Crispy Japanese pan-fried dumplings make a delicious boxed lunch in this Gyoza Bento. In this guide, I‘ll show you how to pack last night‘s gyoza leftovers with tamagoyaki, hot steamed rice with furikake, and fresh vegetables for your lunch to go. It beats takeout any day!
Thank you so much for your positive feedback on Tonkatsu Bento, which was my very first bento on Bento Series. Today I’m back with my next bento, Gyoza Bento.
I often hear from readers that children love all kinds of dumplings and that is also true for my children. If I pack all kinds of nutritious ingredients inside of Gyoza hidden inside the wrap, they finish everything without hesitation – even ones that they resist to eat when they see the actual ingredient, such as green onion and other vegetables. Homemade gyoza looks difficult to make, but the truth is once you know how to wrap it’s really easy to make. Make the filling, wrap with gyoza wrappers, and pan-fry them!
But I know, it’s a little tedious until you get used to it. But don’t be intimidated – you can buy this helpful Gyoza Maker Mold online. Place a gyoza wrapper on this tool, put the filling, and press, then it’s nicely sealed!
If you still don’t want to go through “homemade” hassle, then buy frozen pre-made gyoza, like ones from Trader Joe’s. Whether gyoza is homemade or not, your Gyoza Bento has lots of LOVE from you! Now let’s get started!
Previous Dinner was:
Lunch Next Day:
- Gyoza Bento
- A small size box of fruits: strawberries and blueberries.
- Water bottle
Here’s the recipe for Chikuwa Cucumber.
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Gyoza Bento
Ingredients
- cooked Japanese short-grain rice (enough to fill half of your bento box)
- gyoza (pre-made; leftovers work well; see how to make homemade Gyoza or Vegetable Gyoza)
- soy sauce
- cherry tomatoes
- lettuce
- broccoli (pre-blanched; see Notes; learn how to freeze vegetables for bento ahead of time)
- Tamagoyaki (Japanese Rolled Omelette) (pre-cooked; you can use my Tamagoyaki recipe)
- chikuwa cucumber (pre-made; my Chikuwa Cucumber recipe takes just 5 minutes)
- furikake (rice seasoning) (you can make homemade Furikake)
Instructions
- Before You Start: For the steamed rice, please note that ¾ cup (150 g, 1 rice cooker cup) of uncooked Japanese short-grain rice yields 2¼ US cups (330 g) of cooked white rice. See how to cook short-grain rice with a rice cooker, pot over the stove, Instant Pot, or donabe.
- Fill up half of the bento box with cooked Japanese short-grain rice. Let it cool so that the hot/warm rice will not warm up the other cool food.
- Pan-fry the leftover gyoza or bake it in a toaster oven until it‘s warm.
- Pack soy sauce in a sauce container (I bought it at a local Daiso, a Japanese dollar store).
- Wash some cherry tomatoes and lettuce and pat dry. Place nicely in the bento box along with some broccoli.
- Pack the cooled gyoza, Tamagoyaki (Japanese Rolled Omelette), and chikuwa cucumber.
- Sprinkle furikake (rice seasoning) on top of the slightly cooled rice.
- Cool down completely before closing the bento box.