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Make A Bento Box Lunch!

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By relache

A Bento Box Is...

... a traditional Japanese lunch box container

... a multi-item mid-day meal, offering a mix of flavors, colors and temperatures.

Bento boxes are fast becoming popular as a modern Western lunchtime option. These small meals offer lots of variety and can be created from very healthy ingredients.  They can run the gamut from totally traditional to post-modern inspiration, so be sure to check to find out just what you're getting when you order one.  Tired of the sandwiche routine and brown paper bags? Try a Bento Box!


Sweet, savory, fruity, spicy and more can be found in a bento box

Make Your Own Onigiri Video


Onigiri - The Building Blocks of the Bento Box

Onigiri are literally the foundation of a bento box lunch.  At their most simple, they are a deliberately-shaped ball of seasoned white rice.  Many variations include a strip of nori, toasted seaweed, or a sprinkling of sesame seeds.  Frequently, the shaped balls are stuffed with something savory, both meat and vegetables.  A tangy option is an umeboshi plum.

  • 1 lb white rice, medium grain (rinse and drain rice until the water runs clear) 
  • sea salt
  • water
  • nori (dried seaweed sheets)
  • sesame seeds, toasted (optional)
  • fillings - see below for suggestions
  1. Cook the rice and let it cool to the point where you can touch it without burning your hands.
  2. Wash your hands, leaving them wet, then rub your hands with salt. This keeps the rice from sticking to your hands too much.
  3. Take a palmful of rice (anywhere from 1/4 C to 1/2 C) and shape it into a ball, a triangular ball or a cylinder (see instructions below).
  4. To fill - press a hole into the ball with your fingers, fill with desired stuffing and press closed again.
  5. Finish by wrapping witha narrow strip of nori (trim down full sheets), or sprinkling on toasted seeds.

Flavorings/Stuffings

  • Onigiri can be flavored by mixing spices with the rice before it's shaped or by sprinkling it with vinegar. Once shaped, it can be sprinkeld with or rolled in sesame seeds (light or dark) afterwards
  • Fill with grilled and flaked fish, cooked beef or pork shreds, umeboshi (pickled plums), bonito flakes, cod roe, chopped vegetables and just about anything you like.


onigiri variations

Slices of carrot, bits of nori (seaweed) and rice stained pink as decoration
Slices of carrot, bits of nori (seaweed) and rice stained pink as decoration

Easily shape your Onigiri!

Stainless Steel Vegetable Cutters #K8444 Stainless Steel Vegetable Cutters #K8444
Price: $3.50
Rice Mold (Four Shapes) Rice Mold (Four Shapes)
Price: $3.50
Spam Musubi Sushi Rice Press #K5SPS Spam Musubi Sushi Rice Press #K5SPS
Price: $5.75
Soy Sauce Containers #H4537 Soy Sauce Containers #H4537
Price: $1.65
List Price: $2.99

How to Make Different Onigiri Shapes By Hand

Here are pictures to show the different ways to shape round, triangular or cylindrical onigiri rice balls.  They can be left plain or stuffed with a filling.
Here are pictures to show the different ways to shape round, triangular or cylindrical onigiri rice balls. They can be left plain or stuffed with a filling.

Bento Box Sets

Bento Box News


Take A Tour of a Real-Life Bento Box!

Bento Food Traditions

Goshiki ("five colors) is an idea of balance found in Japanese Buddhist thought. It is interpreted as a way of balancing nutrition and aesthetics by having each meal incorporate five colors via the foods chosen: white, red/orange, yellow, green and black/brown/purple.

Goho adds further balance by having each meal incorporate five ways of cooking, choosing from boiling,frying, grilling, pickling, simmering or steaming.


Assembling Your Bento Box

As people with non-Asian culinary sensibilities explore the idea of the bento box lunch, you're going to find all sorts of variations and experimentation as traditional and non-traditional bento box foods are utilized and explored. Go as traditional or non-traditional as your tastebuds desire.

The traditional ratio of contents in a bento box follows a 4-3-2-1 pattern. Four parts will contain rice, three parts have meat or fish ingredients, two parts will contain vegetables and the last part will be either something pickled or a dessert. Japanese desserts are not as sweet as what you'd find in Europe or the US.

  1. Rice - traditionally every (or nearly every) course in a bento box lunch contains either steamed or fried rice.
  2. Noodles - consider swapping out a portion of rice for something with noodles instead. Thin rice or buckwheat noodles are perfect for lunch.
  3. Meat or fish - a bento box is a great way to use up dinner entree leftovers such as beef, chicken or fish.
  4. Fruit - whatever fruit is fresh and in season is perfect for a bento box.
  5. Baked goods - steamed buns or rice crackers are good additions to your bento.
  6. Sauce - A little bit of hoisin, mustard, sweet and sour sauce or soy sauce can be nice.

Remember that heat rises and cold falls, so if you have a bento box that stacks, you want to put the cool items on the bottom and the hot ones on top!


Bento Box Bulletin Board

RSS for comments on this Hub

Unique Kids Stuff profile image

Unique Kids Stuff  says:
2 weeks ago

Wow, I dont' think I'm talented enough to make cool stuff like that.

tim-tim profile image

tim-tim  says:
5 weeks ago

Love Japanese Bento Box. Thanks for sharing!

dizuckai  says:
3 months ago

I love bento boxes! :D , I gave my sister one for christmas and she hasn't used it :( so i will put it to use myself!

deeli82  says:
4 months ago

wonderful, i will try this as soon as i can.

relache profile image

relache  says:
6 months ago

Rice is most often colored with spices or by cooking in specific vegetable broths/juices.

jewelerbogey  says:
6 months ago

What did you use to die the rice?

notorious_HAI profile image

notorious_HAI  says:
6 months ago

love it! I'm going to share this if you dont' mind.

johnr54 profile image

johnr54  says:
6 months ago

First time I was in Japan I had one of these and it had shitake mushrooms and I had no clue if it was animal or plant (or fungus as it turns out.) In spite of that I enjoyed it.

Sacramento Homes  says:
8 months ago

Thats alot of work but I bet it is worth it in the end. Not really bachelor food though. Wheres my left over Stir Fry!?;)

nancydodds1 profile image

nancydodds1  says:
10 months ago

Interesting article!

Journey * profile image

Journey *  says:
10 months ago

Relache, thanks for this info. This is a terrific hub.

Rice Crispy profile image

Rice Crispy  says:
12 months ago

really cool hub. The food is beautiful. I want to try this out.

relache profile image

relache  says:
12 months ago

sunforged, I can't do anything about it when the RSS feed from Google freaks out.

sunforged profile image

sunforged  says:
12 months ago

I had only read about these, I never imagined they would look so fun...just found my next culinary project

your bento box news (box) is showing some odd behavior

Braids profile image

Braids  says:
13 months ago

Thank you. I have been trying tofine out how to make a bento but with no luck tell know. I can't wake tell lunch time.

budwood profile image

budwood  says:
14 months ago

Very nice to see something both artistic and (presumably) tasty described in such delicious detail. Thanks.

wgsu007  says:
15 months ago

So that's where Bento the Mac App got its name....

Lidian profile image

Lidian  says:
16 months ago

Great hub! I like the onigiri with little faces the best - so cute!

VinceSamios  says:
18 months ago

So cute! I love it!

misshardy profile image

misshardy  says:
2 years ago

Perfect Bento box! Great hub..very helpful videos and illustrations.

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