Bento Concept has started another world tour!
Stop #1 is the Central African Republic. Next stop is Russia (3/29), followed by Greece (4/26).

I had never really heard anything about the Central African Republic before this challenge. I did a lot of research and learned about the various types of cuisines, crops, and animals that they have. A lot of the types of food were either time consuming or contained ingredients hard to find or out of season here. I made some shrimp with peanuts, rice, an elephant out of rice mixed with ground sesame seeds, roasted sweet potatoes, and some egg. The green dividers are carrot leaves (thus making it my submission for hapabento’s b.o.m.b. challenge). The top tier is rice with various colors of egg sheet on it to represent the flag of the Central African Republic.

This is also a brand new bento box and hat pick that I got from Just Bento’s Menu for Hope raffle package. Thanks so much Maki for picking up bento goodies for me in Japan!

January’s Washoku Warriors challenge was Comfort Food. We were given the option of two recipes: Miso Ramen (味噌ラーメン) or Soy-Glazed Burger (てり焼きバーガー). I initially wanted to make the ramen because I have some miso sitting in my refrigerator, but upon further inspection the recipe seemed a little more intensive and had some ingredients that I didn’t happen to have on hand. Unfortunately, for the past week I’ve been buried under feet of snow so I’ve been limited to what my local organic supermarket has in stock. Plus, burgers are an easy sell to my boyfriend!

I halved the recipe and though the burgers were a little on the large side, there was some left over for bento! I did add a little bit too much onion and didn’t mince it finely enough. Other than that, I would have mixed the miso a little bit more into the meat before making patties.

• drizzles of vegetable oil
• 1/2 of a small yellow onion, finely minced
• 1 tbsp sake
• 3/4 lb ground beef
• 1/4 cup panko
• 2 tbsp beaten egg (about 1 large egg)
• 1 tsp miso
• 1 tbps sugar
• 1/2 tbsp hot water
• 1.5 tbsp soy sauce

Heat a drizzle of oil in a skillet over medium-low heat. Add the onion and sauté until wilted and slightly aromatic but not browned. Add 1 /2 tbsp of sake and deglaze the pan, scraping up any browned bits. Remove the pan from the heat and allow the onion to cool to room temperature.

As the onions cool, combine the beef, panko, egg, and miso into a separate bowl. Add the cooled onion and knead until evenly distributed. Divide into equal portions and form patty shape.

Drizzle some more oil into the previously used skillet and place over medium heat. When hot, add the patties and sear on the first side until browned (about 1 minute). Flip and sear the second side, pressing to flatten. Lower the heat, add 1/2 tablespoon of sake, cover, and cook for 8-10 minutes (medium to medium well).

While the burgers are cooking, mix sugar and hot water until combined. Then add soy sauce. Return skillet to high heat, add sauce and move pan around until burgers are evenly covered. Flip the burgers once after a minute to make sure they are evenly glazed.

Plate when still hot, as you like. I chose to eat it open face on half of a bagel with some lettuce. Traditionally, it’s served more similar to loco moco style, with rice and the extra sauce served over it.

I really liked the miso in the recipe, but the large amount of onion in the burger made it taste more like meatloaf. I also chose not to put the extra sauce on the patty since I could see all the fat and grease from the meat in it. Not sure if I’ll ever make this recipe again, but it’s an interesting take on the standard hamburger. Since it’s cooked in a covered skillet, it keeps all of it’s juices.

My sister and I are huge fans of a local Korean bakery, Shilla Patisserie. There are many locations around where we live, so we often either meet their or stop by whenever we’re in the neighborhood. My family often purchases one of Shilla’s delicious and beautiful cakes for family get-togethers. One of these type of cakes is called “Roll Cake”. I recently purchased a book called くるくるロールケーキ Kuru Kuru Roll Cake from Kinokuniya in New York City. Kuru kuru means to spin or wind up, which is appropriate because the cross-section of a roll cake looks similar to a lollipop or pinwheel.

Even though my sister’s birthday is in December, she often celebrates her birthday later so that family and friends are back from vacation.I wanted to try to make a Shilla-style cake using the book I recently purchased. If I messed up, I could always just stop by the bakery on the way and pick up a real cake, right?

Unfortunately, I totally forgot that I didn’t have the special 30cmx30cm pan, Japanese super-fine sugar, a kitchen scale, and the types of eggs I had would probably be too big. These are some of the many problems that arise when cooking recipes from other countries. I also had to translate this recipe. Let’s be honest–I’m not familiar with Japanese kitchen vocabulary at all!

