Thursday in bad mood -__________-'

Yes, i tell you what, don't ever try to deal with bentoing stuffs, if you're not in a right mood. It does not affect the taste of food, yes, but really affect the quality of the art of arranging the contents. 


I don't know why, it's just that my feelings are not as good as usual.T___T
But I've tried my best.

Look at the background. You'll find a reddish brown-shawl. I made it by myself as a present for hubby on his master graduation day. Years ago, before we were married. I almost could not come that day. And I had not even finished the shawl yet. So, when hubby was attending the graduation ceremony, I continued to knit his shawl.  And finished, right after the ceremony ended. And for years too, this shawl--he always carried it everywhere. He said, when the scarf was worn, it was reminded him of me. ♥

Anyway,

as his side dishes, i made chicken katsu, bean sprouts in yellow spice, and quail egg satay. My friend on facebook asked me to write the recipes here. so then, i'll do it. :)

Chiken Katsu

English Recipe

You'll need :

chicken fillet

wheat flour

beaten egg

pepper, salt to taste

garlic powder

water

instant chicken broth powder

bread crumbs 

and oil to fry

How to :

1. Mix the flour, beaten egg, pepper and salt, garlic powder and broth powder with water--stir well.
2. Dip the chicken, one by one into the batter flour, then roll in the bread crumbs. Do the same with the rest.
3. Stored briefly in the fridge, for 20 minutes.
4. Fry with oil over medium heat until cooked. Remove and drain

Indonesian Recipe

You'll need :

dada ayam fillet

tepung terigu

telur kocok

lada halus, garam

bubuk bawang putih

air

kaldu bubuk

tepung roti

minyak untuk menggoreng

Cara memasak :

1. Campur tepung, telur, lada, garam, bubuk bawang putih, dan kaldu ayam bersama air. aduk rata, sampai adonan licin tidak berbutir.
2. Celupkan ayam, satu per satu, ke dalam adonan tepung lalu gulingkan di atas tepung roti. Lakukan sampai dada ayam fillet habis.
3. Simpan sebentar di dalam lemari pendingin, kira-kira 20 menit lamanya.
4. Goreng dalam minyak panas, dengan api sedang hingga matang. Angkat dan tiriskan. 

 For the vegetable dish :
 

Bean Sprouts in Yellow Spice

English Recipe

You'll need :

bean sprouts

garlic chives

bay leaves

galangal

sugar

chicken broth

coconut milk

Mash these :

pepper

hazelnuts

red-onions

garlic

turmeric

salt to taste

How to :

1. Saute until fragrant, the spices that have been mashed with bay leaves, and galangal.
2. Add the bean sprouts and chives, stir well.
3. Add sugar and the broth. 
4. Pour the coconut milk, and cook until the sauce thickens and the spice seeps.

Indonesian Recipe

bahan :

tauge

kucai

daun salam

lengkuas

gula

kaldu ayam

santan

haluskan :

merica

kemiri

bawang merah

bawang putih

kunyit

garam, secukupnya

Cara memasak :

1. Tumis hingga haru, bumbu-bumbu yang dihaluskan bersama daun salam dan lengkuas.
   
2. Masukkan tauge dan kucai, aduk.
   
3. Tambahkan gula dan kaldu bubuk.
4. Tuang santan, dan masak sampai kuah menyusut dan bumbu meresap.

Easy to make aren't they ? Try them at home, or as your bento's filling. Anyway, besides his fruit fiesta (apple, banana and strawberries), i also made him chocolate cupcakes

with strawberries garnish. My friends asked me for the recipe too. :D So, here it is : 

Chocolate Cupcakes

You'll need :

margarine

liquid milk

eggs

sugar

wheat flour

chocolate powder

baking soda

baking powder

and :

melted chocolate

strawberries

as the garnish

How to :

1. First, prepare the steamer for steaming. And cover the cupcakes pan with paper cup.
2. Melt the margarine with milk.
3. Beat eggs with sugar, add the flour, chocolate powder, baking soda and baking powder. Stir batter.
4. Pour the melted margarine (with milk), stir well.
5. Pour into the cupcakes pan and steam for 25 minutes. 
6. Decorative cake with melted chocolate and strawberries

That's all girls. Remember, cook when your heart is good :) 
Kisses, love and hugs !

