[recipe] Halloween Bento serve with Japanese Curry

Hello everyone! Trick or Treats for this Halloween? Time flies as we have being missing from this space for more than 3 months due to personal commitments and health. Here I sincerely apologies to all friends and readers who still frequent this website to checkout our recipes and updates. Will definitely try my best to update as frequent as possible but meanwhile you can still catch up our on-going updates over at Instagram account.

Since it's Halloween today, I would like to share a related themed post which I hope you will like it. Till then enjoy your party today with lot of fun and spooky food.

[Recipes + Video] Angry Birds Rice Burger - 愤怒鸟米汉堡

Recently due to the new Angry Birds movie it seems to bring back memories for those who love its related mobile game on those battles between the birds and green pigs. And with that fast food chain restaurants in Singapore are selling Red Angry Birds Burgers and Spicy Nuggets in conjunction of the movie too.

As for me in order to surprise my boy who is one of the Angry Birds fans, I made him these cute Angry Birds Rice Burgers together with some related design fruit cutouts as a reward for his good performance in mid-year school exam.

[Recipes + Video] Hello Kitty & Winnie Pooh Nasi Lemak - 凯蒂猫和维尼熊饭团

It has being a long time since my last food art on cartoon characters because the boy has passed that "cute food" stages where I used to make his food look appealing (bento ideas). When flash back I do missed those fun days where we both work together to make bentos and he will help to prepare the ingredients as well as assembling the dish.

Hello Kitty Brunch, Hello Kitty Pop-Up Toaster plus Giveaway

[Cornell Hello Kitty Pop-Up Toaster] Hello Kitty Brunch

Few weeks ago, I received two very kawaii Hello Kitty print toasters from Cornell to do a review plus a giveaway for our readers. The toaster has a very eye-catching red and white design which brings smile to anyone who used it. Furthermore this pop-up toaster also enable you to have a Hello Kitty print on the toasted bread too.

So with the long Easter Weekend instead of bunny brunch we decided to have Hello Kitty Brunch whereby I could test out the lovely toaster.

[i-Love Mama Healthy Meal] i-Love Mama Bento

Photo Credit:- iWeekly (I周刊)

Finally after a few weeks of preparations (like designing and preparing of bentos for approval, practicing, lasing and etc) we managed to complete our two i-Love Mama Healthy Meal recruitment roadshows; 1st (Tampines Giant) and 2nd (Sheng Siong Supermarket) that were hosted by Mediacorp artiste Pornsak and Y.E.S 93.3FM deejay Siau Jia Hui!

Although in between there were some hard times dealing with the coordination and etc but eventually we were all thankful that everything went on smooth and we did have fun to be in part of their i-Love Mama Healthy Meal recruitment roadshows. More photos of the roadshows could be found at our Facebook Page HERE.

[i-Love Mama Healthy Meal] Panda Bento Set

In conjunction with the i-Love Mama Healthy Meal Contest which is organised by Mama Lemon and i-Weekly, I was invited to do bento demo at the recruitment roadshows to promote their upcoming healthy meal contest. To register for this contest, grandmothers/mothers with child aged 12 years and below can team up to create a healthy meal and stand a chance to win attractive cash and prizes worth S$4,000. (more details here)

Doing the Panda Onigiri together with Pornsak (Mama Lemon ambassador)

The host and Pornsak were sharing the nutrition values of the ingredients used while Shiting and I were busying assembling the Bento.

Shiting (Lobsterpaint.com) and I busying at the i-Love Mama Healthy Meal bento demo roadshow

Samples of the Kid's Panda Bento Set during the i-Love Mama Healthy Meal roadshow demo

Adult Bento Set with same ingredients used but without cute "make-over".

PANDA BENTO SET
(i-Love Mama Healthy Meal)

This is my Kid's version of healthy meal whereby a normal homecook meal is being transform into a Panda Onigiri with accompany dishes such as asparagus bacon roll, baked honey chicken, panda quail, steamed corn kernels and some grapes. I am sure this fulfills the 2 servings of veggies plus plus to balance out the nutrition intakes for kid.

Beside you don't have to spend extra time preparing additional dishes for the bento. You could just use your creative mind and re-assemble your daily homecook dishes into something more attractive for the kids. Blow is a quick bento recipe which shows how I turn simple homecook dishes into a cute Panda Bento Set.

