I hope you are enjoying the bentos I have shared so far. Some of you might be wondering if I’m planning to share Japanese Character Bento (kyaraben キャラ弁) one day. If you are not familiar with Character Bento, take a look at this link.
The character bentos are really cute and I am sure my children will be excited to have such bentos. I can imagine the smile on their face each day as they open the bentos for lunch, being surprised by new characters. But realistically I don’t have the time to make them since the children are still a bit young and need lots of help in the morning.
In the mean time, I will continue to share my quick and easy bento recipes using previous day’s leftovers or individually packed leftover meals that I stored in freezer. I hope my tips help moms or dads or anyone who pack lunches so let me know if you have any questions.
As you see, today’s bento is very simple. There are two main dishes in here: Asparagus Beef Rolls and Onigiri. The rest of menus are healthy veggies and fruits.
So what do you think makes the bento appealing and somewhat pretty? (if I am allowed to say so myself…)
Well, it’s the colors!
I shared about how important it is to use colors in bento in this post. I cannot stress this enough. If you want to make quick and easy and pretty bentos, then mastering using multi-colors is a must (do I sound like Yoda?). I’m planning to write more about bento making tips and techniques that I think will be useful for everyone. But for now, let’s go over today’s recipe.
Previous Dinner was:
Asparagus Beef Rolls (adapted from Baby Carrot Beef Rolls recipe).
Instead of baby carrots, I used thin asparagus. But the method of cooking is the exactly same. I rolled asparagus into this thin sliced beef that we use for “Shabu Shabu“.
If you don’t have an access to Japanese supermarket to get this kind of beef, you can slice your own meat. Thinly sliced beef or pork will work for this recipe.
Lunch Next Day:
- Asparagus Beef Roll Bento
- Water bottle
For those of you who are new to Onigiri (Japanese Rice Balls), here’s the recipe.
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- Onigiri (Rice Ball)
- Asparagus Beef Rolls
- Edamame
- Oranges
- Grapes
- Cherry tomatoes
- Make Onigiri and let it cool.
- Reheat asparagus beef rolls in a frying pan. Set aside to let it cool.
- Cook edamame according to the package directions. Set aside to let it cool.
- Cut oranges into small pieces and rinse grapes and cherry tomatoes.
- Wait until all the food cools down, then neatly pack into bento box.
- Make sure all the food are cools down completely before closing the bento box.
[Please read FOOD SAFETY TIPS].
* This lunch is for my 6-year-old son.
Recipe by Namiko Chen of Just One Cookbook. All images and content on this site are copyright protected. Please do not use my images without my permission. If you’d like to share this recipe on your site, please re-write the recipe in your own words and link to this post as the original source. Thank you.
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Lawyer Loves Lunch
I love the idea of veggies wrapped in beef 🙂
Sandra's Easy Cooking
I love the idea asparagus wrapped in that juicy beef. Great bento idea, and I am looking forward when you start making characters…I am like a big kid!:) Delicious and colorful combination and I loveee onigiri, simple and fulfilling!
albertocook
delicious
Elizabeth @Mango_Queen
Oh my goodness, can you please pack my bento box for work, too? This is absolutely amazing. Your son will enjoy his lunch and his classmates will envy him! Thanks for the recipe of the asparagus beef rolls and the Japanese Rice Balls. I should try these – am sure my family will love it. Thanks for sharing such a great and helpful post, Nami!
Belinda @zomppa
I want this for my bento box!! Loving these rolls – brilliant idea.
Ellena | Cuisines Paradise
Your Asparagus Beef Roll Bento is sooo cute and yummy! I love your style of Onigiri 🙂
Maureen | Orgasmic Chef
You Yoda? I think not. You are much too pretty. I will accept that in the bento design business, you are my queen. 🙂
cakewhiz
your 6 year old is so lucky to have you as his mommy 🙂
this bento lunch is healthy and pretty… what more would a child want?! hehehe
Jen @ Savory Simple
I always love your bento posts! One day I’ll have to pack lunch for myself or someone else and I’ll get around to making one 🙂
sheri
Super scrumptious, Nami!! Did he gobble it all? I miss when my kids’ appetite was this cute and small. I want to try making this too; looks delicious!
Raymund
In bento or not I would definitely gorge on those beef rolls
Beth
Nami, the link for the recipe for baby carrot beef rolls opens to Chicken Katsu….just wanted to let you know. I am going to search for it as I would like to make this for my grand daughter. She would love it. I will do both carrots and asparagus. Now to see if I can find the right meat to cut for Shabu Shabu style! Thank you for great cooking, Japanese style!
Nami
Thank you Beth for letting me know. I fixed the link. 🙂 Glad to hear you like the recipe. Hope you enjoy! 🙂
ashley - baker by nature
Ooooooh, Nami – these asparagus beef rolls look dreamy! I think I’m going to move to SF so you can pack me bento lunches, too 😉
[email protected]
These bento posts are so much fun. And I totally agree with you about the importance of color in these. You have a great sense of color, and it shows not only in your bentos, but really in every dish you make (and your photography). I love that combo fork & spoon! So cute. Another great post – thank you.
