Meatball Bento is a popular bento boxes, perhaps because it looks somewhat cute with small meatballs inside the bento box. Meatballs also freeze well, which is perfect for a bento box.
I have written my instructions on how to pack the box to make it look like the photo of the bento box in the post. But you don’t need to place the ingredients in the same way.
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.
- 150g/5.3oz cooked rice (note 1)
- 6 meatballs from the recipe Japanese Pork Meatballs (note 2)
- 50g/1.8oz Baby Mustard Greens and Tuna Salad
- 50g/1.8oz Fried Vegetables in Broth (Agebitashi) (note 3)
- 4 slices each of carrot, cucumber, and daikon from Miso Pickled Vegetables (Vegetable Misozuke)
- A piece of lettuce
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I used a double decker bento box (note 4).
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While the rice is still hot or warm, place the rice in the bento box and let it cool.
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Put the partition divider next to the rice, then put Mustard Greens and Tuna Salad next the divider.
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Put miso pickled vegetables in a silicon okazu cup and place it next to the salad.
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Place agebitashi at one end of the box.
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Place a piece of lettuce against the agebitashi.
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Fill the remaining space with the meatballs.
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. You can pick your favourite sauce. I picked a sweet and sour sauce in this recipe.
3. If you are packing meatballs with teriyaki sauce, instead of sweet and sour sauce, you may want to have a colourful dish with a sour flavour as an alternative. Pickled Carrot and Daikon or Sweet and Sour Pickled Red Cabbage is a good choice.
4. If you are using a single bento box, you may need to use more okazu cups to separate the dishes within a box.
5. It is also a good idea to put the foods that don't require heating in okazu cups, if you are intending to heat the rice and meatballs. Then it is easier to remove the cups before heating the bento.