Bihun Bento (#179)

I had meant to do a Sunday Salon about challenges today, but as I’m on a roll with my bento backlog I’d better get on with that. Bihun Bento it is!

When
Wednesday April 4th 2012.

Why
Office lunch which I got to eat at home as I was ill — a good thing I had lunch ready!

What
Leftover Pad Thai (baked up with sambal and spices), steamed broccoli, gherkin and salad vegetables in the middle tier: rocket, alfalfa sprouts, tomato and parsley.

Gingerbread with soy butter and agave syrup in the other, a mix of dry roasted almonds, salted sunflower seeds and dried cranberries, soy flavoured ramen wheat noodle snack (leftover from our Hanami picnic) and peanut sauce as a condiment to the broccoli. Those shiny balls on the right are sweet coconut cookies that I baked for my Saturday movie night with the grrls on which we watched Atom Egoyan’s The Sweet Hereafter — a great film! The cookie recipe is from Lisette in Luilekkerland and I like it!

Then there’s apple in lemon juice on the side and cassava crackers in the colourful snack bag.

People often wonder if making bentos isn’t a lot of work. I’ll admit I takes a little more time than necessary, but that’s just because I’m slow. ;) By using leftovers and things at hand it can be put together quite quickly: you really don’t need to cook especially for a bento. Look at this one for example.

Leftovers:

• Pad Thai
• peanut sauce
• coconut cookie balls
• ramen noodle snack
• cassava crackers

Stash:

• dried fruit & nut mix

Extra work:

• nuking the broccoli in the microwave, taking just a few seconds — and not necessary if it had been a leftover from another day,
• frying up the bihun noodles — not really required but I chose to give my previous dinner a twist,
• buttering & sweetening my slice of gingerbread — not necessary as it’s really good without but I like it even better this way,
• chopping up some crudités,
• cutting an apple and sprinkling it with lemon juice — obviously unnecessary if you bring a whole apple but I can’t eat it that way because of the glued on metal splint behind my teeth (a leftover from braces).

So, is that easier than you expected?

If I can keep up the good work, tomorrow will bring the last of my outstanding bento posts!

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