1 serving.
The most time-consuming part of a stir-fry is cutting up the ingredients. Once you have that done though, the rest is very quick. The bentos in this section can all be made in 10–15 minutes, depending on how fast you can chop! If you have pre-chopped vegetables ready to go, it’s even faster.
You can use your frozen-rice stash for this bento, but it’s also a good way to use up leftover plain rice from takeouts. Add plenty of vegetables to make it a complete one-pan, one-dish bento. Mayonnaise may seem like an odd addition to the stir-fry mix, but it really works.
Ingredients
- 1 cup (200g) cooked plain rice
- 4 broccoli florets
- 1/2 red or yellow bell pepper (or of each)
- 2 teaspoons vegetable oil
- 1 egg
- pinch salt
- 1 green onion, chopped
- 2 oz (60g) cooked ham or other cooked meat, diced
- 1 teaspoon chicken stock granules or Chinese soup-stock paste
- 1 teaspoon soy sauce
- 1/2 tablespoon mayonnaise
- salt and black pepper
Directions
- If using frozen rice, microwave on the high setting for 2 minutes or until the grains fall apart easily. Cut the broccoli florets into small pieces. Chop the bell pepper into small dice.
- Heat up 1 teaspoon of the oil in a frying pan over medium heat. Put in the egg and a pinch of salt, and mix rapidly to make scrambled egg. Take the egg out.
- Put the rest of the oil and the green onion in the same pan, and stir briefly. Add the ham and vegetables, and stir-fry for 4–5 minutes.
- Add the rice and scrambled egg, and stir-fry for 1–2 minutes. Add the chicken stock granules or soup paste, soy sauce, mayonnaise, and plenty of black pepper. Taste, and add a little salt if needed.
Leftovers Tip:Always refrigerate or freeze leftover takeout rice as soon as possible. If you get takeout and have extra rice, put it in the refrigerator right away rather than leaving it out for hours!
More from The Just Bento Cookbook 2:
Cover courtesy of Kodansha
Excerpted with permission from The Just Bento Cookbook 2 by Makiko Itoh (Kodansha, 2018).
