Frozen Bento

It is nearly the end of school term and my kids' school is having frozen themed disco party for the children. And I made frozen themed bento for my kids.

For my youngest son, I prepared :
1. Olaf onigiri (white steamed rice, nori, white egg, garlic shoot and carrot)
2. Hard boiled egg
3. Corn on the cob
4. Sausages and ham
5. Kale leaf for baran
6. Banana for recess

And for my eldest son, I prepared :
1. Elsa onigiri (white steamed rice, nori, white egg, omelet, and carrot)
2. Corn on the cob
3. Broccoli
4. Sausages
5. Hard boiled egg
6. Banana for recess

FIFA World Cup Bento

Celebrating FIFA world cup 2014 with Bento.

Details as below :

For my eldest son, I prepared :
1. Cheese and ham sandwich with carrot "soccer" letters
2. "Soccer ball" hard boiled egg
3. Corn on the cob
4. Sausages and kale leaf
5. Apple for recess

For my youngest son, I prepared :
1. "Soccer ball" cheese and ham sandwich with nori for the patterns
2. "Soccer player" hard boiled egg (nori and carrot)
3. Corn on the cob
4. Sausages and kale leaf
5. Orange for recess

Sunflower Bento

I saw Anna the Red's sunflower long time ago, and so happy finally I tried to make it. It looks so vibrant and beautiful!. Here is the link on how to make it.

For my eldest son, I prepared :
1. Indonesian Risoles Ragout
2. Sunflower sausage and tamagoyaki with salt and pepper
3. "Tulip" Sausage
4. Carrot sticks and kale leaf (for baran)
5. Banana for recess

For my youngest son, I prepared :
1. Indonesian Risoles Ragout
2. Sunflower sausage and tamagoyaki with salt and pepper
3. Ham "rose"
4. Carrot sticks and kale leaf (for baran)
5. Banana for recess

Puff Pastry Bento

I made 2 versions of snack using (store-bought) puff pastry. Using store-bought puff pastry can really save your time in the kitchen. The first version was twisted puff pastry with tomato ketchup and cheese. The other version was puff pastry with smoked salmon, sour cream and dill.
The boys had bananas for recess.

The bento box consists of :
1. Puff pastry with smoked salmon, sour cream and dill
2. Twisted puff pastry with tomato ketchup and cheese
3. Tamagoyaki with salt and pepper
4. Crab sticks
5. Kale leaf for baran

Duck Pancakes Bento

This cold winter, I feel like eating hot noodle soup with roast duck to keep us warm. Besides that, I prepared pancakes as well for snack. Both taste so good and the kids enjoy them so much :)

Here the recipe :

Duck Pancakes
source : Fine Dining Lovers with little adjustment to my liking

Ingredients :

For the duck
1, oven-ready, approx 2.5 kg Duck
1 thumb size piece Ginger, fresh, peeled and grated
30 ml Salt
15 ml Five-spice powder

For the batter
140 g Flour
2,5 ml salt
1 tsp sugar
125 ml, boiling water
30 ml Sesame oil

To serve
4 each, shredded Scallion
1 pcs cucumber cut lenght-wise like carrot sticks
90 ml Hoisin sauce

Method :

Duck
Heat the oven to 170°C (150°C fan).
Run the grated ginger around the cavity of the duck and rub inside and out with the salt.
Sprinkle the outside of the bird with the five-spice powder.
Put the duck on a rack in a deep roasting pan and roast in the oven for 1 1/2 hours.
Drain off the fat every half an hour or so, then turn up the oven to 200°C (180°C fan) for about 20 minutes until the skin is brown and crispy.

Pancakes
Put the flour and salt into a bowl and stir in the boiling water.
When it's cool enough to handle, knead on a floured board for about 10 minutes until you have a silky dough, then cover with a clean tea towel and rest for 30 minutes.
Knead the dough again for 5 minutes, roll into a sausage shape and cut into about 12 pieces.
Dip each piece in a little sesame oil and roll into circles about 10 cm diameter.
Brush a frying pan with the remaining sesame oil and heat.
Fry the pancakes in batches until just starting to take colour, stack between sheets of kitchen parchment and cover with a clean tea towel to keep warm.

