BENTO s e n s e i -

ACCESSORIZE

It's good to own some bento accessories because it's easier, and also adds some spice to your bento! Many of the accessories are usually hard to find in your local supermarket or baking store. And even local japanese stores like DAISO only sell the basic necessities in the range of accessories actually avaliable. Unless you are planning to make a trip to Japan for your holidays etc, the easiest way to obtain some interesting accessories is through the internet (eBay). I currently own quite a decent amount of equipment to make a proper bento, though the rest depends on my cooking skills. (>o<)

Below is the list of my collection of bento accessories and where they are availiable at.
(Click on the images for enlarged version.)

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Chopsticks (Ha-shi はし)
 
Usahana Pink Chopsticks (16.5cm). Kids size.
From: DAISO for $2. Case sold seperately.


Lime Green Chopsticks (18.0cm) Adult size.
From: DAISO for $2

Great to eat sushi with. I used to eating my rice with chopsticks so even if i'm not having sushi, I still use it. For those who are not very comfortable with chopsticks, there are also the miniature spoons and forks that are convenient to take around. I prefer the kids size version because its shorter and is easier to fit into your kinchaku (drawstring bag) or furoshiki without buldging out too much.

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Colouring

Wilton Icing Colouring (35g) and Wilton Decorator Brushes in 3 sizes. Great for colouring food like rice, bread... and many more (which i have left to find out since i havent used these yet). Makes your bento bright and colourful, attracts kids attention in a second! I bought Lemon Yellow, Pink and Sky Blue. The three primary colours. And yes, I am hoping i'll be able to mix these colours to get secondary colours like purple, orange etc. I do this instead of buying each individual colour because you really use VERY VERY little of the dye each time. Furthermore, I wont be colouring my food for every bento. These only last for 2 years after opening. Honestly, i dont think this accessory is important. Its more for your own leisure time. You probably find yourself painting cute designs or pictures to your food only if you have alot of spare time, like me! (during my holidays) Please dont use food colouring to colour your rice. I did this once to colour shaved ice and... UGH terrible terrible taste. I can still remember this from 8 years ago. Thats how bad it is.
Will update again when i've actually used this! Will mixing dye work??

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Cookie Cutters
For cutting vegetables (yam, carrots, cucumber..etc), ham, cheese, bread.. etc. Basically, you can use these to cut anything you can think of to make the lunch look more appettising. It's best to find cutters that are around 1 inch or less in length for cutting smaller veggies like carrots which are more commonly used in bento. Larger ones will limit you to cut only larger veggies like yam but are better for cutting delicate items like bread. Easily avaliable in your local bakery shop.

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Egg Molds

From: Tokyo Gift


The yellow one isnt very clear. Its an icecream shape. Green is a pumpkin. Orange is an onigiri.
From: Tokyo Gift


Left: Blue car and green fish (front) & pink rabbit and orange bear (back) egg molds
From: Tokyo Gift


Cinnamoroll is so cute! I prefer this to the hello kitty version. : )
From: Tokyo Gift

Egg molds are one of the accessories you cant find anywhere else other than in Japan so you have to purchase this online. Molding boiled eggs are pretty simple. The important thing to note is that the yolk has to be in the center of the egg. You dont want to mold your egg finding your yolk about to ooze out from a thin membrane of egg white. It's also better for presentation if you decide to slice the egg in half.

HOW TO:
So how to keep the cooked yolk in the center of the egg? While boiling the egg, you have to roll the egg continuously to prevent the yolk from rising when it cooks. I usually cook my eggs for about 10 minutes. I have heard and read many different and ridiculously tedious ways of boiling eggs to perfection, but for me, i basically the egg (taken right from the fridge) put in a small pot of water, leave it on the stove till it boils, and wait for around another 5-8 minutes. I never get the grey tinge around the yolk when i boil it this way, which happens if your egg is over-cooked. After you have your hot boiled egg, try to peel it while it is still hot (the hotter the better) and be careful not to burn your fingers. Place the hot egg in the egg mold and seal it. Then place it in a bowl of cold water for 15 mins or in the fridge for 10 mins.

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Furoshiki / Kinchaku

A blue usagi (兎, rabbit) kinchaku.
From: Daiso for $2


A furoshiki. The shade of green here looks much better than what it really is. haha. Well.. it's a pretty decent design considering it was the furoshiki of a box of green tea daifuku with chocolate filling.

Furoshiki is a Japanese wrapping cloth used to transport anything, from clothes to gifts. Kinchaku refers to a drawstring bag. Of course, I use furoshiki/drawstring to hold my bento box. I find them useful because it is much easier to carry the lunch box around and it also protects the bento box from scratches and cracks. It is not necessary to find a furoshiki meant for your bento box. Any cotton cloth large enough or even bandanas will do the trick.

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Pancake/Fried Egg Molds
Coming Soon

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Picks

Top Left & Bottom Right: Land animals and Sea animals themed picks!
From: DAISO. (Also avaliable in certain ebay stores)
Top RIght: Motif classic picks.
From: Tokyo Gifts
Bottom Left: Mini fork picks, animal-theme
From Tokyo Gifts

The ones i picked from Daiso are such a great buy! I've placed the picks such that you can see the different lengths available in each packet. I use the shorter ones for sausages, marshmallows, mostly finger food. And the longer ones are used to skewer stuff, like grapes, peas etc. The other picks are just plain cute!

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Rice Molds

Clockwise: Star,flower,heart & triangle shaped rice mold set, cylindrical shape (medium-size), onigiri mold (triangular-shape), rice paddle for rice molds, ball shape, and boy,girl&bear rice mold set.
From: All can be purchase in Daiso except the star,flower,heart & triangal set from Tokyo Gift


From: Tokyo Gift

Rice molds are pretty fun and great tools to decorate the lunch box for kids. I usually use the cylindrical mold to make the rice shape for nigiri, but because the rice is cylindrical, i have to use my hands to give it an capsule-like shape. Even though i can mold onigiri with my hands, when i bought the mold, i always used it. Having a mold makes things faster and cleaner (rice can get sooo sticky sometimes). 

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Sauce Containers

Sauce bottles. Used to store small amounts of liquid sauce, usually soy sauce. The white pipette in the middle is used to draw soy sauce from the main bottle into the small bottle.
From: Daiso and Tokyo Gift


Adorable sauce cups. My favorite collection. Arent they the cutest? I usually use them to store tomato sauce, mayo, butter, jam, honey, or anything thick liquid.
Avaliable in Daiso and Tokyo Gift

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