Onigiri help. I would like to pack a bento box?

My kids are fascinated with Japanese culture, My 10 and 12 year old daughters have been wanting me to pack them a bento box to take to school. I have no idea where to start. I am sure they want some super cute rice balls. So first question where do I get Bento boxes? I have seen a few online but do any stores carry them? Second I need some really easy to follow directions. And any creative ideas for them.Onigiri help. I would like to pack a bento box?
Typical Japanese bento lunch box consist of a meat, rice and some vegetables and/or pickles. The meat can be a variety of fish such as salmon, or fried chicken, pork cutlets, sausage, hamburger. The rice can be plain or consist of a topping sprinkled on called “furikake”.

Bento can be very simple or very elaborately arranged. In Japan, there is a bento style called kyaraben or “character bento”, where the bento is designed to look like popular Japanese cartoon characters (anime) such as Anpanman, Doraemon and Mickey Mouse.

For an easy Japanese bento lunch box try some boiled white rice or onigiri (rice ball) with a rolled omlette and a few small main dishes like karaage (Japanese fried chicken), hamburger, tonkatsu (deep fried pork cutlet), gyoza (dumpling), spring rolls, mini sausages, potato or pasta salad.

Containers or bento boxes usually range from disposable mass produced boxes to beautiful hand crafted lacquerware. You can find them almost anywhere today. For example, in Australia we have them at Asian Supermarkets and the new chain of Daiso Super Stores stocks a huge variety at a really good price.

Japanese Bento
http://japan-australia.blogspot.com/2010…Onigiri help. I would like to pack a bento box?
Asian Markets have them. My area there are a lot of asian markets. You can pack anything you want. I don't go traditional with mine. I use it like a lunch box, and just make fancy food for it. If you want ideas just go to a recipe site and look up japanese dishes. You can put whatever in there. For me it is about the presentation, not the food itself. Being for kids it is a great project to get them involved in learning to pack their own food. Let them create their boxes. It's cool to watch mom do it, but kids love to do things and get involved, so let them start packing it and making it look cool. Maybe edit the contents, you don't want them having a bento box with gummies and pez.Onigiri help. I would like to pack a bento box?
Making a bento can be great fun and is a good way to make sure that your children are getting a healthy balanced lunch every day, instead of hoping that school lunches are providing everything they need.



In order to find a bento, it really depends on where you live. There are many different online shops that sell bento boxes, so I would certainly start by having a look through those. You will likely find a larger selection online than what is stocked in a local food shop.



If you live in the UK or Europe, Japan Centre has a range of bento with good value delivery charges. Of course, we can send to anywhere in the world, but the shipping becomes more expensive outside of Europe. Have a look at our selection here:

http://www.japancentre.com/categories/48…



We also have lots of bento accessories such as dividers, sauce bottles, chopsticks and even that plastic grass for authenticity here:

http://www.japancentre.com/categories/48…



One of the best bento box websites is called Casa Bento and they ship worldwide:

http://casabento.com/shop/en/



If you live in America, there is a useful website here with a bento box locator which may help you find a shop near to you that has a range of bento for sale:

http://lunchinabox.net/bento-store-locat…



Lastly, head over to Amazon if you can't find anything else. They usually have a good selection from a variety of sellers and it's quick and easy:

http://www.amazon.com/s?ie=UTF8%26amp;rh=n%3A2…



Once you have picked up some boxes, you should start reading about bento and what sort of ingredients are suitable to use. Of course, a bento can contain anything you like, but it's nice to have an idea about easy to prepare foods that you can use most days.



A general idea for packing a bento is to get a variety of foods, with presentation as the key. A standard bento may include some rice or pasta, fresh and cooked vegetables, some meat and perhaps fruit. An example could be cooked rice, chicken and broccoli stirfry, fresh carrots and tomato and some grapes. This will provide a balanced, but tasty lunch.



If you don't already have one, it could be a good idea to look into purchasing a rice cooker. As rice is generally one of the most common ingredients in a bento, having a rice cooker makes it much easier to have the rice prepared for when you are making the bento. For example, if you had that chicken and broccoli stirfry for dinner, make a little extra and store it in the fridge. Set your rice cooker with the timer function to cook the rice overnight, then all you have to do in the morning is slice some carrots, add some cherry tomatoes to the bento, then add the rice and stirfry. The whole preparation could take less than 5 minutes!



One of the most important things about cooking rice, especially for a bento, is to get the right type of rice and make sure it is cooked correctly. This is especially important if you want to make onigiri rice balls. Make sure to pick up some Japanese style short grain rice. It is often labeled as sushi rice in stores so pick that up and then follow this guide to cooking perfect sticky rice:

http://www.japancentre.com/recipes/15



And here is a recipe for Onigiri too:

http://www.japancentre.com/recipes/14



Lastly, I would really recommend reading justbento.com! It is a great website which is run by a Japanese woman living in Europe, so she has some great ideas for making healthy, Japanese style bento boxes using non-Japanese ingredients that you can find at any store. She also has a fantastic recipe book with tips and information, as well a great range of bento recipes.

http://justbento.com/



I hope this helps and puts you in the right direction for some tasty bento... I am sure that once you start making them for your daughters and see how good then can be, you will start making them for yourself too! :)