This could definitely be a bento lunch, in fact the recipe came from "The Just Bento Cookbook", but we had it for a Saturday brunch and it was perfect. The following amounts serve two people. For a vegetarian version just leave the salmon out from the salad.
First of all, get your rice on to cook (instructions for perfect short-grain rice are here) and toast up some sesame seeds. Also immerse some wakame seaweed in cold water to rehydrate.
Now mix 4 eggs, 4 tsp sugar, 2 tsp sake, 4 tsp corn flour and a large pinch of salt together in a bowl with a fork. Heat up a small frying pan over a low heat and wipe it with oil, when it's hot pour in a small amount of the egg mixture - about a quarter. Keep these omelettes fairly thin.
When the egg has set, flip the omelette over and cook for a minute on the other side before turning out onto a plate. Repeat until you have at least 4 omelettes, but you'll probably get 5 which means one to eat hot right out of the pan!
When your rice is done, turn it out into a glass bowl with a tbsp of rice vinegar. Fan the rice with one hand while turning and stirring it and the vinegar with a spatula in the other. The rice should go very sticky. Add the toasted sesame seeds and mix through, then leave to one side to cool down.
The salad is very easy to put together. Peel a cucumber and rub salt into the surface, massage it for a few minutes over the sink to firm up the flesh and season it. Then slice it into half moons.
Mix the cucumber with the drained seaweed and the smoked salmon, if using. Whisk up a splash of rice vinegar, a drizzle of toasted sesame oil, a pinch of sugar, black pepper and some shoyu (Japanese soy sauce) to taste.
When the seasoned sesame rice is relatively cool, place a large spoonful in the center of each omelette and fold around into a square. Lay down with the folds on the bottom and sprinkle over some furikake or pickled ginger. Serve with the salad.
This is one of those dinners that is made up of very simple ingredients but which, when put together, becomes much more than the sum of its parts. It's just crispy chicken, bacon, garlic croutons, sesame seeds, raspberry dressing and mixed herb and flower salad. It's soooo good though. Yum, yum, yum.
Season some boneless chicken thighs and brush them with oil. Pop them onto a skillet or heavy based frying pan, skin side first to get crispy before turning them over to do the other side. We've got one of those non-stick grilling machines which makes this pretty fast and easy. Once the chicken is cooked, put it to one side to rest, while you cook some thick-cut bacon peices (sometimes called lardons in the shops). When the chicken has had 5 mins or so to rest, slice it up ready to serve.
To make the croutons, take a couple of thick slices of bread, preferably a day or two old, slice off the crusts and cut it into cubes. Arrange on a shallow tray, drizzle with garlic oil and put under the grill until toasted.
For the salad I used raw courgette slices, cooked chioggia beetroot, cherry tomatoes, nasturtium leaves, sorrel, parsley, marjoram, chives, rocket, spinach, looseleaf lettuce and mixed edible flowers.
The dressing is a mix of extra virgin and light olive oils, raspberry vinegar, salt and pepper, whisked until they combined. If you haven't had raspberry vinegar before, give it a go, it's fabulous stuff.
Finally, toast some sesame seeds to be sprinkled on the top. I served all of the items separately, as they looked really appealing like that, but they combine on the plate perfectly.
