Year of the Dragon Bento

15 comments


Hello again, everyone :)! I had been wanting to make a dragon-themed bento to celebrate the Chinese New Year and today I managed to overcome my laziness and made one :). Chinese New Year was always quite important to me when I was a little girl because it was the time when I would get 'red envelopes' filled with 'lucky money', so I always enjoyed visiting my relatives and parents' friends to get those red envelopes, haha ;). But now that I am married, I think that I am no longer eligible to receive those envelopes and I believe it's now my turn to give out red envelopes instead. But since I live in Germany, I don't have anyone to give out red envelopes to - maybe this is a good thing...;)??




I have to admit the dragon was quite complicated to make, but it's worth it because I am so proud that in the end it really does look like a (Chinese-style) dragon ;)!! The body of the dragon is made out of cheese, carrot and nori and the head of the dragon is made out of cheese, crab stick, carrot, nori and soy paper.

The pink, round balls above the dragon are meant to be red lanterns - they are made out of boiled quail eggs which I coloured with beet juice.

The big sakura bento box contains tamagoyaki (omelet with slices of fish cakes and chopped onion), Peking pork chops, garlic & chili shrimps, kimchi mandu and ebi fry.

The round, pink thingy next to the bento boxes is red bean mochi which I bought from my local Asian store.

Peking Pork Chops
Adapted from Rasa Malaysia

Marinade
  • 500 grams pork tenderloin, cut into bite sized pieces
  • 1 egg
  • 1 tablespoon cornstarch
  • 1/2 teaspoon Shaoxing wine
  • 1/2 teaspoon salt
Sauce
  • 1 1/2 tablespoons tomato ketchup
  • 1/2 tablespoon plum sauce
  • 1/2 tablespoon chili sauce
  • 1/4 teaspoon sweet bean sauce, or Hoisin sauce
  • 1 tablespoon Worcestershire sauce
  • 1 1/2 tablespoons black vinegar
  • 1 1/2 tablespoons sugar
  • small pinch of Chinese Five Spice powder, optional
  • 2 tablespoons water
  1. Marinade pork with Shaoxing wine, salt, egg and cornstarch for 30 minutes.
  2. In a separate bowl, mix the sauce ingredients. Set sauce mixture aside.
  3. Deep fry the pork slices until golden brown. Set aside.
  4. Bring sauce to a quick boil. Toss in the deep fried pork slices, stir and coat well with the sauce.
  5. Sprinkle with toasted sesame seeds.
Garlic and Chili Shrimps
  • 500 grams shrimps
  • 1 tablespoon olive oil
  • 1 tablespoon chopped garlic
  • 1 tablespoons chopped (seeded) chili
  • 2 tablespoons Shaoxing wine
  • 1 1/2 tablespoons soy sauce
  • Sugar and white pepper to taste
  1. Heat the oil. Add chopped garlic and chili. Stir-fry until fragrant.
  2. Add shrimps and stir well.
  3. Add Shaoxing wine, soy sauce, sugar and white pepper.
  4. Cook for another minute and turn off the heat. Serve.





Happy Chinese New Year to everyone who celebrates it :)! I think the opening theme of the film 'Once Upon a Time in China' suits the atmosphere of Chinese New Year well. Enjoy the music!

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15 comments:

  1. Oh, I love your auspicious bento and dragon! Very pretty!

    Wishing you a prosperous, joyful and healthy dragon year! :)

    ReplyDelete
  2. Hi there,

    I love the flower bento box, especially the dividers.

    what's the name of it/who makes it?

    I'd love to buy one.

    Thanks

    ReplyDelete
  3. CG, the dragon looks really impressive! I can only imagine how complicated it was... This New Year's bento feast looks delicious, as always! Happy Chinese New Year!

    ReplyDelete
  4. @ anonymous - you can buy the Bento box from casabento.com, here is the direct link: http://casabento.com/shop/en/289-bento-box-urara-jyubako-black.html

    ReplyDelete
  5. Look beautiful, Happy Chinese New Year!!!

    ReplyDelete
  6. Thank you for the reply but it is not in stock.

    Does anyone now where I can get the flower ento from?

    ReplyDelete
  7. I love the dragon! He looks wonderful! Thank you for the videos, I enjoyed them a lot!

    Happy Year of the Dragon to you! :D

    ReplyDelete
  8. delicious looking colourful bento happy new year

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  9. I am a dragon; Happy Chinese New Year. We finally have and Asian restaurant that serve Bento Boxes. We love them. but they don't compare to your creations.
    Rita

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  10. @ Anonymous - you can also buy it here in Amazon.de, but I think it only ships around Europe (I don't know where you live) and the price is also more expensive than Casabento: http://www.amazon.de/HAKOYA-54108-Nidan-Jyuubako-Kuro-Sakura-Usagi/dp/B001IWOS0C/ref=sr_1_24?ie=UTF8&m=A3HOBSLA9PF0TX&s=generic&qid=1327242560&sr=1-24

    ReplyDelete
  11. Thank you again CG!

    I do live in Europe.

    I've found it for cheaper at "Bento&co"
    but I've never ordered from them before.

    I'm a bit worried as it is quite expensive that it will be charged a lot at customs, have you used them before?

    Do they mark as gift I wonder?

    Sorry for all the questions and thanks again.

    ReplyDelete
  12. @ Anonymous - I have bought from Bento&Co once. They have nice products but since it's located in Japan, it took longer to arrive in Germany, around 3 weeks I think, and I was also charged 20% customs tax :( - but this is German law, maybe it's cheaper where you live, you have to find out about the customs yourself.

    ReplyDelete
  13. 你的燈籠相當別緻、可愛,讓人會心一笑。

    ReplyDelete