Green Sushi

Or--a wannabe-green sushi :D

Actually, the greenness is more visible if you put all the menus in one tier. I'll show you later :)

So, today's bento contains of maki sushi (sushi with kyuri filling), chicken katsu, saute water spinach with sesame seeds, tasty tamagoyaki, corn-edamame salad, and melon. 

The sushi taste wonderful. I guess besides using the right rice, you should choose the right nori to wrap it too. I choose nori that made in Thailand (offcourse you can choose another ones) that 100% vegetarian, no colestrol, more crunchy, and it has variant flavors (i have the original, squid and the spicy. But today, i use the original flavor). For the saute water spinach, i also add oyster sauce to it besides the sesame seeds. It will give a different taste too.

This salad, is corn-edamame salad. I use the same dressing with rainbow-ribbon salad. But it taste different. More savory, i say. Perhaps it's because i'm adding the different salad ingredients. Besides using carrots and apples, like yesterday, i roast the corn first with small amount of olive oil--until browned. Then i add some edamame (japanese green soy beans--i use the salted ones), chopped tomatoes, and green paprika. Put them all together in a big bowl. As the dressing, use another smaller bowl, mix a full spoon of olive oil, with 2-3 full spoon of apple cider, salt and pepper to taste, aaand.....garlic powder!! (so..this is why it tastes different, cause i'm using garlic powder too). Whisk it and taste it first before you mix it to the salad ingredients. 

These are my mini bentos for today sale. The menus are the same menus like hubby's bento. See, i've told you, the greenness  looks better when we put the menus all together in one tier. Like usual, i'm using the food ratio of grains:protein:vegetables in 1:1:1.


Hubby also bring mung beans drink and kiwi yogurt. a-ha..another green-menu! LOLs. Hopefully it's healthy enough for him :)

Marathon Posting, again :D

Gee, I've almost forgotten.. that i still have three days of bentos that i haven't post yet. :(
I'll pay it now. :D

Monday, 7th March, 2011

I made these bento-packages for Monday. Named it with 'The Yellow Tones'. I didn't realize before that they have the similar color tones. My Friend said, they look a like color pallet, with yellow tones of paints.

Well, as usually, i put the food in three different tiers.

First, as the side dishes of the plain rice (which cannot be seen here, the rice became the base for the side dishes), i made Chicken slices with coconut spice, grilled tofu, sauteed zucchini, shiitake in soyu, and sunny egg.

In the second tier, i mix curry pasta salad  (mixed of macaroni, sweet carrot--grated, low fat raisins, and apple). For the recipe, i'll share you. :)
you'll need :

1 package uncooked spiral pasta

1 teaspoon of curry powder

1 tablespoon of lemon juice

1 tablespoon mayonnaise

salt to taste

1 apple-peeled, cored, and finely chopped

1/4 cup raisins

1/4 cup chopped green onions

2 carrots, grated

(you can add crumbled tofu and pine nuts too, if you like. but i didn't)

How to:
Bring a large pot of salted water to a boil. Add pasta and cook for 8-10 minutes or until al dente. drain.
In a large bowl, combine the curry powder, salt, mayonnaise and lemon juice.  Add cooked pasta and toss to coat. Then add the apple, raisins, green onions, carrots. Mix well. Serve and enjoy.

Third, i put tropical fruits of  papayas, melons, and sweet ambarella. hmmm...juicy!

I feel it is important to put this photo here,

click at the picture to see it bigger

These are the "bento si ayah's tiers" for hubby with measurements. From my first posting, I've been reminded not to put too much food rations for hubby--my friends said so, my husband too. He said, he's toooo waaaaay tooooo full, and he gains 6 kilos of weight :D, and he's not feeling OK with it. So then i changed my strategy. I adhere to the rules that said: in your bento, put 1/3 part of grains, 1/3 part of vegetables, and 1/3 part of protein with fruits and or salad--to maintain the quality of weight, and healthier off course. Eat regularly, take some exercises, and DO NOT EAT YOUR FOOD AT ONCE--thus, eat the food slowly, and digest well before being swallowed.
if i want to add another rations, i have to reduce the other. so the portion is always in the exact measurement.
I had have told this many times to friends who asked. But they still questioning, whether hubby's food rations excessive or not : "gee, those are  'massive portions'. can he eat them all??".
So, i took this picture to be disclosed, to answer that question. The largest tier is only at 14cm-diameter, and the smallest is only for 10cm-diameter. I use different tiers to seal the taste and the flavor of the food, not only by using separator things (like lettuce or kyuri). Further, this separated containers, make him easier in heating the food or chilling it in the fridge--without scrambling the contents.
In these tiers, I always give him small amount of rice (at about 3-4 tablespoon), so he won't be too full after having his lunch. 
There you go. That's for Monday.


