Zenia and I went to one of Atsuko's cooking classes at The Grocery in London E1 this evening to learn how to make bento boxes, or more precisely to fill them! The results are above. I was quietly thrilled when the bento boxes she had for us were the same ones I had bought at Daizo in Seattle earlier this month. She even showed us how to wrap them, something I've tried already since I bought the napkin/wraps to match my boxes. Luckily I chose a different colour box.
We made (from left to right in my boxes and top to bottom):
- miso soup
- rice balls with a salty plum on the side
- marinated, fried chicken
- miso salmon wrapped in green leaves
- marinated broccolli and bamboo
- pickled radish flower
- egg pouches (not poached eggs mind you!)
I'm sorry that I'm too tired tonight to look up the Japanese for what we made. It was lots of fun, and I will certainly be looking to take one of her classes again and experimenting with bento in myself in the meantime.
If you want some inspiration, check out Wendy's bento blog or check out your library or independent bookseller for a book on bento.