Eha
OK, Namiko-san: you ‘fix’ me one of these bento boxes and, just somehow, I’ll stretch my arm right across the Pacific and grab it when you are not looking!! So healthy, so much fun!! Containing all my favourite ingredients!!!
Nami
Thank you for your kind words Eha! 🙂
Eri
They are just amazing I love all your bentos, I love the idea of the meat cooked that way and it;s really versatile!
Laura (Tutti Dolci)
I love the asparagus wrapped in beef and all the vibrant colors in this bento!
Hotly Spiced
I’ve noticed and admired the colours in all your bento posts. It just makes the food look so inviting and these would be so appealing to children too. I love the look of your beef rolls. I haven’t made anything like that before and would like to try them xx
Lorraine @ Not Quite Nigella
Hehe your kids are so lucky! I bet they have so many other kids dying to trade lunch with them! 😀
Ella-Home Cooking Adventure
Love all your Bento recipes, are very appetizing and full of fresh colors:) Very inspiring.
Mandy - The Complete Cook Book
You always have the most beautifully presented meals and dishes Nami and always so appetising too.
🙂 Mandy xo
Andrea
Nami, I like the idea of adding green asparagus to your Beef Rolls but we only get asparagus (mostly white one) from April to June around here and I am sure that the lovely carrots taste wonderful in these Beef Rolls – this must be a dish that kids absolutely adore, sweet carrots and beef, all rolled up and presented in such a pretty way, what more could one want?! You are so very right about the “colors”, they do make a whole lot of difference when serving meals of any kind that will please the eyes as well as the palate!
Lara
Nami, great Bento! How I wished my brain functioned well enough in the morning to fix these! One question: no shabu shabu sliced beef around here, should I ask the butcher to slice frozen beef? And what kind of beef? Thanks!!
Nami
Hi Lara! Check this following link for further information. You can purchase the meat and slice on your own. It’s actually pretty easy to do (but need a very sharp knife!). 🙂
https://www.justonecookbook.com/pantry/thinly-sliced-meats/
kat
another great looking bento!
Jenny
I want to be your child, Nami!
hui
i love asparagus beef rolls! and your boy’s yummy bento ^^ thanks for the link to the recipe.. looks simple and do-able ^^ i will try it out soonest ^^
My Kitchen Stories
Your kids are going to grow up very healthy Nami if they eat these beautiful things. BTW when does any one get time to make Character bentos?
Ramona
Another beautiful bento lunch. 🙂 I love how pretty the beef is all rolled up and concealing the prize of veggies inside it. I could get my son to eat a lot more veggies this way. 🙂
Sandra
I hope this isn’t a duplicate comment, the other one didn’t seem to go through. At any rate; your Bentos’s are not only colorful, but they are healthy and delicious. I can’t imagine any kid not loving this for lunch.
Rosa
those rolls are really original! A lovely bento.
Cheers,
Rosa
yummychunklet
The photo of the beef has me drooling!
Choc Chip Uru
Your bentos keep looking better and better my friend 🙂
Cheers
Choc Chip Uru
[email protected]
I love your bentos just the way they are, no character needed. And before you wrote it I was going to say colors lol. The asparagus beef rolls are such a great idea and kinda look like sushi too. I think your kids should really appreciate the effort you put into their lunches.
ChopinandMysaucepan
Dear Nami,
Your kids are very lucky to have such beautiful bento lunch boxes and I’m sure some of their friends will be intrigued and envious when other kids open up their lunch boxes. I think multiculturalism in Australia has also played its part in such and interesting and diverse range of foods in kids’ lunch boxes these days 🙂
[email protected]
I love your bento posts. There’s so much inspiration … thanks for sharing, Nami!
Jenn and Seth
YUM! i would love this for my own lunch!
Daniela
The Asparagus Beef Bento looks delicious. I always find the presentation of such a dish is not quite easy,but yours looks so pretty and inviting!
Mi Vida en un Dulce
I love all your bentos. My kids maybe don’t because they don not used to eat too much vegetables and ore fruit, so I’m very jealous your kids do.
[email protected] at Marina
Your bento is so much fun that I want to be one of your kids too to open up a lunch box filled with this beauty (I don’t need a lot of help in the morning, you just need to wake me up!) 🙂
Jen Laceda | Tartine and Apron Strings
I totally LOVE your bento lunch ideas! It inspires me to make them for my kids!!! I am just starting to “collect” my bento supplies. Where did you buy those silicone food cups triangle dividers?
You know, if my bentos were half as creative as yours, my kids will LOVE me for that! Ha! But I am still a novice compared to you. And when I see all the cute character bentos out there…oh my! It must take hours to make those! I don’t know if I have the energy. LOL!
Nami
Hi Jen! The best place for you to search first is maybe your local Japanese grocery stores. They should have small bento section. If you cannot find those bento accessories, then go to BentoUSA.com. They have a lot of accessories. 🙂
Sonia aka Nasi Lemak Lover
near my place, it is so hard to get so nice Shabu Shabu beef like you had here..unless i travel to the big city like KL..your beef rolls sound really delicious!
