Obento お弁当
User Reviews
5
22 reviews
Excellent
-
Prep Time
30 mins
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Cook Time
30 mins
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Total Time
1 hr
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Servings
1
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Calories
1765 kcal
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Course
Side Dish, Main Course
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Cuisine
Japanese
Obento お弁当
Report
Obento お弁当 refers to a traditional Japanese boxed meal featuring a balanced selection of dishes such as sweet and sour pork meatballs, tamagoyaki rolled egg, potato salad, and assorted vegetables like sugar snap peas, broccolini, and tomato. The meatballs are deep-fried and coated in a rich sweet and sour sauce, while tamagoyaki offers a softly cooked, slightly sweet rolled egg, adding a comforting texture and flavor to the box.
Description
This Obento combines various components to create a well-rounded lunch. Sweet and sour meatballs made from ground pork, onion, egg, and potato starch are fried until golden, then coated with a sauce made from soy sauce, mirin, rice vinegar, sugar, and chicken broth powder, contributing a balanced savory and acidic glaze. Tamagoyaki, a Japanese rolled omelet, is seasoned with shirodashi and cooked in layers to achieve a tender, slightly sweet texture.
Potato salad includes cooked potatoes mixed with ham, cucumber, onion, and Japanese mayonnaise for a creamy side. Additional fresh vegetables such as sugar snap peas, broccolini, and tomato add color and freshness. The components are portioned to form a pleasing presentation within the bento box.
Many ingredients like shirodashi, torigara soup powder, and Kewpie mayonnaise are typical in Japanese cooking but can be substituted if unavailable. Meatballs can be prepared in advance and stored, making this meal suitable for packed lunches. The recipe yields about 18 meatballs, with roughly four per serving in the bento box, and the whole meal provides around 542 calories when portioned.
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Ingredients
- 150 g rice 1, cooked
Sweet & Sour Meatballs *2
- 5 g butter
- 1/4 onion finely chopped
- 250 g ground pork *3
- 1/2 egg 12, large
- pinch of salt
- 1 tsp potato starch aka Katakuriko
- 600 ml oil 4, for deep fry
- 1/4 cup water
- Pinch of torigara soup powder *5
- 1 tbs soy sauce
- 1 tbs sugar
- 1/2 tbs mirin
- 1 tbs rice vinegar *6
- 1 tsp potato starch aka Katakuriko
Tamagoyaki Rolled egg roll *7
- 2 1/2 egg 12, large
- 1/2 tbsp shirodashi *8
- 1/4 of nori sheet
- 1/2 tbsp neutral cooking oil generic cooking oil
Potato salad *9
- 1/4 onion
- half Lebanese cucumber sliced
- 350 g potato
- 50 g ham chopped
- 2 tbsp mayonnaise 10, kewpie japanese mayonnaise
- pinch of salt to taste
Other fillings
- 4 sugar snap peas parboiled
- 1 bunch of broccolini
- 1 tomato mini
- 2 shiso leaves *11
- parsley for garnish
Instructions
Sweet & Sour Meatballs
- Add butter into a small frying pan over medium heat.
- Add finely chopped onion and cook it until onion become transparent and soft.
- Let it cool and set aside.
- Place ground meat in a mixing bowl and add egg, salt, potato starch and cooked onion.
- Combine them well with your hand until it become a little sticky. Make 18 pin-pong ball sized meatballs.
- Heat oil to 180°C (356°F) and deep fry the meatballs until it become golden brown. *13
- Set aside the meatballs. You could do up to this steps a night before in order to save time in the morning.
- Place water, torigara soup powder, soy sauce, sugar, mirin, rice vinegar and potato starch in a saucepan.
- Bring it simmer and become thicken.
- Add meatballs to the saucepan and coat the thickened sauce well.
Tamagoyaki *7
- Crack the eggs into a mixing bowl and add shirodashi.
- Mix them all together and strain the egg mixture a few times.
- Heat the oil in a rectangle shaped frying pan(if you have)*14 and remove the excess with a kitchen paper. Keep the oil soaked kitchen paper for later steps.
- Pour about 1/3 of egg mixture, scramble them a little bit and when the egg solidified a little, push them towards an end ot of the pan.
- Wipe the empty side of the pan with oil soaked kitchen paper and pour another 1/3 of the egg mixture.
- Lift the pushed egg to let the egg mixture run under it.
- Place the nori sheet over the newly poured egg before they get solidified.
- Roll the egg from the one side of the pan.
- Repeat the same for remaining egg mixture.
- Turn the heat off and remove the rolled egg from the pan and let it cool.
- Slice the rolled egg about 2cm(7.9inch) thick.
Potato salad *9
- Chop the onion finely and soak them in water in a small mixing bowl. Soak about 10 minutes. Drain the water and squeeze out excess water and set aside.
- Slice the cucumber thinly and sprinkle a pinch of water. Leave it about 5 minutes or the salt withdraw the water out of cucumber. Squeeze the moisture out of cucumber and set aside.
- Peel the potato and cut them small.
- Boil the potato for about 10 minutes or potato become soft. Drain the cooking water and mash the potatoes.
- Place mashed potato, onion, cucumber and ham into a mixing bowl.
- Add mayonnaise and salt to combine them all together.
Assemble all together into a lunch box
- Place rice first, then shiso leaves, meatballs, sugar snap peas, rolled egg, tomato and potato salad. If there is any gap, fill the gap with green vegetables and parsley.
- Sprinkle sesame seeds over the rice and top with Umeboshi. *See above step by step photos.
Notes
- One serving of cooked rice is approximately 150g, typical for a Japanese bento.
- The sweet and sour meatball recipe makes about 18 meatballs; 4 are used per bento box.
- You can substitute pork with beef or veal for the meatballs.
- Deep fry meatballs or alternatively pan-fry or bake them.
- Shirodashi is a bottled liquid dashi; substitute with appropriate soup stock if unavailable.
- Use white vinegar if rice vinegar is not accessible.
- Kewpie Japanese mayonnaise can be replaced with regular mayonnaise.
- Shiso leaves may be substituted with lettuce if unavailable.
- Meatballs can be made up to a day ahead to save time.
- The total calorie content is estimated based on listed ingredients and typical portions for one bento box.
Nutrition Information
Show Details
Calories
1765kcal
(88%)
Carbohydrates
28g
(9%)
Protein
21g
(42%)
Fat
177g
(272%)
Saturated Fat
19g
(95%)
Cholesterol
181mg
(60%)
Sodium
563mg
(23%)
Potassium
656mg
(14%)
Fiber
2g
(8%)
Sugar
4g
(8%)
Vitamin A
230IU
(5%)
Vitamin C
13mg
(14%)
Calcium
57mg
(6%)
Iron
4mg
(22%)
Nutrition Facts
Serving: 1Serving
Amount Per Serving
Calories 1765 kcal
% Daily Value*
| Calories | 1765kcal | 88% |
| Carbohydrates | 28g | 9% |
| Protein | 21g | 42% |
| Fat | 177g | 272% |
| Saturated Fat | 19g | 95% |
| Cholesterol | 181mg | 60% |
| Sodium | 563mg | 23% |
| Potassium | 656mg | 14% |
| Fiber | 2g | 8% |
| Sugar | 4g | 8% |
| Vitamin A | 230IU | 5% |
| Vitamin C | 13mg | 14% |
| Calcium | 57mg | 6% |
| Iron | 4mg | 22% |
* Percent Daily Values are based on a 2,000 calorie diet.
Genuine Reviews
User Reviews
Overall Rating
5
22 reviews
Excellent
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