I largely focus on dinners here, although I do occasionally throw something in about leftovers or re-purposing a big batch of something. On the rare occasion I do focus on a lunch or a lighter meal, it's usually something I threw together on the fly.
These days, in an effort to mix things up a bit and stretch the local food budget, I've been planning dinners more specifically for the effect they will have on our lunch boxes. My husband has often asked me to just make up a big batch of rice, a stir fried meat (like Kung Pao Chicken) and a vegetable. A very simple formula to a healthful, filling and more-frugal-than-midtown-Manhattan lunch, but I knew I could do better.
I've been fascinated with homemade bento lunches for some time, but never really got into trying since I was focusing on elaborate dinners. I picked up some organic chicken from the old standby Trader Joe's and decided I would set to work on a specifically bento-intended set of meals for the week. Turning to a fabulous blog on the subject, Just Bento provided all of the inspiration and many of the recipes that I will use going forward.
For this bento, I used Balsamic Sesame Chicken, rice, snow peas and my Vietnamese Carrot and Daikon Pickle. It kept really well and actually was reasonably delicious cold. My favorite part (I'm a kitchen toy freak) was using little silicone cupcake liners for the pickle so it could be removed and the rest of the box heated up if we decided to go that route. Fun and useful!
Balsamic Sesame Chicken (adapted from Just Bento)
- 1 lb organic chicken breast, cut into roughly 1 ounce pieces (about 16 chunks)
- 2 tbsp soy sauce
- 2 tbsp balsamic vinegar
- 4-6 tbsp sesame seeds (or sesame oil if you don't have)
- cooking oil
- Combine soy sauce, vinegar and chicken chunks in a bowl and set aside for at least 10 minutes (more if you have time). If you don't have sesame seeds (as I didn't), add about 1 tbsp sesame oil to this mixture before you set it aside.
- Drain chicken and press into sesame seeds, trying to get chicken as covered as possible.
- Cook in one of two ways:
- BAKE - preheat toaster/convection oven to 400F and bake for 6-8 minutes until cooked through.
- STIR FRY - heat small amount of cooking oil over medium heat for 4-5 minutes until cooked through.