Thursday, October 22, 2009

Quick Fix Bento Box

When in doubt, I make omuraisu. Well, my version of omuraisu is a sort of "clean up" meal where I pull all the oddball items from the freezer and fridge, toss in a pan then place in a two egg omelet.

I have some cold rice that will never see the inside of an onigiri mold, check. A thumb sized piece of yellow carrot, check. half a bell pepper, check. Green onions, chunk of tofu, yesterday's "wheat meat", check, check, check. A cup of roasted kabocha? No way, that immediately goes into my mouth. Yum. The rest of the recipe is just as simple. Heat up the items with some minced garlic, sesame oil and ketchup. Yes, ketchup. I add the entire odd combo to the center of an omelet (omelette?) which has been seasoned with mirin and a touch of salt and soy sauce. Fold it over and let cool completely before placing in the box.

The other pieces of the bento box is also a hodgepodge of items: last piece of corn pudding, handful of greenbeans, the last of the strawberries and a lonely kiwi berry. I always have frozen edamame to fill in the gaps and here again, it does the job.

You don't have to wait for leftovers to make your own omuraisu, it's a delicious meal that stands on it's own with a myriad of online recipes to choose from. But if you were to whip one up now, what kind of filler ingredients do you have ready?