care and share bento- 爱心便当:)

after all the pigging out at fraser island last week, i was determined to lead a healthy lifestyle this week. so it's full on gym junkie mode for me and thankfully, i have the lovely companionship of jazi to get me started:)

since i've resolved to be healthy, i decided to encourage my friends to be so by making them a healthy bento dinner for tuesday (which is good timing since we are usually rushing to church for worship practice on tue:P)...and here's what i've made: rice burger with broiled beef , veggy and tofu patties in sweet red wine sauce!

bearing in mind the different preferences of the recipients, i came up with the following combinations for the burgers:

here's the picture of jazi's pre-assembled HIGH FIBRE and LOW CARB burger...hahaha tried to stack as much veggy as i could on hers but they kept falling down:(

and tada! the above is the final product for jazi! monster veggy burger!next burger! for ron who also joins the body attack class (really tough!) is the HIGH PROTEIN and HIGH CARBS burger...not sure if i should add in lettuce in case i couldn't close up the burger after all the huge stash below!hmm...decided to add in more greens after all! more veggy is more fibre and vitamins!hahaha...last but not least...an ALL BALANCED burger for wins, our beautiful and dedicated choir mistress! she's so funny because she sometimes don't eat dinner till late on tuesday even though she has the day off! but that shows how committed she is to being on time for music pract and she deserves a little care and share package too:)

and in case you're thinking that all 3 burgers look the same, here's proof that there were indeed, 3 of them!

now...drumroll for the recipe, proudly concocted by myself after assembling a mixture of recipes from previous experiences:

ingredients: 500g beef mince, 150g firm tofu (make sure well drained), 1/2 red capsicum (diced), 1 large portobello mushroom (diced), 1 medium sized onion (diced), 2 TB coriander or chopped spring onion, 1 TB garlic (minced)

seasonings (mainly by my estimation and by memory, maybe wrong): 2TB soy sauce, sprinkling of salt, sprinkling of coarse black pepper according to taste, 1 TB sugar, 2TB red wine, 1 TB dashi/beef stock powder/ terayaki sauce (whichever available), 2TB sesame oil, 1TB cornflour or some breadcrumbs to bind

burger: 2 cups medium grain rice makes 6 rice patties and some small leftovers, season with japanese rice sprinkles (comes in small packages of wakame, sesame seed etc), sprinkle of sesame oil and rice vinegar (white vinegar will do too)

sauce:3 TB light soy sauce, 1TB dashi stock/use soba noodle sauce for convenience, 3TB red wine, 1 TB honey, 1 TB brown sugar

Steps:

1) Mix all ingredients for beef patties together with the stated seasonings till well combined.

2) Shape the beef mixture into patties according to preferences and add some cornflour or breadcrumbs (can use day-old bread and crumble in blender if unavailable at home) if not too solid.

3) Prepare sauce: Simmer sauce ingredients over low heat and stir well and consistently ( this IMPORTANT! the honey can cause yr sauce to burn if u r not careful!). turn off heat once well combined.

4) Preheat frying pan. Add oil (use olive oil for healthier options) and wait till bubbles form. place meat patties gently onto frying pan and let it brown on both sides. be careful not to burn your patties! carbon is NOT GOOD! but a little carbon is TASTY!hahaha

5) once both sides of patties have browned, add in warm sauce and let the meat patties broil in the sauce for about 10 min on one side (depends on your stove and the size of your patties) and 5 minutes on the other. turn down fire abit if sauce is burning ( you want a thick sauce, not a burnt sauce!)

6) when sushi rice cooks, keep moist in rice cooker and add in seasoning as stated. using clean and wetted hands, shape the sushi rice into balls, press down and compact on sides to make a patty ( need some skill here! wear food handling gloves if u can't take the heat! the hot rice burnt my hands quite a bit yesterday)

7) now...pretty pretty time...shred some carrots and lettuce and start assembling the burger! add thickened sauce on top of patties/ veggy for extra taste!

don't be daunted by my long instructions! it's not as tedious as you think! try it and tell me you love it! or wait till i open my own restaurant (Gramps Kitchen) to have a taste! hahaha

oh can't wait to make more of such bentos! it feels good to care and share!

much love
granny bear