Sissi
Of course we are enjoying your bentos! I don’t prepare bentos for lunch, but when I go out to work I do pack lunch, so I’m always very curious to see your ideas. I have noticed how colourful your bentos are and I bet eating the lunch is more enjoyable, even for adults, if bentos are so cute 🙂 I have been making asparagus rolls with pork all the time and we both love them. My husband would really like this beef version (although I have never seen such “marbled” beef cuts at my butcher or anywhere here). Thank you once more for inspiration!
Baby Sumo
I’m sure your kids friends envy them whenever they see their lunch box. It always looks great!
Kelly
The colours definitely make the bento looks so appetizing. 😀
Shut Up and Cook
The Type-A control freak in me loves Bento boxes because they are so neat and tidy. The foodie in me loves this because it looks delicious. Wow!
MaryMoh
I always like to see bentos. They look so well presented, healthy and delicious!
Muna Kenny
Your bento box posts are absolutely mind blowing. Thanks for sharing such great ideas 🙂
Cristina
Happy New Year to you and your family, Nami!! 🙂
These Bentos are works of culinary art! On another note, wanted to thank you for introducing me to the Yuzu you mentioned in a comment. Hadn’t heard of a yuzu before – I had to look it up! 😀
Reem | Simply Reem
This is soooo cute Nami!
Sorry have been so much behind with all the post here due to the site issue… But I am here finally catching up all the deliciousness I missed!
Orchidea
Hi. This bento is fantastic and I like it a lot, so easy food and so delicious. I love that it is so colorful, as you said the colors made it even more appealing. I checked the link about Japanese character bentos… Oh my god! They are so cute! I cannot believe it is possible to make such cute boxes of food, I would really like to receive one or try to make my own. I totally understand you, time is not much with two young children. I prepare every morning my and my husband lunch boxes and I am getting really good at, fast and efficient but it does take some time, I love to make lunch boxes though and I like to eat heathy so I will continue.
Ciao
Hester @ Alchemy in the Kitchen
Nami, your son must be the best-fed kid in school. This looks like a box of edible treasure!
Liz
Yup, I want YOU to make my lunch! The asparagus beef rolls look dellish…perfect for dinner and yummy enough for lunch the next day. I agree, color is so important in making a plate appealing. Have a great weekend, my friend.
Carolyn Jung
If I had a lunch like that waiting for me each day, I would be beaming every afternoon. Lovely to look at and scrumptious to boot!
Yelena
Hello dear Nami! You have another amazing idea for kids here. Everything looks so interesting-)) I was so sick lately, sorry did not visit you, but I am better now. Will write you soon!
Neel|Eastern aroma
Wow – I am so inspired!! I would love to try my hand at this recipe. I am trying to get to Japan next fall for a mission trip and this sounds like a great way to prepare
Fern @ To Food with Love
My kids love onigiri, and I also pack it for their lunch sometimes. The beef rolls look so tasty and have such a nice colour on them. I’d love the asparagus ones!
Tiffany
The asparagus in this roll makes my heart sing Nami! 😀
Rhonda
The colors are wonderful, your kids are truly so lucky. I wish you could pack my lunch 🙂
mjskit
Can I have this bento for my lunch tomorrow? So pretty and yes, color is what makes it in so many ways! Love those beef rolls! I do have a great meat market where I can get beef sliced like that. Love all of the marbling and I’m sure it adds so much flavor as it cooks! You know I love those rice balls! YUM!
Lilly
I wish my mom would give me lunches like this when I was growing up! I bet your son loved it very much. Those Character Bento really rock! I’m sure you will be great at making them once the kids are a bit older and you have more time. Hugs and X!
Amy Tong
Your kids are so lucky to have you pack these beautiful and yummy bento boxes for them. 🙂 I know my hubby and kids (and myself as well) would love these for lunch! Have a wonderful weekend, Nami.
Sammie
awww Nami! Your son must really love this! I love those thinly sliced beef and of course also a huge fan of onigiri! Brilliant post Nami!!
Food Jaunts
I agree on all the colors – so pretty. Perfectly balanced bento for lunch.
Kristy
Another great bento Nami! And they have character bento? I can only imagine. I can’t wait to see one of those. You are such an inspiration. I barely have time to make up the traditional PB&J. 😉
Christine @ Cooking Crusade
These look AMAZING and I bet they would be perfect for appetisers as well as bento boxes!
Asmita
This looks amazing!
A Little Yumminess
LOVE your bentos! But you are right – hard to make in AM with little ones!
Shirley
Nami, your son really is the luckiest boy. Gourmet lunches every day. 🙂 And that fork-spoon utensil is adorable!
Lynna
I think character bentos are simply adorable!! I`m always jealous from looking at all the creative ways to make the characters! I`ve never heard of asparagus beef rolls before! I`m not a huge fan of asparagus, but I think I would eat them with this bento! Hehe~
Stephanie
I have seen those elaborate character bentos and it is always so amazing! They are so pretty, I wouldn’t want to eat them.
Kristi Rimkus
The asparagus beef rolls look amazing and make such a nice presentation. I have to give these a try!