Today’s bento was inspired by Usagi Bento. I’ve been seeing the recipe for tsukune in my well-worn Japanese cookbook for ages already, but only after seeing it on her journal did I decide to try cooking some. Incidentally, she was also the one who encouraged me to try cooking with konnyaku. So cheers to usagibento-sama!

clockwise from top left:
Steamed rice (garnished with sakura carrots & baby basil leaves), simmered vegetables (carrots, green beans, and konnyaku simmered in a soy-dashi stock), and tsukune (garnished with flat-leaf parsley).

This is the first time I tried cooking tsukune, but I’m quite pleased with the results (since I ate the ones which didn’t fit my bento anymore :P). I was supposed to use usagibento’s recipe but was too lazy to go online this morning so I grabbed my cookbook and improvised away instead.

For dessert, I have flower-shaped kiwi fruit in a separate mini-bento.

Bento glamor shots:

Tsukune v. 27 June 2006

250 g. ground chicken meat
1 egg
1 onion, chopped
1 1/2 tsp sugar
1 1/2 tsp soy sauce
1 tbsp oil

Terriyaki Glaze:
2 tbsp soy sauce
2 tbsp sake
2 tbsp mirin
2 tbsp sugar

Mix together chicken, onion, egg, sugar, and soy sauce. Spread the oil evenly on a flat frying pan, preferably non-stick. Drop balls of batter on the frying pan, not letting them to stick to each other. Let fry gently for 3 minutes, then flip over and fry the other side for another 3 minutes.

While the chicken is frying, mix together the ingredients for the glaze. When both sides of the chicken has been fried, pour the glaze over and let it continue cooking over low heat, flipping over until both sides have been glazed sufficiently and the remaining sauce has thickened.

Originally, the dough mix is supposed to be thick enough to be handled and rolled into balls. It is usually dusted with cornflour afterwards, but since I was happy with the improv I did this morning, I’m listing that version instead. The original recipe can be found in the source cookbook I noted below, though.

Based on the original recipe from:
A Taste of Japan
By Masaki Ko

This entry was posted on Tuesday, June 27th, 2006 at 4:51 am and is filed under bento, recipes. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.