April 15th Bento

I finally found a place that will make sukiyaki beef for me!! I was trying to find it for over a month. So today was beef maki of course!!

The beef maki was made by marinating the beef in a mixture of 1 Tbsp sake, 1 Tbsp soy sauce, a little ginger, a clove of garlic, an egg white and a couple pinches of corn starch for about 20 minutes. Then I rolled it with two pieces of steamed asparagus, four chives and a strip of red pepper and attached with a toothpick. Then, just fry over medium heat for a couple minutes until browned on all sides. Add a mixture of dashi and teriyaki sauce (try to coat the rolls) and leave it to cook covered for 5 - 7 minutes. A little more involved than my typical bentos, but it was so delicious!!!

Then there are three star shaped onigiris (I'm afraid you can't see the shapes that well), broccoli and snow peas, sesame fried carrots, zucchini and a daikon flower for veggies. There are a couple of leek dumplings as well.

The salad at the top was made by dicing avocado, parsley, basil, red and green peppers and mixing with some chick peas and olive oil. It was really yummy, but it was a bit liquidy by lunch so next time I would put it in a plastic cup rather than a paper one.

For fruit there are plum chunks, strawberries and blueberries. Dessert is some Jelly Belly beans (my favorite!).