Wednesday, October 3, 2007

Boring Bentos

Top tier: Rice ball with 2-potato filling, string cheese, teriyaki tofu with onions, szechuan sauce in little bottle, mayo dip in the yellow container.

Bottom tier: 2 broccoli bites, 2-potato gyoza, sweet chili garlic sauce in green dog container.
Top tier: teriyaki tofu & onions, string cheese, broccoli bites with mayo dip in the orange kitty container
Bottom tier: rice ball with 2-potato filling, 2-potato gyoza and three little bottles of soy sauce.
I wasn't feeling very well and the boring bentos really reflect that. But they were eaten in the botanical gardens on a nice and sunny afternoon that made me feel a lot better :)

7 comments:

katie.bar.the.door said...

they're not so boring! actually, they look really tasty... one question about the gyoza, though: do you buy it or make it? either way, will you give some details? thanks!
katie

Natakiya said...

Thank you! :)

I usually make mine because it's difficult to find vegetarian gyoza pre-made. Or rather, I buy the gyoza wrappers and make my own filling.

The best thing to do for learning to make gyoza is to go to Cookingcute.com's tutorial:
http://www.cookingcute.com/gyoza_pleating.htm

That is how I learned, it's a fantastic tutorial (and there are lots of other tutorials too). My recipe is based on hers, I've just adapted it to suit my husband's tastes.

Christine said...

The broccoli bites look delicious. I've never had them nor am I an broccoli person but it just looks so appetizing.

I'm hungry.

katie.bar.the.door said...

thanks for sharing that, natakiya! i'm definitely going to make some of these soon. and probably a rather large batch at that, since they're freezer-friendly. yum!

Natakiya said...

Christine: Thanks! The broccoli bites definately are tasty, they also have cheese in them and even my daughter likes them (thank goodness...).

Katie: You're welcome, I love sharing tips with people and Cookingcute.com has sooo much awesome info! Good luck with your gyoza :D

katie.bar.the.door said...

just wanted to let you know that i did make gyoza, thanks to the combined efforts of you and cookingcute!

or rather, i made gyoza-like things. i could only find wonton wrappers--which tasted fine, but were impossible to wrestle into the proper dumpling shape. so i made them into little square-crossed pillow-like shapes.

at any rate, though not quite as cute as your lil guys, i'm so glad i tried it! they were great--and will be, as i have a ton in the freezer now too!

Natakiya said...

Wow, that's great! Congratulations :) The important part is that you enjoy the taste. If all that you can find for wrappers are the square ones you might try cutting circles out of them with big cookie cutters so that you can get the 'right' shape. If I remember correctly they cut okay and then you can deep fry the cut-off corners to make crispy soup crackers!