Here is my version of the simple Strawberry Roll Cake with substitutions/conversions below.

Sponge

• 5 egg yolks
• 4 egg whites
• 40g butter
  • 2 2/3 tbsp. unsalted butter
• 40g Low Viscosity Wheat Flour (薄力粉)
  • 8 1/2 tsp all-purpose flour
• 90g white superior soft sugar (上白糖)
  • processed 19 teaspoons granulated sugar in food processor

Cream

• 200ml fresh cream
  • 200 ml heavy whipping cream
• 20g icing sugar
  • 4 1/4 teaspoon powdered sugar

Combine egg yolks and 20g(4 1/4 teaspoon) of granulated sugar. In a separate bowl, whip egg whites and remaining granulated sugar until it forms stiff peaks like a meringue. Add the yolk mixture to the whites, combining gently. Sift the flour in, mixing from the bottom to the top to make sure everything is incorporated. Add the melted butter and mix thoroughly using a rubber spatula. Make sure there are no bubbles in the batter. Add batter to a pan lined with two layers of parchment paper with slits cut in the corners so it lays flat. Smooth out the batter with a card, bake @ 200 degrees Celsius (392 f) for 12 minutes. Cool on a wire rack.

For the cream, put the beater and bowl in the refrigerator until cold. Add the cream and sugar, beat for 6-8 minutes until thick. If you beat too long, it’ll turn into butter, so be careful!

Flip the cake over and remove the parchment paper carefully. Spread cream on with knife and fill with desired fruit slices. Roll 90 degrees (I rolled mine tighter, so it was really skinny!) using parchment paper on the outside. Once it’s rolled, keep rolled in the parchment paper for at least 30 minutes before cutting into slices.

I topped the cake with homemade dulce de leche and some toasted coconut. Toasted coconut marshmallows lined the side with milk tea pocky, some panda picks, and a bear-shaped marshmallow! (My sister’s nickname is “Bear” and one of her favorite animals are pandas) It tasted very good, but I don’t know yet if it was quite worth the effort. Granted, most of the effort went into translating and converting measurements. Now that I have a kitchen scale, it should much easier, right?

Unfortunately, due to the snow, her party was canceled! This cake won’t keep for long because of the cream in it, so I drove it out to her the night of her would-be-party so my family could enjoy it. I took a slice for myself and placed it in my French Postcard bento–that’s two slices I got to take because I had to make sure it tasted good before decorating it ^_^

I was snowed in this weekend (still snowed in actually!), and didn’t have a chance to eat the bananas I had picked up for on-the-go breakfasts. They were looking awfully brown, so I decided to make banana muffins! This was a great recipe because it used up the last of my cream cheese, butter, and of course, bananas.

A quick search through my Google Reader yielded many results, but I don’t have a loaf pan and I didn’t have any whole or buttermilk on hand. I also didn’t have any nuts, so I subbed the cup of nuts in the recipe below with an extra banana.

Adapted from The Sweetest Kitchen
Makes 12-15 muffins

• 1/4 cup + 2 tablespoons unsalted butter, softened
• 4 ounces cream cheese, softened
• 1 cup sugar
• 1 egg
• ~1 cup mashed ripe bananas (2 or 3 bananas)
• 1/4 teaspoon vanilla extract
• 1 1/2 cups all purpose flour
• 1/4 teaspoon baking powder
• 1/4 teaspoon baking soda
• 1/4 teaspoon salt

In a large mixing bowl, cream the butter, cream cheese and sugar until light and fluffy.  Add egg, beating well.  Beat in bananas and vanilla.  In a separate bowl, combine the flour, baking powder, baking soda and salt; add to creamed mixture.

Transfer to a muffin tin with liners. Bake at 350F for 22 minutes for regular muffins, or until a toothpick inserted near the center comes out clean.

The cutters are made by Arnest’s Smile Zakka Group. You may recognize some of the other things they have listed on their site.

From cover to cover, this is an eight page book. I think it’s a great way to find ideas not just for quail eggs, but any type of egg. A lot of these decoration ideas could be used for other round foods such as onigiri or desserts.

Click on the thumbnails below for full-size images.

An online version is also available at the Ministry of Agriculture, Forestry, and Fisheries page.

