Recently I received my copy of Makiko Itoh’s, The Just Bento Cookbook which I picked up online from Amazon. First off, I am a big fan of Maki and her site Just Bento which is full of wonderful recipes, tip, and hints to making and packing healthy bentos. While her cookbook contains a lot of delicious Japanese recipes, I was pleased to find a lot of international recipes as well. Maki’s cookbook is really the complete package, as it not only gives you recipes, but also provides you step-by-step cooking and packing techniques. There are hundreds of beautifully taken photos that will inspire you to get up and make your own beautiful bento.
One of the first recipes that I tried was the Chicken Kara-age with green onion sauce. At first I was taken aback by the amount of fresh ginger that the recipe called for which was 1 teaspoon of fresh grated ginger to 4 ounces of chicken. I made a pound of chicken so I needed to use 4 teaspoons. Personally I love ginger, but I was afraid that it would be too strong for the kids. Anyway, I did as the recipe instructed and I was so impressed with the wonderful flavor of the chicken! The ginger was not overwhelming at all, and my kids and husband absolutely loved it. The chicken was moist and flavorful on the inside and amazingly crunchy on the outside. The green onion sauce was a delicious addition to the chicken, so don’t forget to make that too! The bento pictured is my lunch today which contains Maki’s chicken kara-age on a bed of lettuce, white rice with pearl barley, Japanese pickles, and ume.
This was one of Paige’s bentos from the other day. It contained two snowman onigiri, fried chicken, sauteed broccoli and carrots, and a mini apple.
Pingback: The Just Bento Cookbook, Everyday Lunches To Go and a Few Good … | Indian Chef | Recipe Blog
Susan is back! Yay, I’m so happy to see new posts here. Hope you’ve been well.. First off, the cookbook’s cover caught my eye. I love how simple and fresh it is. We are also loving karaage! I used Shirley’s recipe over at Lovelylanvin.. I can just smell how fragrant your ginger karaage must have been, yummy! The snowmen and reindeer bentos are so cute!
Pingback: The Just Bento Cookbook, Everyday Lunches To Go and a Few Good … » Your Recipe Database
Pingback: Tweets that mention The Just Bento Cookbook, Everyday Lunches To Go and a Few Good (Snow)Men #136 | Hawai`i's Bento Box Cookbook, Bentos and More for Kids -- Topsy.com
Adorable snowmen!! The chicken kara-age sounds delicious, I’d be a little skeptical of that amount of ginger as well. I put the Just Bento cookbook on my Christmas wishlist, hopefully Santa is listening
Hi Susan, Your delicious looking bento makes me anxious for my own copy of Maki’s book.
I’ve been missing your cute bentos…but these cute snowmen made me feel much better! Thanks!
I haven’t got my copy yet but now I can’t wait! This recipe sounds fantastic. I love lots and lots of ginger too, heh.
Glad you’re ushering in the Christmas season with snowmen even when it’s 85 F over there!
Cute, cute, cute snowmen!!! The noses are perfect
I’ve been wanting to get this book … now I really can’t wait …
looks yummy! btw, I see your 2 books on sale at Longs this week! Too bad I’ve got them already but for those in Hawaii who didn’t get a copy yet….would be a good time! And it is also a great xmas gift!
I picked up that book too from a local bookstore. So happy to find it. I’m still waiting for the 2 copies of your book to reach me, which will probably be Jan/Feb next year, oh, what a long way to go yet. I can’t find any of them in local bookstore so will wait for them to come back with my sister coming back for holiday next year!
Pingback: Review by Susan Yuen: The Just Bento Cookbook – Bento Central
Cute snowmen! And chicken kara-age with lots of ginger is my favorite too. ^_^ Delicious looking
Thanks everyone!
I really appreciate the kind comments! Hugs and <3 to you all. 
Hi Susan, thank you so much for the wonderful review! Your karaage looks delicious ^_^