So this week I’m returning to one of my favorite themes, Pokemon!! For those that don’t understand my absolute love for this franchise, I encourage you to read my previous Pokemon bento blog. It’s a deep love and I took this bento a step further than my last one.
For the carb, I made 3 small round rice balls. Once I made the rice, I split it into 3 bowls: one bowl with soy sauce (to make Eevee), one with sesame paste (to make snorlax), and one with tumeric (to make pikachu).
For pikachu, I rolled the rice into a ball and put that in the box. Then I cut the ears out of sliced yellow cheese and added them. From a sheet of nori, I cut the ears and the face.For the red cheeks, I cut them out of the red part of the crab stick.
For the Eevee, I rolled the rice into a ball and set it next to the pikachu. I cut the face and ears out of Nori and that was done.
For the Snorlax, I rolled it into a ball and set it on top of the pikachu. I used my round white cheese to make the face accent color, but honestly, it was a bit too small for the size of the ball. I will have to look for a different route in the future. I made his fae from nori but I forgot his teeth :(
Next I made a potato salad. I made this by boiling potatoes and mixing those with red onion, green onion, granny smith apple, jalapeno, plain yogurt, honey, garlic powder, salt, and pepper. I put this in a cup on the side, but I also wrapped some in crab stick to make the pokeball. I then added a strip of nori and circle of cheese to finish off the pokeball.
For the rowlet meatballs. I simply made a bbq meatball in a slow cooker. I then added them to the boxes and put the white cheese face accents with nori eyes. This was much harder to put together than I thought it would be. I couldn’t even figure out how to get the cheese beaks to attach. But I still like the idea, I just need better technique I think.
I was worried the meatballs wouldn’t be enough protein, so I also made some teriyaki salmon chunks too. This was by simply cooking soy sauce, mirin, sugar, and thai chilis down until thickened before adding the salmon chunks. I topped mine with toasted black sesame seeds.
I also wanted more veggies than those in the potato salad. To be fair, I don’t think my solution fully satisfied my veggie craving (I definitely wanted more veggies during the week), but what I did make was delicious. I made a stuffed jalapeno pepper. I halved and seeded the jalapenos, then stuffed them with a mixture of cream cheese, shredded cheese, garlic powder, salt, and pepper. I baked these until golden brown. It was delicious, but not light and fresh like I appreciate from my veggies most weeks.
Finally, dessert: my favorite part. I made a strawberry red bean mochi. I love making this dessert and I’ve talked about it in previous posts. This one was similar except that I added some strawberry milk powder to the flour-sugar-water mixture. I feel like the milk powder gave the mochi a softer texture which honestly, I loved.
So what do you think of this lunch? Better than my last attempt at doing a Pokemon themed bento? I honestly like this one better and it has inspired me to push it even further with more techniques!