To serve
Shred the meat from the duck carcass.
Spread a little hoisin sauce on each pancake, add some duck and sprinkle with the shredded spring onions.

And here is the yummy roast duck noodle soup :

For today's post, I used duck pancakes leftover. Here is the details :

The boys had the similar bento, each with :
1. Duck pancakes (wrapped in cupcakes wrappers)
2. Halves hard boiled egg with dill
3. Carrot and cucumber sticks
4. "yummy" banana

Leftovers Bento

Two different bentos using leftovers in my fridge.

Details as below :

For my eldest son, I prepared :
1. Chicken, leek and mushroom pie (recipe here) with BBQ sauce
2. Carved carrot, crab stick.
3. Tamagoyaki (egg-rolls)
4. Corn on the cob (with Carrot "flower", black sesame seed, and dill)
5. Kale leaf as baran
6. "Checker and rabbit" apple cuts for recess

And for my youngest son, I prepared :
1. Smoked salmon, sour cream and dill pinwheel
2. Corn on the cob
3.  Carved carrot, crab stick and corn flakes
4. Tamagoyaki (egg-rolls)
5. Kale leaf as baran
6. "Checker and rabbit" apple cuts for recess

Cute Mice Bento

The best thing about Bento is that you can use the same ingredients but present in different formats/layouts, so the kids will still be excited on opening their lunches. I used chicken, leek and mushroom pies, the same ingredients as the previous bento. You may find the recipe here.

This time the kids have the similar bento box, each with :
1. Chicken, leek and mushroom pie
2. Corn on the cob with "flower" carrot and sesame seed on top.
3. "Mouse" hard boiled egg (nori, black sesame seed, carrot)
4. Chicken roll
5. Ham and cheese rolls
6. Banana with "Eat me" carving

Chicken, Leek and Mushroom Pie Bento

I love baking! These chicken, leek and mushroom pies are perfect for winter. I made individual pieces so that they're ideal for lunch box and snack after school for the kids. Here is the recipe :

Chicken, Leek and Mushroom Pie
source : Mindfood

Ingredients :
1 tbsp olive oil
6 x 150g chicken thigh fillets, chopped
250g swiss brown mushrooms, halved
40g butter
1 leek, sliced
3 cloves garlic, crushed
2 tbsp chopped tarragon leaves
¼ cup plain flour
2 cups milk
375g piece frozen puff pastry
1 egg, lightly beaten
1 tsp poppy seeds

Method :
Preheat oven to 220°C.
Heat oil in a large non-stick frying pan over medium heat. Add chicken and mushrooms and cook, in batches, for 4-5 minutes or until golden. Remove from pan, set aside and keep warm.
Reduce heat to low, add butter, leeks, garlic and tarragon to the pan and cook for 7-8 minutes or until softened.
Add flour and cook for 2 minutes. Add milk, salt and freshly ground black pepper and cook for a further 3 minutes or until thickened.
Return the chicken and mushrooms to the sauce. Spoon the filling into a 20cm skillet.
Roll out the puff pastry to 3mm thick and place on top of the filling. Trim and press the edge to seal. Score shallow lines in the pastry with a sharp knife and brush with eggwash.
Sprinkle over poppy seeds and bake for 15 minutes or until golden and puffed. Serve.

notes : I modified and used muffin baking tray instead.

For my eldest son, I prepared :
1. Chicken, Leek and Mushroom Pie with BBQ sauce
2. "Car" hard boiled egg (with carrot)
3. Corn on the cob
4. Banana with "I luv u" carving

For my youngest son, I prepared :
1. Chicken, Leek and Mushroom Pie with tomato ketchup
2. "Fish" hard boiled egg (with carrot abd black sesame seed)
3. Corn on the cob
4. Banana with "I luv u" carving

Tools I used for today's post :

Welcoming Winter

Winter has arrived and it's getting colder each day...

This time, the boys have similar bento in their boxes. Each with :

1. Ham & cheese sandwich

2. Corn on the cob

3. Jelly with nata de coco

4. "A man with winter hat" hard boiled egg (with nori)

5. Apple cuts for recess

Bento tools I used for this post :