot are flavored with dashi.

The nanohana is slightly bitter.

Pairs well with the sweet egg.

I want to take this on a picnic.

Exactly and you can enjoy the spring weather.

Wonderful!

Both of our bentos today are perfect

for sharing with friends and family outdoors.

So, we hope you'll... give them a try.

Bento Topics.

Today, from Shizuoka Prefecture's

stunning and bountiful, Izu Peninsula.

Shizuoka boasts the largest landing of tuna in Japan.

Izu is home to a local specialty made with this catch.

This store continues to make it in the traditional way.

The tuna's flaked and seasoned with sugar and soy sauce

to make a sweet rice topping called "oboro."

The owner's grandmother came up with this shop's original recipe.

It goes especially well with sushi rice.

Sushi rice and oboro are packed into a mold to make "oborosushi,"

a well-loved local specialty.

Many customers come just for this sushi.

This taste holds memories.

Since I was little, I'd eat it at special events.

In the past, oborosushi was made at home using a mold like this.

Today, Ishii has invited her family to join her

in making the sushi with a traditional mold.

Flip it upside down and tap.

Great!

Ishii passes on her grandmother's recipe to the next generation.

Yum yum!

Oborosushi has made its way into a popular "ekiben."

It's packed with the bounties of both land and sea.

Sushi rice topped with oboro, sakura shrimp,

shiitake mushrooms, and more.

The bento was created by the owner of a long-established sushi restaurant.

She turned the beautiful oborosushi that her grandmother used to make

into an easy to eat bento.

Once, I was flattered when a customer said, "Beautiful."

But he was referring to the sushi!

The sweet and savory shiitake mushrooms featured in the bento

are a local specialty.

They are grown on logs and raised with the utmost care.

And the bento uses reconstituted dried shiitake

soaked in water for two days.

They're better than the fresh ones.

Drying concentrates the umami.

The shiitake are simmered for over two hours

until they are soft but chewy,

fully saturated with the sweet and savory dashi.

The oboro is made by mixing tuna,

eggs, sugar and soy sauce.

It's agitated over heat until finely flaked.

We make the most of our local specialties, including tuna.

It's our tradition.

The oboro is as fine as a grain of rice.

Next is the candied sakura shrimp, another local specialty.

The shrimp are deep fried and tossed in a sweet glaze

to seal in the fragrance and flavor.

These greens come from Mt. Fuji.

This is salt-pickled "mizukakena," a local mustard green.

The rare spring greens are grown in fields fed by Mt. Fuji's groundwater.

The tuna, eggs, shrimp, and shiitake are sweet.

So the salty mizukakena adds an accent.

Smells like spring.

Are the bentos ready?

These regulars are going to enjoy their bentos outside.

How's the seafood?

So good.

And the mushrooms?

The shiitake is so thick and juicy.

Delicious.

Enjoy the bounties of Izu.

We love bento!

I want to mix all the toppings with rice

and have a big bite.

Yeah, it's a great bento

and it's packed with the bounties of the Izu Peninsula.

We're looking forward to seeing your bento submissions on BENTO EXPO's website

or drop by to check some out.

Well, that's all the time we have for today,

but we hope to see you again here soon on BENTO EXPO.

- See you.
- Bye.