My daughter goes to Japanese kindergarten (in Japan). This means I have to make her lunch every morning. I can't just put a sandwich in a paper bag - that just wouldn't cut it. She needs to fit in here, so that means I must make obento - japanese lunch box.
The most important ingredient in a kid's obento is ..... LOVE. Yep. (hear the violin?)
After making obento for a good 6 months now, I have decided it is pretty easy to do. I make sure I leave some small portions of dinner from the night before. I make sure I have a hard boiled egg in the fridge. I make sure I have some sort of raw vegetable that my child eats without argument. I make sure I put rice into the rice cooker before I go to bed.
Somethings that work well in a child's obento:
boiled or sauteed pumpkin or fried butternut squash
hard boiled egg
whole cherry tomatoes
little bits of lettuce to separate foods and add color
chunks of cucumber
chunks of boiled carrot
left over spaghetti
mini sausages
nori
fruit for dessert
When I wake up in the morning I slap some rice into the bento box or if I am feeling really ambitious I roll two rice balls and coat them with nori or furikake (nori and seasoning flakes).
I put a spoonful of various leftovers into the little portion cups or mini muffin papers. In the bento pictured above there is some cooked pumpkin, bolognaise sauce (just tomatoes and meat), rolled pieces of ham, 2 boiled carrots in the shape of a dog and a penguin, under the ham is a hard boiled egg, lettuce for garnish but my daughter likes to eat it anyway, and little dog-shaped nori on the rice. Dessert is a chunk of banana and a few raisins.
Presentation is important. Kids like to eat food that looks appealing and appealing to a kid means cute. cute cute cute. The cuter the better. But be sure not to go over the top on cuteness or your little one will expect that everyday!
My daughter's obento is wrapped in a flower hankie, with chopsticks on top, inside her pink bento bag along with her place mat.
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