Jan 14th – Rice; Vegetables and Pork stir-fried from New Years; cabbage tsukemono; kohaku namasu

Jan 20th – Another leftovers bento. Milk tea pocky; vegetable/pork stir-fry; kohaku namasu; cabbage tsukemono; roll and leftover lobster macaroni and cheese from Jackson’s Mighty Fine Lucky Lounge. The mac and cheese went mostly uneaten.

Jan 27th – I had class after work this day, so I packed my food in a cupcake box that had come with a purchase earlier in the week. ham, spinach and cheese sandwich; gingerbread truffle; fruit salad; baked chips. This was too much food since half of the sandwich, the truffle, and the fruit salad went uneaten.

Jan 28th – kohaku namasu; homemade applesauce; milk chocolate truffle; rice with sesame seeds; lop cheung cooked in ginger-chile sauce.

Jan 29th – Rice; spinach; grilled tofu; homemade applesauce; harry and david soft caramel; thai chicken dumpling; lettuce; random “Asian chicken”. A lot of this food was from the Whole Foods prepared food bar, which I have now concluded that I do not like. The caramel was delicious!

Feb 2nd – I had a meeting off-site this day, so I wanted something that was small and I wouldn’t have to carry around all day after lunch. sandwich on challah bread; strawberries and pineapple; homemade applesauce; salt and vinegar chips. This was a lot of food, so the chips were eaten later as a snack. The pink snack box is really an onigiri container!

Feb 3rd – Another challah sandwich; pineapple slices; red velvet cupcake from the bakery in my building.

Feb 4th – Milk tea pocky, coconut cupcake; dark chocolate truffle; tamagoyaki; rice with black sesame seeds; lop cheung; pineapple chunks; homemeade apple sauce. This was so much food! I ate the sausage, two out of three of the tamagoyaki and most of the rice. Nothing else!

Bento Concept &  KaraChiwie have finished this world tour, but another one will start soon.
January’s stop was Morocco and February’s is France.

Besides the movie Ratatouille, France brings to mind desserts and picnics. For this bento I made a sort of Cordon Bleu-style chicken and packed it in a sandwich box. The inside of the chicken is filled with a little mustard, ham and provolone cheese. The bottom part is filled with chocolates I received from my sister for an early Valentine’s day present, a slice of a homemade roll cake I made (more on that later), two Nilla wafers, and the last of the pickled vegetables from New Years. This was too much food and sadly, I didn’t have enough room for all the chocolates.

I have bento from between last month’s world stop and this month’s, but I haven’t had time to post them! As it is, I’m always late for the Tour du Monde!

• Babar Chara-ben (AnnatheRed)
• A PSA on Leggings and Tights (Blah, Blah, Blahg)
• 70’s Interiors (Happiness Is…)
• How to Make a Simple V-Day Sachet (Crafty Pod)
• Hand-Made Tulle Gowns (UtterlyEngaged)
• Secret Love Letters Jewelry (Happiness Is…)
• World’s Top 10 Life Changing Restaurants (Food & Wine)
• Super Cute Tea Bags (Tea Forte)
• 100 Things We Didn’t Know Last Year (BBC)
• Fuji Instax Mini Camera (Creature Comforts)
• Winter Dinner : Vanilla Pudding with Candied Kumquats (Sunday Suppers)
• Recipe Sleuth: Againn’s Banoffee Pie (Best Bites)
• 2009 in Photos (We Love DC)
• How to Make Homemade Fruit Rolls (Serious Eats)
• Read The Kanji (Victory Manual)
• Top 10 Anime of the Last Decade (Spam From Japan)
• Sunday Brunch: Toast with Kumquat Marmalade and Goat Cheese (Serious Eats)
• Nutella Lintzer Cookies (Serious Eats)
• Japan’s Tree Restaurant (GreenMuze)
• Canon S90 – Amazing Food Blogging Camera (Me So Hungry)
• Contenders for Cutest Wedding Cupcakes (CCTTC)
• Heart Shaped Tamagoyaki (Aeri’s Kitchen)

Bento Concept &  KaraChiwie are still traveling around the world with bento.
December was Brazil and January is Morocco. When thinking about Morocco, the first things I think about are preserved lemons, mounds of spices, and tagine. While many of spices are sold in stores around me, and some gourmet shops even sell tagines, I chose to make couscous, the main grain of Morocco. The couscous is lemon and spinach, with some lemon slices on top. Chicken is the most common protein in Morocco, but I chose to pair it with some leftover fish I had. To emulate the tagine’s traditional triangle shape, I split the couscous into triangles. One is the couscous and the other triangle is tomato rice.

Join next month for France (Feb 1)!