Steak and Mushroom Pies Bento

After two weeks holiday, the boys are ready for school again. For their lunches, I prepared their favourite : Steak and Mushroom Pies. We used to buy them before, but because my kids love them so much, I tried to make them myself and actually it is not that hard. Here I share you my recipe :

Steak and Mushroom Pies

Ingredients :
- 675g braised steak, cut into small pieces
- 225g button mushrooms, halved
- 200g store bought puff pastry
- 600ml beef stock
- 1 onion, finely chopped
- 1 tbs cooking oil
- 25g of plain flour
- 1 tbsp of Worcestershire sauce
- salt and pepper
- 1 tbs mushroom sauce
- egg or milk to glaze

Method :
1.Heat the cooking oil in a large frying pan.
2.In the meantime, trim the fat from the meat and then toss in the flour seasoned with salt and pepper.
3.Fry the meat in the fat until browned and then add the onion and mushrooms.
4.Sprinkle the seasoned flour into the pan and cook until golden brown.
5.Add the Worcestershire sauce, mushroom sauce and add more seasoning.
6.Pour in enough stock to cover the beef and leave to simmer for 45 minutes.
7.Preheat the oven to a temperature of 150°C.
8.Roll out a single puff pastry on a flat surface. Use a large cookie cutter or any sort of circular lid to cut out a 4-inch circle of dough. Press each dough circle into the bottom of a muffin tin so that a tiny rim of dough remains sticking out the top. Repeat with remaining dough to fill all 12 muffin cups.
9.Fill each cup with about 1/4 cup pie filling, or until the filling nearly fills the cups.
10.Cut out a circle of dough just large enough to cover the top of the crust. Use your fingers to gently press the top crust to the bottom crust until they stick together and no gaps remain. (you can use fork to stick them together).
11.Use a pastry brush to brush the tops of each pie with the whisked egg. Then bake for 25-30 minutes, or until the crust is lightly golden and the filling begins to bubble.
12. Remove and let cool for at least 15 minutes. Then very carefully use a knife to loosen the edges of each pie and gently lift each pie out. Serve immediately or cover and refrigerate.

For my eldest son, I prepared :
1. Steak and mushroom pie
2. Chicken ragout risoles
3. Milk jelly with nata de coco (car-shaped)
4. Segmented orange for recess

My youngest son had the similar lunch with his brother. For the milk jelly he got the Doraemon shaped.

Kid's Favourite Bento

I love to put variety food in my kids' lunch boxes. This time, these are their favourites : sausage rolls, siomay and chicken ragout rissoles. Perfect snacks for little fingers.

Here I share the Chicken Ragout Rissoles recipe :

Chicken Ragout Rissoles
adapted from Indochine Kitchen

Ingredients:
For filling
1 onion, chopped
125 g chicken, cubed
150 g carrots, boiled and cubed
150 g potatoes, boiled and cubed ( I used sweet corn kernel instead)
50 g peas
30 g celery, boiled and cubed
125 ml milk
75 g flour
200 ml chicken stock
1 1/2 tbsp nutmeg
1 1/2 tsp pepper
1 tsp salt
1/2 cup oil

For skin wrapper
1 egg
50 ml milk
1/2 tsp salt
70 g flour
150 g water
1 tbsp butter, melted

For crumbing
4 egg whites
400 g bread crumbs
Oil for deep-frying

directions:
For filling
Heat oil over medium heat. Stir-fry onion until translucent, about 3 minutes.
Add chicken pieces, cook for about 3 more minutes.
Combine carrot, corn kernel, celery and peas into the wok. Continue cooking until all ingredients are well distributed, about 2 minutes.
Season with nutmeg, pepper and salt.
Add flour and stir continuously for 5 minutes.
Pour milk and chicken stock into the wok. Let simmer for 5 minutes, till the mixture thickens, stirring a couple of times to ensure even cooking.
Turn off heat and let cool.