(Serves: 1 | Preparation: 15 minutes | Cooking: 10 minutes)

Ingredients:
6 - 8 Thai Baby Asparagus (泰国小芦笋), trim and cut into half
2 Strips of Bacon
3 Tablespoons Of Cooked Rice
1 Slice of Sandwich Cheese
Nori (seaweed) Sheet
Baked Honey Chicken Mid-joint
1 Quail Egg
Some Cherry Tomato
Steamed Sweetcorn Kernels
4 Blueberry / Dried Raisin
Fresh Fruits
Some Fresh Lettuce, optional

Tools Needed:
Bento Box
Side Dishes Food Casing
Heat Resistant Cling Wrap
Food Cutters
Seaweed Puncher (for facial expression)
Food Tweezer
2 Toothpicks
Bento Food Pick (optional)
Small Scissor
1 - 2 Dry Spaghetti Noodle

To Make the Asparagus Bacon Roll:-

1. Blanch the asparagus in boiling water for 20 seconds, remove, pat dry and cut them into half of equal length.

2. Arrange half of the asparagus near one end of  the bacon strip, roll the bacon strip forward to wrap the asparagus then secure the end with a toothpick shown on the photo above.

3. Preheat a frying pan with 1 teaspoon of oil, cook the asparagus wrap over low heat till slightly golden brown in colour (about 5 minutes). Remove and set aside.

To Assemble the Panda Onigiri:-

1. Spoon about 2 - 2.5 tablespoons of cooked rice on a piece of heat resistant cling wrap. Using hand, shape it tight into oblong shape to form the panda body.

2. Open up the cling wrap, wrap a 1cm wide nori (seaweed) sheet near the bottom the rice ball to form a belt (refer to the photo above). Next place the rice ball with nori sheet back onto the cling wrap and shape it tightly so that the nori sheet will stick to the rice ball.

3.With another piece of cling wrap shape 1/2 teaspoon of rice into a triangle shape to form the nose of the panda.

4. Using Scissor, cut out 2 oval shapes from the nori sheet to form the black eye circles of the panda.

5.With either a food cutter or drinking straw cut out smaller oval shapes from the sandwich cheese to form the white part of the panda eyes.

6. Next using a facial seaweed puncher to punch out facial express from the nori sheet and assemble it on the panda (refer to the photo above).

7. To decorate the "belt" below, you can use any small shape cutter like star, heart, flower or etc, cut out shapes from the sandwich cheese and place it on the nori belt.

8. To fix the panda ears, use either blueberry or dried raisin and connect it to the rice ball with the help of the dry spaghetti noodle in between.

9. Above shows the close up look of the Panda Onigri plus the asparagus bacon wrap.

10. When done, assemble the bento box together with the rest of the side dishes and fruit shown above.

For this coming Saturday i-Love Mama Healthy Meal roadshow, I would be doing a similar bento which I hope it resemble the Lion Mascot of Mama Lemon  shown above. Also I would like to delicate this MAMA bento to all mothers on coming Mother's Day and wish everyone a fruitful and healthy Mother's Day! Between if I would to conduct Mother and Child Bento Workshop(s) (like what i did previously here) during this coming June school holiday, I wonder would there be anyone interested to join?

Lastly I would like to thank ShiTing from Lobsterpaints.com who takes her time to come and support plus assist me during the bento demo roadshow. Thanks sis! More photos of the roadshows could be found at our Facebook Page HERE.

Mickey Bento Sets - From Breakfast to Dinner

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A few weeks back I received an email from Bee together with invitation to do a Bento related guest post at Rasa Malaysia. I was so surprise after reading her email because for so many years I have being one of her silent readers whom always drool over her mouthwatering photos and recipes which our family enjoys. And today I am so honor to be one of the invited guests to share my bento post with all her readers.

For this post, instead of Angry Birds I will be sharing two Mickey Bento which I have discussed with Bee. First bento set can be used for either Lunch/Dinner as it comes with soup, rice, veggie, prawn and fresh fruit. While the second set will be more suitable for breakfast, tea-snack or field trip outing.

