Teriyaki & Tempura

Bento Box Edition

In junior high, my Japanese language teacher took our class to the Cowra Japanese Gardens. It was all day long trip.
(I remember arriving back to school at night and it being the weirdest sensation.)

But definitely one of the most memorable excursions I can recall. 

The gardens were amazing, my favorite part was watching the caretakers create patterns in the pebbled rocks long rakes.

At lunchtime, we had a tea ceremony and they served us traditional bento box lunches.

When you're a kid and you get a meal that looks like a gift, it's pretty much the most exciting thing ever. I remember the food being both adorable and delicious!

When I crave the Umami flavors in Japanese cuisine, my top three go-to dishes I like to make are ramen, sushi and or anything covered in teriyaki sauce!

You can buy teriyaki sauce in a bottle, but once I learned how to make my own, I can never go back... it's too easy and I can use the ingredients in many other Japanese dishes.

Yesterday, I wanted to make Teriyaki chicken, but I had some veggies in my fridge I needed to use too, so I decided to do tempura shrimp (with homemade dipping sauce) steamed edamame with rice in a Bento box for dinner.

Here's what I made with what I had in my fridge:
(Feel free to substitute the ingredients with whatever you prefer.)

Main Ingredients:

Sliced chicken breast (wash in cold water before cutting)
3-4 Shishito peppers (washed and cut in half, stems removed)

Rice (I used sushi rice)

Edamame (About a handful per person)

Zucchini (4-5 slices per person)

Sweet Potatoes (4-5 slices per person)

Teriyaki Chicken Marinade:

-1 tsp Sugar

-1 Tbs Soy sauce

-1 Tbs Mirin

-1 Tbs Sake (or other rice wine for cooking)
-1 clove Garlic (chopped) 
- Ginger (chopped, same amount as garlic)

Mix ingredient together with and pour marinate mixture over prepared chicken.
Set aside in fridge while preparing other dishes bento.

Teriyaki Chicken:

Heat oil in large pan.
Add Shishito peppers. Cook for a few minutes before adding chicken and marinate.
Stir occasionally for approximately 20mins or until chicken is fully cooked.

Tempura veggies:

-Tempura flour 

-Cold water

-Salt
-Oil

Mix tempura flour with cold water into a thin batter.
add salt and mix well making sure batter has no lumps.
Coat your choice of veggies with batter.
Heat oil in skillet to medium- medium high.
Shallow fry veggies, turning occasionally.
Place aside on paper towel to absorb access oil.

Tempura dipping sauce:

-Soy sauce

-Dashi granules*

-Hot water

-Mirin (sweet)

*(If you can't find Dashi, I have used white miso paste mixed with about a tsp of fish sauce as a substitute, which worked great!)

First, add hot water to Dashi granules, stir until dissolved.
Once dissolved, mix all ingredients together in a small bowl.

Steamed garlic edamame:

-Edamame

-Water

-Garlic salt (Or just use regular salt with garlic powder)

Steam edamame in microwave with water for a few minutes.

Drain leftover water.
Add Salt and Garlic seasoning- mix well
(Optional: drizzle with soy sauce)

Rice:

I made 1 cup of  rice (washed)

to 1 and a 1/2 cups of water (makes enough for 2-3 people)

Once you've prepared all your dishes, you can assemble them in the Bento Box of your choice. I got mine at the Asian market near me, but if you can't find any near you, there are of plenty of options online.

Enjoy!
(I'm excited to make and share more bento box variations in the future.)