Altogether now, say- “Phew, thank goodness Susan didn’t make another tiger bento!”. 
I took a break from the tigers and made Sean and myself a super simple chicken and shiitake mushroom rice bento. In addition to the chicken and shiitake mushroom, there was lotus root, carrots, and peas in the rice too. It was very easy to make because I just threw everything into the rice cooker and let it do all of the work. In the side compartment I also packed a clementine for Sean and a few veggies for myself.
Chicken and Shiitake Mushroom Rice Recipe
Ingredients:
- 2 cups rice washed and drained
- 2 cups chicken broth
- 2 tablespoons soy sauce
- 2 tablespoons mirin
- 2 teaspoon sugar
- 6 ounces raw skinless chicken tenders or thighs cut into small 1/2 inches pieces
- 1/2 cup thinly sliced shiitake mushrooms
- 1/4 cup thinly sliced and julienned carrots
- 1/4 cup lotus root thinly sliced and chopped
- 1/4 cup frozen peas
In a bowl combine the chicken broth, soy sauce, mirin, and sugar and mix well until all of the sugar has dissolved. Add liquid mixture to the washed rice. To the top of the rice add in the chicken, mushrooms, carrots, and lotus root and pat down until covered with the liquid, but don’t mix in. Cover and turn on rice cooker. When finished cooking add in the frozen peas and mix the rice to distribute all of the ingredients evenly. Vegetarian option: use thinly sliced aburaage, hijiki, or edamame (about 3/4 to 1 cup) in place of the chicken and vegetable broth in place of the chicken broth.
Geri from Northern California asked me for tips on organizing bento gear so I decided to post some pictures of my collection. I use sterilite drawers to hold my musubi molds, divider cups, sauce containers, cutters, and other miscellaneous gear. As you can see, it’s not very neat but I can always find what I’m looking for. Next to the drawers on the right, I have my nori punches, picks, and smaller cutters stored in see-thru plastic containers. See-thru is key when you have a ton of stuff because it makes things easier to find.
My collection of nori punches. Although I really only use the top left green punch and the small smiley face punch on the bottom. I also use my scissors a lot to cut out other things like ears, mouths, or stripes.
Here are some pics of the fishing lure boxes that contain my picks and miscellaneous small cutters.