For wrapper
Combine flour, salt, water milk, butter and egg yolk in a bowl.
Whisk mixture to a thin batter.
Pour 1/4 cup of batter into a lightly oiled and preheated non-stick pan (20cm).
Cook until the sides start to curl up, about 1-2 minutes over medium heat.
Loosen the sides with fork and flip the pan quickly on a plate to get the wrapper off.
Continue with the rest of the batter.

For assembling
Place a tablespoon of filling into the middle of a wrapper.
Roll the side of wrapper away from you, form a 5cm log.
Fold both sides to the middle, ensuring no gaps.
Roll the risoles up and brush the tip with egg white for sealing.

For crumbing
Prepare two plates, egg white and crumbs each.
Dip risoles into egg white. Coat it with crumbs.
Dip the crumbed risoles back into egg white and coat it again with more crumbs.

For frying
Heat cooking oil in a saucepan.
Lower the rolls into hot oil, two or three at a time.

Fry until golden brown, about 3 minutes.
Ready to serve.


Details as below :

For my eldest son, I prepared :
1. Sausage roll (recipe here) and BBQ sauce
2. Siomay (recipe here)
3. Chicken ragout risoles
4. Apple cuts for recess

For my youngest son, I prepared :
1. Sausage roll (recipe here) 
2. Siomay (recipe here)
3. Chicken ragout risoles (recipe here)
4. Roast beetroot sticks
5. Segmented orange for recess

A Little Bit of Everything Bento

My boys love their wraps. But even mini wraps already make them full. Because I want them to have variety of foods everyday, I prepare half of wraps and the rissoles, so they can have "a little bit of everything" during the day.

For my youngest son, I prepared :
1. Half of chicken wraps (roast chicken, ham, cheese, BBQ sauce, cucumber, and shredded lettuce)
2. Half of chicken ragout rissoles
3. Pork siomay (recipe here)
4. Milk jelly with nata de coco
5. Kiwi fruit cuts for recess

For my eldest son, I prepared :
1. Half of chicken wraps (roast chicken, ham, cheese, BBQ sauce, cucumber, and shredded lettuce)
2. Half of chicken ragout rissoles
3. Pork siomay (recipe here)
4. Milk jelly with nata de coco
5. Rockmelon cuts for recess

Colorful Bento Lunches

I'm so excited with these lunches. They look so colorful and pretty. The boys just can't wait to get to the lunch time and gobble up their lunches!

Details are below :

For my eldest son, I prepared :
1. Pork siomay (recipe here)
2. Chicken ragout rissoles
3. Milk jelly with nata de coco
4. Corn on the cob
5. Rockmelon cuts for recess

For my youngest son, I prepared :
1. Pork siomay (recipe here)
2. Chicken ragout rissoles
3. Milk jelly with nata de coco
4. Corn on the cob
5. Kiwi fruit cuts for recess

Sushi and Chicken Ragout Rissoles

Last night we had sushi time where I and my boys were making sushi together. Basically I prepared some ingredients for the sushi fillings, and the boys may choose which ingredients will go in their sushi. 

The ingredients that I prepared were roast chicken, carrot, cucumber, smoked salmon, avocado, ham, soy sauce, Kewpie mayonese, and Japanese pickled ginger.

The boys were having so much fun creating their sushi. And after dinner, there were some leftover for their lunch box next day.

The first sushi fillings option was chicken roast, carrot, cucumber, soy sauce and pickled ginger. The second one was smoked salmon, cucumber, carrot, avocado, with soy sauce and pickled ginger. And last but not least was roast chicken, ham, avocado, Kewpie mayo, pickled ginger and cucumber.

For my younger son, I prepared :
1.Three types of sushi
2. Chicken ragout rissoles 
3. Corn on the cob
4. Fruit salad (pineapple, rockmelon, and grapes)

It is a similar lunch from his little brother. And the boys came back with empty lunch boxes. Mission accomplished!

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