All posts tagged: make ahead

Effortless Bento Picnic Guide – Hanami Bento

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I’m always a fan of picnic, I enjoy eating with friends on the grass and chilling together. Especially during this pandemic, I call myself a picnic-holic for the picnics that I had in the past few months were more than the sum of my pre-pandemic life . Speaking of picnic, Japanese are definitely experts in it. Their well-celebrated tradition of Hanami, or Cherry blossom viewing, can be interpreted as a picnic festival which everyone participates at least once a year. What is Hanami? During cherry blossom season, friends and family have picnics under cherry blossom trees to enjoy the view while eating homemade bento together. I had my Hanami picnic this year with 3 other friends in the Golden Gate park. We visited Japanese tea garden but we decided to have a picnic outside for safety reasons. It’s really relaxing to enjoy bento surrounded by beautiful scenes after one year of shelter in place and working form home. The food and planning for the picnic came out well. I didn’t feel exhausted or pressured and …

Orange Sauce Chicken Roll

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Orange sauce is a traditional Taiwanese dipping sauce made from kamquat and chili. It’s popular in northern Taiwan and was mainly made by Hakka people. It has strong citrus fragrance which makes it a perfect sauce for pork and poultry. I was so surprised to find orange sauce in a Taiwanese organic grocery store the other day. It feels almost like a twenty year reunion with a childhood friend🤣 If you don’t have any Taiwanese friend to bring you some orange sauce, you can simply ignore it or use a little bit of marmalade as a easy replacement. Orange Sauce Chicken Roll Recipe Yield: 2 bento Prep time: 10 minutes (excluding marination time) Cook time: 15 minutes Ingredients: 2 boneless chicken, skin on chicken thigh 1 tablespoon soy sauce (marinade) 1 tablespoon cooking rice wine (marinade) 6-8 string beans, blanched in salt water 6-8 carrots, cut into the same length and thickness as string beans, blanched in salt water 1 tablespoon vegetable oil 1 tablespoon soy sauce 1 tablespoon mirin 2 tablespoon hot water 1.5 …

Sushi Sandwiches/Onigirazu

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Sushi sandwich, or “onigirazu” is by far my favorite picnic food! I’ve made it many times for picnic, hiking, and road trips. It’s really convenient and easy to make. Usually I prep the filling and rice one day before, and in the morning, I only need around 30 minutes to assemble them. Fillings for sushi sandwich is very versatile. Any dish without too much sauce or gravy can work. Here are some of my favorites: Ginger pork Teriyaki chicken Tuna corn salad Tomato Tofu Sauce Spam & omelette SautĂ©ed carrots & omelette SautĂ©ed spinach & mushroom After making sushi sandwiches for so many times, here are some tips that I learned from my past experience: Make sure to use warm or hot rice. This will also soften the seaweed sheet and keep the whole sandwich stick together. When stacking the filling, keep in mind where you will cut the sandwich and plan the cross-section accordingly Let the sushi sandwich sit for a few minutes to set Before cutting each sandwich, rinse your knife to prevent …