Makunouchi

A packed box designed to be eaten cold, with everything cooled separately before it is filled.

Fish, Egg. Not vegetarian — contains fish, kamaboko, which is a fish cake.

Ingredients

the rice

• 600 g cooked Japanese rice
• 1 tablespoon black sesame seeds
• 1 umeboshi

the box

• 4 pieces salted grilled salmon
• 4 slices tamagoyaki
• 8 pieces simmered pumpkin
• 8 green beans, blanched
• 4 pieces kamaboko
• 4 tablespoons kinpira
• 4 tablespoons tsukemono
• 4 shiso leaves

Method

1. DESIGNED TO BE EATEN COLD, and that governs every choice in it. Nothing here is a hot dish allowed to go cold; each component is one that is as good or better at room temperature. That is why there is grilled salted fish and simmered pumpkin and not a cutlet or a sauce.
2. COOL EVERYTHING COMPLETELY BEFORE PACKING, separately and on open plates. Warm food in a closed box steams, the rice goes wet, and by lunchtime it is unpleasant and unsafe.
3. This is the step people skip and it is not optional.
4. RICE FIRST AND PRESSED FLAT, filling a little under half the box. Pack it firmly enough to hold when the box is carried sideways.
5. Sesame over the rice and the umeboshi set in the centre.
6. DIVIDE WET FROM DRY WITH A REAL BARRIER. A shiso leaf or a strip of greaseproof between the simmered things and the fried or grilled ones -- liquid travelling across the box is what ruins a bento.
7. PACK TIGHT, NO GAPS. Anything that can move will move, and a box that arrives rearranged has mixed everything it was meant to keep apart.
8. Fill awkward corners with a bean or a piece of pumpkin rather than leaving space.
9. Arrange by colour as you go -- red, yellow, green and white spread across the box rather than grouped. It is the only decoration the dish has and it costs nothing to do while packing.
10. Lid on only once it is cold to the touch, and eat within about four hours.

Our own recipe. This one was written for this site rather than taken from anywhere, so there is no source to point you at. The quantities and the order of the steps are choices, not the only way to do it.

Filed under Japan · All recipes