Bento #44

It must be the cup cakes! We've been baking dozens of them and it's made Bento-ing so difficult to crank up! Monday - yesterday, the kids didn't want any Bento. This morning's light and easy bento was just watermelons in the shape of tulips and mushroom and some blanched carrots acting as 'orange leaves'.

Wafu burgers wrapped in sushi rice and some 'pulut tekan' (presssed glutinous rice) and kaya.
#1's God ma made the 'pulut tekan' and gave us a box over the weekend. It's very nice.

Sabbath

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia: The term Sabbath or Sabbat is originally derived from the Hebrew shābath "to rest". In Judeo-Christian religion it refers to a weekly day of rest and worship. In religion: Sabbath in Christianity, a weekly religious day of rest in Christianity.
In Christianity, the Sabbath is a weekly religious day of rest as ordained by one of the Ten Commandments: the third commandment by Roman Catholic Church.

For my family, Sunday is a day of worship and time spent with our Catholic community. After Sunday Mass, we normally spend more than half the day at Church participating in activities of personal interests and appeal.

For me, it's also Bento preparation time for the upcoming week. I need to get my Bento staples and supplies ready.

Today, I prepared the "Aburaage" (Japanese taufu pok) for Inari Sushi. It's very easy and delicious. I always prepare the aburaage ahead of time and leave in the fridge. It can easily last for 10 days. This recipe I have is much nicer than the commercial ones that you can buy from Jusco.

The recipe:
1.
10 pcs aburaage
2 cups dashi
4 tbsp shoyu
5 tbsp sugar
8 tbsp mirin

Remove oil from aburaage by rinsing in hot water.
Simmer all the ingredients in a pot and line arburaage layer by layer gently without damaging it. Just let it simmer until almost dry. Use a "Otoshi buta" (literally: drop-lid) so that it doesn't dry out too fast.

2. Squeeze dry the aburaage so that all the remainder liquids are removed.

3. Then you cut the aburaage into half and gently open it up so that you can stuff the sushi rice into it.

4. Viola! It's ready - Enjoy!

Note: I didn't stuff mine today because I'm preparing them for use later in the week.

I also made a batch of dipping sauce for 'Cha Soba'. This is my children's all time favourite dish. It's good for 'abstinence' days or hot days because it's meatless. So easy!!

The recipe:
1.
2 cups dashi
1/2 cup Mirin
1/2 cup shoyu
pinch of sugar

Mix all in a pot and bring to boil. Cool down and refrigerate until chilled.

Note: In my case, I freeze it and thaw when I need to use. I freeze some in small containers so that my daughters can also bring Cha Soba to school to eat. By break time at school, the dipping sauce is half thawed. You just need to keep them in a plastic bag so that the cold water droplets don't wet the rest of the stuff in the Bento bag.

I made a whole batch of Onigiri this evening.
See top row: Onigiri with mini hamburgers
See middle row: Spam Musubi and some Onigiri with mixed left overs.
See bottom row: Triangle ones stuffed with tuna and mayo.

Look at the 5 cups of sushi rice I cooked!

Onigiri with mini hamburgers

Spam Musubi