Tuesday, 8th March, 2011
Yesterday's theme is : Lazy day!
Yeah! it was :D I was too lazy to woke up and still eager to slept under my warm-blanket yesterday morning. But then i gave up :D, i thought, i have to make him his bento. Otherwise, he'll be troubled finding lunch from his office. 
So, These are the 'Lazy bento' :

Sorry about the picture. suddenly, after the bento was done, the electricity was turn off. My house is a small one. With small ventilation too. So Usually, i take the pictures from the table in my kitchen with the light's help. But yesterday, i have to brought the tiers to living room-sofa, opened the window widely, and took the picture with natural light. Still, i've done nothing to program the camera. so i've got these pictures, they're not too sharp :(

These three tiers again :) :

in the first tier, i made the egg-rice as the base again, and put black pepper-beef, and saute mushrooms ( i use champignon and shiitake with sweet carrots and corns). I didn't have any rules, any ideas, to arrange this tier. so i just put them there, and gave some kyuri and tomato skin-flower.

the second tier is his salad's section. I made "Ribbon Salad" from sweet carrots and apples. They're so refreshing. I made the sauce with : cider vinegar, small amount of salt, pepper and give some sugar too. then mix with the carrots and apples, and keep them in the fridge.

In the third one, I put a dessert of fried apples in chocolate sauce. hmm..yummie :D hubby said, it was toooooo waaaayyy tooo delicious (LOLs).
That was for yesterday :)


Wednesday, 9th March, 2011
Fyuh, this is the latest and the last post for today. :D
I'm soooooo damn tired *oops.. :D

I put the alarm-clock there, to show that i made today's bento+hawker food, form 6am this morning till 8.25am. It's about 2,5 hours. All the menus are made just now in the morning.

I had have to make 5 portions of bentos (2 were take away), plus foods for sale too. Till this article posted, my house is still look a like 'vessel rupture' (too way to mess. LOLs). But I thought, i have to write this posting to the blog, or i'll forget again. 


Three same tiers :

 First, beside the plain rice, i made singgang ayam (that's a local recipe. ummm, maybe same like, grilled chicken in spicy sauce. You can make it also, all you need are just :

whole chicken, cut it to 4 parts. (or use the breast fillet like mine)

lime juice

lemongrass

lime leaves 

bay leaves

thin coconut milk

water

salt to taste

sugar

for the spices, you'll need to mash these :

garlics

onions

red chillies

ginger

galangal

turmeric

How to :
Coat chicken with lime juice for 15 minutes. wash it, and drain. Coat it with the spices. set aside.
Saute the onions with lemongrass, bay leaves, and lime leaves. Add the coconut milk, salt, water, and the chicken. Cook well and the gravy thickens.
Put the chicken on the pan that have already coated with butter before. pour with the gravy, and oven it, done with golden-brown color.

in this tier, i also put him a macaroni-schottel as the snack. :)


Second tier is curry leaves of cassava. That's with local recipe too :) 

Friend of mine said, when he saw this on the facebook, suddenly it reminds him to the small Padangneese restaurant near his campus, 11 years ago, and he misses it. oooooow... :,)

The third is the fruit section. today, i brought him fuji's apple, with black-watermelon, and strawberries. 

aaaaand, potatoes-donut too :D Actually these donuts with macaroni-schotel are for sale menu today. Oh, i add some paprika-powder and oregano in the macaroni. I hope they'll enjoy it.

Last, this is bento-package for hubby's work-mate. He asked this from three weeks ago :D (he always asks it for wednesday, i don't know why). I didn't have much time before to do this, but, oh ok..since my hubby said that his working-mate always asking the same question : "is there any bento for me?" for three weeks lately, so he asked me to make him one this morning. This is for you, Abu.