Different Mickey shapes cutout from pumpkin, carrot, Chinese yam(huai shan) and assorted colour of capsicums for making the soup and stir-fry.

MICKEY LUNCH OR DINNER SET

Ingredients For Soup:

300g Spare Ribs
1 Medium Carrot, cut into thick chunks
200g Chinese Yam, cut into thick chunks
200g Pumpkin, cut into 3 portions
1 Sweetcorn, cut into 4 sections and halves
1.2 Litres of Water

Method:-

1. Blanched spare ribs in boiling water for 1 minute remove rinse and set aside.

2. Before cutting the root vegetables into chunk, reserve a small portion and use small assorted Mickey food cutters to cutout mickey face shaped from Chinese yam, carrot and pumpkin. (about 5 pieces from each item)

3. Bring 1.2 litres of water to boil, add in all ingredients except the reserved “Mickey” shaped cutouts.

4. Lower the heat and simmer for about 20 minutes, next place the mickey cutouts on a metal soup ladler lower into the simmering soup and cook for 15 seconds. Remove and set aside in serving bowl.

5. Ladle warm soup into the bowl before serving.

Ingredients For Onigiri And Veggies:

3 Tablespoons Cooked Rice
1 Slice of Sandwich Cheese
1 Thin Slice of Carrot
Nori Sheet
1/4 Bunch of Baby Choy Sum
1 Teaspoon Wolfberries
1/4 Teaspoon Minced Garlic, optional

Method:-

1. Place a sheet of cling wrap on one hand and scoop about 2 tablespoons of cooked rice on it. Shape the rice into a ball.

2. Remove the cling wrap and place it on a paper cup liner while working on the two ears on the side.

3. Using the same cling wrap scoop 1 teaspoon of cooked rice on it and shaped into semi-circle. Open the cling wrap and cover the rice ball with a 4cm diameter round nori sheet to form the ear.

4. Repeat step 3 again. Next place the 1st round rice ball onto a cling wrap, using 2cm long thin spaghetti to attach the ears on the side of rice ball.

5. Shaped these three parts of the mickey features tightly using the cling wrap and your hands.

6. When done remove the wrapper and place it on the paper cup liner into the assigned box and start adding the facial expression using mickey shape cutter, cheese and carrot shown above.

7. To make the eye balls and nose, use a craft puncher on a nori sheet to get small oval shapes and paste it on the cutout cheese.

8. For the vegetables; preheat a small saucepan with 1 teaspoon of cooking oil sauté the garlic till fragrant before adding vegetable. Give a quick stir and cook for 30 second, toss in wolfberries and cook for another 5 seconds. Remove and arrange in another paper cup liner at the side of the Mickey onigiri.

Ingredients For Tomato Prawn:

1/4 Red, Yellow And Green Capsicum
5 Slices of Carrot
5 Medium Shrimps, shells removed
3/4 Tablespoon Ketchup
1/4 Teaspoon Minced Garlic, optional
1/4 Brown Onion, optional

Method:-

1. Using small assorted Mickey food cutters to cutout mickey shaped from the assorted capsicum and carrot. (about 3 cutouts from each items, remaining cut into long strips )

2. Next preheat saucepan with drizzle of oil, sauté garlic till fragrant add in assorted capsicum and onion cook for 30 seconds before adding in the shrimps.

3. Give the mixture a quick stir, add in ketchup mix well cook until prawn changed colour.

4. Turn off the heat, dish up and assemble it on bento container.

Ingredients For Fruit Platter:

3 Slices of Dragon Fruits/Melons
4 Lychee/Cherry, seeds removed

Method:-

1. Using a big Mickey food cutter, cutout mickey head shaped from the dragon fruit and set aside

2. Arrange the serving bento with mickey head dragon fruits and some seedless fresh lychee of any fruits of your choice.

MICKEY BREAKFAST SET

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Apart from the full set of Mickey Dinner Bento shown above, I have also made another Quick and Easy Mickey Breakfast Set using some of the "Bamboo Charcoal Bread" that comes in just in time to shape the face of Mickey. But if you cannot find any Black Charcoal Bread you can always replace it with chocolate bread too.

