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Home » Collections - Bento » BENTO BOX – Pork Shōgayaki Bento

June 11, 2019 By Yumiko 7 Comments

BENTO BOX – Pork Shōgayaki Bento

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Pork Shōgayaki Bento (Ginger Pork) is one of the very popular bento and it is very filling. A thinly sliced sautéed pork has full of ginger and soy sauce flavour. By placing Pork Shōgayaki on rice, the sweet soy sauce flavour goes onto the rice, making it so flavoursome.

Top-down photo of Pork Shōgayaki Bento which contains Pork Shōgayaki, small tomatoes, boiled eggs on shredded lettuce and Lotus Root and Spinach salad.

In my last bento post, Bento Box – Teriyaki Salmon Bento, I talked about how the majority of households prepare bento ahead of time. Today’s bento consists of 5 items in addition to rice but two of them are leftovers from 1-2 days ago. Other items are quick to prepare.

What’s in Pork Shōgayaki Bento

The ingredients for today’s Bento Box are listed below.

Ingredients to make up of Pork Shōgayaki Bento - Pork Shōgayaki, small tomatoes, boiled eggs on shredded lettuce and Lotus Root and Spinach salad.

COOKED RICE – it is best to cook rice fresh in the morning if possible but can be made ahead. Please refer to How to Cook Rice the Japanese Way. Pack the cooked rice in a bento box while the rice is still hot or warm as it is easier to shape it. Let it cool down before adding other ingredients. Do not fill rice too much as  you will put the Pork Shōgayaki on it.

PORK SHŌGAYAKI (GINGER PORK) – left over from dinner or make ahead. The pork in this bento is about 100g/3.5oz – two slices in my case. I used pork loin for this bento but you can use pork neck/collar. See more about Pork Shōgayaki in the next section.

LOTUS ROOT AND SPINACH SALAD – this is a variation of Lotus Root and Mizuna Salad in my post. Instead of mizuna, I used blanched spinach, but of course you can use mizuna as per the recipe.  You will need about 1/8-1/10 of the quantity made in Lotus Root and Mizuna Salad recipe. You can make this salad the day before.

BOILED EGG – make ahead a few days earlier if you want. Cut it in half just before packing with a tiny pinch of gomashio (胡麻塩, black sesame seeds and salt) as decoration. Please visit Rice with Azuki Beans (Osekihan) for details about gomashio including how to make it.

SHREDDED LETTUCE – Fresh salad leaves to add green colour to the bento. It can be other salad leaves or sliced cucumbers.

BABY TOMATOES – I needed red in my bento. Boiled carrot pieces or red grapes can work, too.

Photo of Pork Shōgayaki Bento which contains Pork Shōgayaki, small tomatoes, boiled eggs on shredded lettuce and Lotus Root and Spinach salad.

Pork Shōgayaki (Ginger Pork) on Rice

I previously posted three bento recipes. They are Tonkatsu Bento, Chicken Karaage Bento and Teriyaki Salmon Bento. Unlike these bento boxes, I placed Pork Shōgayaki on the rice.

This is a great way of packing a bento when the dish comes with some sauce. The sauce from the Shōgayaki drops onto the rice and makes it so flavoursome.

In this recipe, I cut the pork into large bite size pieces so that it is easier to pick up with chopsticks and eat. But if you want, you can place the pork slices as a whole on the rice to get a gutsy feel when you bite into it.

Zoomed-in photo of the rice flavoured in Pork Shōgayaki Sauce.

Boiled Egg is Great for Bento

Boiled egg keeps a few days in the fridge and it is a handy food to have for bento. The yellow of egg yolk gives an instant colourfulness to the bento. When you feel like you need a bit more protein or colour in the bento, just cut it in half and place them.

If you don’t have enough space to add two, just one half egg will be sufficient to brighten up the bento box. You can also dice them and sprinkle over the salad.

So always have some boiled eggs in the fridge.

About Furoshiki (Traditional Japanese Wrapping Cloth)

When I took a bento box to school or to work, I always wrapped the bento box in a square cloth called furoshiki (風呂敷). It is used to not only wrap a bento box but also a gift box, a bottle of sake, an important envelope, etc. It is a very authentic way of carrying a present in Japan.

The photo below shows how to wrap today’s bento box with a chopsticks case. Carry the bento box by holding where the bow is.

showing how to wrap a bento box with Furoshiki (Traditional Japanese wrapping cloth).

Material for furoshiki can be silk, rayon, cotton, polyester, nylon. For a bento box, I use cotton furoshiki as it is easy to clean.  Some of them have beautiful patterns on them. Some are woven to have different colours on each side to make it reversible.

Different kinds of Furoshiki.

There are three furoshiki in this photo (from top right clockwise): Thin cotton with flowers, red & purple reversible rayon, thick cotton with cranes.

It is an art to wrap different shapes in a furoshiki. You can see the examples of wrapping methods here. Examples are all in Japanese but you get the idea from the step-by-step images.

Enjoy great looking delicious bento – Pork Shōgayaki Bento!

YumikoYM_Signature

Top-down photo of Pork Shōgayaki Bento which contains Pork Shōgayaki, small tomatoes, boiled eggs on shredded lettuce and Lotus Root and Spinach salad.
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BENTO BOX – Pork Shōgayaki (Ginger Pork)
Prep Time
10 mins
Total Time
10 mins
 

One of the very popular bento, Pork Shōgayaki Bento is very filling. By placing Pork Shōgayaki on rice, the sweet soy sauce flavour goes onto the rice, making it so flavoursome.

Pork Shōgayaki (Ginger Pork) Bento consists of cooked rice and just a couple of dishes with a boiled egg and fresh veggies.

