I’ve been making bento lunch for my children for the past 2 years as they started elementary school. However, I never made cute character bento because I thought they would be too difficult. Thanks to the wonderful bento cookbook, Bento Delights: Adorable + Stylish Lunches on the Go, written by my friend Syntia of Cooking Gallery, making this cute bento was very easy and fun!
This is a great cookbook to help you make stylish and fun bentos, regardless of whether you’re a beginner or an expert. This 118-page full-color cookbook features 31 different bento recipes from character bentos to traditional bentos so you can be inspired with new bento ideas.
You can see the preview of the cookbook on Amazon, but here are some of the pages from the cookbook.
As you see, the cookbook is very well-organized and there are big pictures of what a final bento looks like on each featured bento and step-by-step pictures will guide you visually.
The cookbook includes Bento Basics and Tools & Accessories if you are new to bento making, and there are many useful tips and tricks that you can use in your bento making right away! The cookbook also includes an additional 100 recipes at the end so you will always have bento recipe ideas for your bento every day!
Watch How to Make Cute Bento
Cute animal sandwich bento made with cheese, ham, nori. Be creative and make different sandwiches to go with different animal characters!
Simple Bento Making Tools
When I first started to make this sandwich bento, I tried to see if I can avoid spending money on bento making tools such as animal cookie cutter and nori punchers. If you’re wondering what nori puncher is, it’s a little tool to create a facial expression using a sheet of nori seaweed. Having various nori punchers help create different fun faces.
I attempted to make my own handmade nori facial expression and hand-cut animal shape…but to be honest they didn’t look nice at all despite my effort. After I purchased a few bento tools, it was much easier and faster to make cute characters. If you plan to make character bentos in the future, I think the following tools are worth investing.
Other Homemade Bento Ideas:
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How To Make Cute Bento
Ingredients
For the Characters
- 1 Japanese or Persian cucumber (2 x 2-inch peel from a 2-inch section of cucumber)
- 1 slice cheddar cheese
- 1 slice ham
- 1 carrot
- 1 sheet nori (dried laver seaweed)
For the Sandwiches
- bread of your choice (for 3 mini sandwiches)
- 1 Tbsp strawberry jam
- 1 Tbsp egg salad (see my recipe for how to make Japanese egg salad)
- 1 tsp Japanese Kewpie mayonnaise (you can make homemade Kewpie mayo)
- 1 slice ham
- 1 slice cheddar cheese
- 1 slice tomato
- 1 slice Japanese or Persian cucumber
For the Bento Box
- lettuce
- cherry tomatoes
- octopus-shaped sausages (learn how to make octopus sausages)
- Japanese or Persian cucumbers
- oranges
- strawberries
- bunny-shaped apple (see how to make an apple bunny)
Instructions
- Gather all the ingredients.
To Make the Characters
- Gather the ingredients for the characters: 1 Japanese or Persian cucumber, 1 slice cheddar cheese, 1 slice ham, 1 carrot, and 1 sheet nori (dried laver seaweed). Then, watch my video to see how to make character faces for a frog, chick, and bunny using cutters and punches. The trick is to make all the parts first and then create the faces after.
To Make the Sandwiches
- Using a cookie cutter, cut out the bread of your choice to make a mini sandwich slices. I made enough for 3 sandwiches.
- For the jam sandwich, spread 1 Tbsp strawberry jam on one mini bread slice and top with another bread slice. For the egg salad sandwich, spread 1 Tbsp egg salad on the sandwich bread and top with another bread slice.
- For the ham and cheese sandwich, spread 1 tsp Japanese Kewpie mayonnaise on one slice of sandwich bread. Place 1 slice ham, 1 slice cheddar cheese, 1 slice tomato, and 1 slice Japanese or Persian cucumber on top. Top with another bread slice.
To Assemble the Bento
- Place the lettuce and sandwiches carefully into the bento box. Place the character faces on the sandwich and secure with little pieces of uncooked spaghetti if you want to secure the character faces on the sandwich. Fill the empty space of the bento box with cherry tomatoes. You can also pack additional bento fillers such as octopus-shaped sausages, Japanese or Persian cucumbers, oranges, strawberries, and bunny-shaped apple.
Notes
- Bento Box (To buy this bento box, click here.)
- Plastic straw
- A bear shape cookie cutter
- A bunny shape cookie cutter
- A round cookie cutter
- A square sandwich cutter
- Small scissors
- Nori punchers
- Tweezers
Nutrition
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