---------------------------------------------------------
aaaaaaaah...finally :D :D :D
I wanna have some sleep this noon :D
thank you folks, enjoy this :)

Blossomed Flower in his bento ♥

Still the same, I'm not feeling well too for today. -______-' I still get the cough and sore-throat, a lil' bit annoying..but it's ok, I guess it is not an excuse to abandoning hubby's needs (even though he said 'stop bento-ing, you need to rest!'). After all, these bento-ing stuffs are my pleasure. :)

well, I've got nothing left in my refrigerator except kailan-veges and chicken-fillet. So, I made only simple menu, not with a thick seasoning. These side dishes, i made them only in 15 minutes. I cooked the chicken with teriyaki-style, and sauteed the kailan with garlic.

for the chicken teriyaki, i marinaded the fillet with black pepper for 5 minutes, then i grilled with the stir onion, and little water--just to make sure that the chicken is cooked perfectly before it got seasoned. As the seasonings, i only add some tomato-sauce, oyster-sauce, salt, pepper (again), and small amount of sugar (be careful, usually oyster-sauce is already tasted salty, and the tomato-sauce tasted sweet. so take a good care in giving those ok?)

See the colorful flowers?
Oh, i only made them with egg-sheet (again, Lia Chen inspired me a lot). I put a small amount of food-coloring and liquid cornstarch, in the beaten-eggs. So, they are 100% safe to eat! :D 

And the greeny rice, i mixed the rice with edamame peas (the japanese peas). The green-rice-bed became a nice base for the flowers. :) Thanks Lia Chen, for inspiring me so much :)

Rush Monday

Bonjour ! ^^v

After three days with no bento-ing activities, here i come again. Why did it called with 'Rush Monday'? Because I have many things to do for this morning--include making hubby's bento and cakes to sell--while i only have very short time for those.
Well, here is hubby's bento:

I only made him gudeg and pepes ayam as the side dishes. Do you know gudeg? It's one of the Javanese cuisine--Central Java of Indonesia, precisely. Made from young jack-fruit, chicken and hard-boiled egg stew, this dish has a unique sweet and savory taste. I made mine, but i still haven't got the right taste for my gudeg, like traditional gudeg usually has to be. I have to try harder :D

The next menu is pepes ayam--but before we've got there, i'll give you the meaning of pepes itself.

Pepes (also called Pais in Sundanese) is an Indonesian Sundanese cooking method using banana-leaf as food wrappings. The banana-leaf package containing food is cooked on steam, in boiled water or grilled on charcoal. This technique is most commonly used to prepare fish, Pepes Ikan Emas or carp pepes is the most popular one, however another type of food products; such as seafood, meat, chicken, tofu, tempeh, oncom, mushroom or vegetables also available to be prepared in this method. The method is used in several Indonesian dishes, and also become the name of a dish prepared in this manner, for example; Pepes Ikan Emas (carp pepes), Pepes Tahu (tofu pepes), Pepes Oncom (oncom pepes), Pepes Teri (anchovy pepes), and Pepes Jamur (mushroom pepes). Pepes products are typically consumed with steamed rice

While the original pepes used fish as the main ingredient, mine using ayam/chicken. With the same spices like red onion-garlic, hazelnuts, red-chilies, ginger and galangals (all the spices were pounded) --the chicken wrapped with banana leaf, spices, some tomatoes, lemongrass, bay leaves--then steamed for about 30 minutes till the chicken cooked perfectly. You can see how did the pepes look like before i put it to bento, from this picture on the left side.


As the snacks, i made some fried sandwiches (classic sandwiches that wrapped with bread crumbs--mine with salami, then fried), chocolate cupcakes (look the heart shape.. i've enjoyed time to make this shape), and donuts-satay. Give some oranges as the fruit, voila, my hubby's bento ready to take away. :D

These snacks, like donuts-satay and cupcakes, with fried rice noodles--are for sale. I made a half to be sell in a kindergarten near my house, and half part for my hubby's office-mates. I took one satay and cupcake to put in hubby's bento. Hopefully, these snacks are hard-sell!