Because bento is usually made mostly from left-over dishes or make-ahead dishes, the time indicated in this recipe only shows the time to pack the bento box.

Recipe Type: Main
Cuisine: Japanese
Keyword: bento, bento box, ginger pork, pork shōgayaki
Serves: 1
Author: Yumiko
Ingredients (tbsp=15ml, cup=250ml)
  • 1 cup cooked rice (note 1)
  • 100g/3.5oz Pork Shōgayaki (Ginger Pork) with sauce (note 2)
  • 50g/1.8oz Lotus Root and Spinach Salad (note 3)
  • 1/2 cup shredded lettuce (note 4)
  • 1 boiled egg cut in half
  • A pinch of gomashio (optional, note 5)
  • 2 baby tomatoes
  • A bento box of your choice
Instructions
  1. While the rice is still hot or warm, place it in the largest compartment of the bento box (note 6), allowing for the pork slices to be placed on top. Let it cool.

  2. Cut the Pork Shōgayaki into large bite size pieces. Place them on the rice so that the rice is completely covered. Then pour the sauce over it.

  3. Put Lotus Root and Spinach Salad in one of the empty compartments. If your bento box does not have compartments, use a foil cupcake liner to put it in.

  4. In the other empty compartment, spread lettuce and place boiled eggs with the cut side up. Sprinkle gomashio in the centre of the egg yolks if using.
  5. Put the tomatoes in the corner of the main section next to the Ginger Pork.
Recipe Notes

1. It is best to pack cooked rice in a bento box while hot or warm as it is easier to shape the rice into the bento box.

2. When you put aside the cooked pork for bento, make sure to save some sauce too.

3. I used the recipe Lotus Root and Mizuna Salad, but I substituted mizuna with blanched spinach. The spinach was cut to 5cm long after blanching.

4. I am one of those people who can eat fresh salad leaves with no dressings. But if you need to add flavouring to the lettuce, bring salad dressing of your choice in a small container with the bento box and pour it over when eating.

5. Gomashio (胡麻塩) is black sesame seeds and salt sold in a bottle or a packet. Please visit Red Rice with Azuki Beans (Osekihan) for details and photo of gomashio.

6. If your bento box does not have separate compartment, you can use a sheet of baking paper or a couple of pieces of salad leaves to separate the rice from the rest of section.

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Filed Under: All Recipes, Collections - Bento, Main, Pork, Vegetables

Reader Interactions

Comments

  1. Jonny says

    July 15, 2019 at 6:17 am

    Oh boy! Did I ever goof up.

    Yumiko,

    I’m sorry, I did not realize that this recipe did not come from Nagi. But my question still holds. Is there a way to round out the bento box meal without using rice?

    Thanks

    Reply
    • Yumiko says

      July 15, 2019 at 7:11 pm

      Hi Jonny, no worries. Quite few people get confused as just one click on Nagi’s site switches to my site. I read about cauliflower rice as a substitution for rice and I think it should go very well with Pork Shōgayaki. You could also replace rice with tofu.

      Reply
  2. Jonny says

    July 15, 2019 at 6:12 am

    Hi Nagi, I love your website and have used your recipes while adapting it to my dietary needs. Unfortunately I am diabetic but would love to give the bento boxes a try. Can you offer any substitutions for rice while still keeping the authenticity of the bento box meal? Should I just add vegetables to round out the meal? I am not well versed in Japanese cooking so I was wondering if I should strive for veggies prepared using spices/seasonings/prep methods that are typically used in Japanese cooking? The last thing I’d want to do is prepare all of the other items they may not be as tasty as the other items in the box.
    Whew! Thanks.

    Reply
  3. Michael says

    July 12, 2019 at 5:10 am

    Hello Jane

    I am so glad I stumbled upon your website. My wife and I are real foodies. I have to say your ginger pork recipe is the best I ever had. Most of these types of dishes are very salty however this is perfect and is a refreshing new flavour for us. With the ginger pork it we made our own style of bento boxes using whatever we had on hand. Anyone reading use any extra sauce on your veg or rice. The flavour is amazing. Thanks Jane BTW your Lemon Sauce Fish recipe is equally amazing!!

    Reply
    • Yumiko says

      July 12, 2019 at 8:52 am

      Hi Michael, thank you! But I am Yumiko, not Jane. Jane is the lady who placed a comment most recently. Ginger Pork is one of the popular mains for bento box in Japan. We know why, don’t we?

      Reply
  4. Jane says

    June 30, 2019 at 1:15 pm

    Hi Yumiko (and Nagi!)
    Thanks so much for your blog and recipes – it’s my new go too along with Nagi!
    Is there any possibility that you could do some videos like Nagi does? I’m such a visual learner, and desperately trying to increase my Japanese cuisine repoirtoire! I love watching Nagi’s videos and have tried so many more of her recipes now that I can watch it first!
    I have friends who say the same – how good it would be to watch a video of Yumiko ‘s different recipes! I think it would be really popular.
    Thanks for blogging
    Jane

    Reply
    • Yumiko says

      July 1, 2019 at 9:38 am

      Hi Jane, thank you very much. I am currently not equipped with video taking. I added a video to some of my popular recipes but they were created with Nagi’s help. It will take time but I am trying to add videos when I can, even if it is a slow process. Sorry but I am aware of needing videos.

      Reply

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Hi, I’m Yumiko!

I was born and raised in Japan and migrated to Australia with my family in 1981. I got tired of my kids constantly asking me for their favourite Japanese recipes, so I decided to collate them in one place so they can help themselves - and now you can too! Read More…

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