ARRAY OF MICKEY SHAPES FOOD CUTTER

These are the Mickey Shapes Food Cutter that I used used in making these two bento shown above. If you are interested to get hold of these cutters, you can either purchase them from online bento shop or for those living in Singapore, you can get it from Kai Kai Gift at level 2 of Chinatown Point. Lastly, I hope you would like these two set of Mickey Bento which perhaps could bring back some of your Disneyland trip or childhood memories.

For the FULL Recipes of these Mickey Bento, you can refer to my Guest Post @ Rasa Malaysia HERE.

Kung Fu Panda Bento Recipe Featured @ inSing

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Last week we have the Angry Birds Bento Recipe(read more HERE) to join in the fever of the Angry Birds Mobil Game. Today we have another bento recipe to catch up with "PO" from Kung Fu Panda which is my 2nd featured bento post over at inSing.com. Same as the preview article, this recipe also provide readers with step-by-step photo illustrations on making the cute Panda Onigiri, Mini Panda(using quail eggs) as well as how to assemble the food in the bento box.

If you are keen to do a Panda Bento for your friends or kids during this June School Holiday, you can take a look at this featured recipe and starts making your very own bento with the guide of details step-by-step photos.

For more details please refer to the article at inSing.com HERE.

Red Angry Birds Bento Featured @ inSing

Continue with the series of Angry Birds Bento fever, I was invited to write a related bento recipe over at inSing.com. This recipe provide readers with step-by-step photo illustrations on making the Angry Bird Onigiri as well as how to assemble the food in the bento box.

[Angry Birds Item Giveaway] Angry Birds Bento - 愤怒鸟便当

I am sure for those who play Handphone/Ipad games you definitely have come across this most popular paid-for game in the Apple App known as “Angry Birds”. My boy whom is a great fan of this game collects all the different character plush toys as well as some other related items such as pencil case, mouse pad, files and etc.

Pooh Pancake Bento

It has being more than a year since my last bento post on making the "Macar Garden". Usually for a traditional bento it consists of rice, fish or meat, and one or more pickled or cooked vegetables that are packed in a box-shaped container. But recent years making of kids’ bento also became a trend in Singapore under the influence of those creative Japanese bento makers. For kids’ bento you can packed anything that your kids prefer in those cute and fashion “bento boxes” that comes in various sizes and designs. (Click HERE for sample)

Here I am packing a "Pancake Bento" which I believes everyone loves pancakes despite whether kids or adults so with some quick and easy pre-packed pancake mixture and extra ingredients like milk and egg you can prepared some delicious pancakes in no time.

I bought this set of "Pooh Face" pancake pan about 2 years back during my craze over these cute bento products. So far I have only tried using it once until recently one of my friend bought me another similar set from her trip. So I decided to use it to make some cute "Pooh Face" pancakes for my boy.

These collage photos show the steps on how to cook the pancake and you could also refer to the instructions below:-

Ingredients:-
200g Pre-mixed Pancake Flour
1 Egg
150ml Fresh Milk
Oil or Soft Butter to grease

Method:
1. In a large mixing bowl add in pancake flour, egg and fresh milk then slowly whisk it with a balloon whisk till well combined.
2. Set the mixture aside for about 2 - 3 minutes, lightly grease and preheat the pooh pancake pan or any small pancake pan till hot.
3. Slowly ladle 1 small scoop of batter and swirl it around the mould/pan.
4. Cook it on low heat for about 2 minutes till the mixture almost dried up and bubbled. (refer to the photo above)
5. Carefully loosen the side of the pancake if using the pooh pancake mould, then flip it over to cook the other side for another 1 minute or so.
6. Remove from pan and continue with the rest of the mixture.
7. Keep it warm and serve with extra butter and maple syrup.


You can easily get a pack of this pre-mixed pancake mixture from any leading supermarkets or you can also use any of your reliable pancake recipes.

My Boy loves Winnie the Pooh so I have some collection of the Pooh related bento items range from bento boxes, food cutters, fork and spoon and etc (Click HERE for sample). So with this lovely "Pooh Pancake Bento" it really brings joy and excitement to him when he gets a set of this for his afternoon tea break. To make this more attractive, I also add in pooh shape butters and some maple syrup in pooh container. Mummies with similar interests I am sure everyone of you can prepared something even better than mine to bring a smile on your kids' face.