Tuna and egg bento
The bare tuna-paste bento was a great success, but with the arrival of my new bento container, I was left with some extra unused space. I decided to fill the space with easy to make and very tasty iri tamago, which is basically a Japanese kind of scrambled eggs! You can definitely use iri tamago in onigiri, or as a small side dish.
Step #1: Ingredients
- 1 cup of rice,
- lettuce leaves,
- tomato,
- 1/2 of a can of tuna (my can contains 150g without fluid, must be without oil),
- mayo,
- 2 eggs,
- 1 spoon of mirin (or 1 teaspoon of sugar),
- salt, pepper, herbs.
Step #2: Utensils
- rice cooker,
- small bowl,
- small colander,
- frying pan,
- bento box.
Step #3: Cook rice (10 minutes)
Wash and cook rice in a rice cooker or a pot. You can see the way I prepare tasty and fluffy rice for my bentos in the video:
You can prepare other ingredients while rice cooks, then fill the rice container with hot rice, then sprinkle with black or white sesame seeds.
Step #4: Prepare vegetables (3 minutes)
Clean, dry and shred the lettuce. Fill the bento container with it, then place slices of a tomato, sprinkle with some salt and dry herbs.
Step #5: Prepare tuna paste (5 minutes)
Drain the tuna in a strainer to remove the moisture. You can flake it with a fork to remove stuck fluid. Move to a bowl.
Gradually start adding mayo to achieve consistency you like. I liked mine smooth, so I added around 2-3 spoons for the whole tuna can. When you're happy with the consistency, you can add around 1/4 teaspoon of salt, pepper, and 1/2 teaspoon of herbs. Mix everything up.
Place tuna in the bento container and shape it with a fork to leave some space for the iri tamago. You can sprinkle it with some dried herbs.
Step #6: Cook iri tamago (5 minutes)
In a small bowl, mix 2 eggs (or a teaspoon of sugar) with mirin, and a pinch of salt.
Fry on a medium-low heat stirring constantly to form cooked lumps of egg. If you used mirin they will be moist, but should be yolk-yellow and without any uncooked egg.
Fill the remaining space in the bento container, sprinkle with black sesame seeds or some dried herbs, and your bento is ready!