Wednesday, January 12, 2011

Mini Pork Buns Bento

This bento uses frozen mini pork buns that I picked up from Asia Mart in Santa Rosa. I love freezer stash items, because they make it really easy to put together an interesting bento without much fuss.

In this bento: fried rice made with char siu bbq pork from G&G Supermarket and baby chard from Triple T Ranch and mini pork buns. In the second compartment: more slices of char siu pork, cucumber slices, a Sonoma Jack wedge of cheese (strangely it's actually from Wisconsin!), walnuts from the Santa Rosa Original Certified Farmers Market, and sections of ruby red grapefruit from De'Santis Farms.

I included this bento in Shannon's What's For Lunch Wednesdays blog. I love seeing what other bento makers are up to each week!

22 comments:

  1. Looks delicious! I love frozen items as well. I use frozen soy beans to add to my lunches and when lunch time comes, it would be defrosted! :)

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  2. Good idea Mrs. P! I use my microwave steamer to heat up the edamame first, but I could just leave them frozen and they'd be ready at lunch time. :)

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  3. mmm.. very yummy bento.. Char Siu BBq Pork is a must in our Chinese cuisine.. haha..

    Its like our daily food, we add them on noodles or rice. It goes well with anything.haha..

    The pork buns you have here is it those steamed dumplings whith mince pork and some broth inside?

    Love that too..

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  4. I love red grapefruit; I'll have to find some this weekend. The blood oranges are a bit too tart for me -- isn't that weird? But the grapefruits, and the pomelo, I love.
    Sweet tiny buns. Hehe!

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  5. My mom said everything with char siu and pork never failed hahaha ... yum yum yum :)

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  6. ehe, I think I agree with Lia :). I am developing some sort of obsession to eat char siu and buns. Oh gosh!

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  7. Mmm...yummy bento. I like the idea of mini pork buns.

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  8. Hi Bobo! I love char siu pork, it is so great to use in lots of dishes, or just eat on its own. These mini pork buns seem to have a little meatball of seasoned pork in the middle. They're good!

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  9. That is kind of weird, sheri, since blood oranges are actually sweeter than ruby red grapefruit and pomelos. Blood oranges have a sharper flavor, but I think they still have more sugar. And thanks for complimenting my buns. HA HA!

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  10. karaimame, maybe we have to create a support group for those who love char siu. :)

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  11. Hi Lyndsey! These are so great for bento, they have a lot of flavor and are easy to pop into the bento.

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  12. I agree with other commenters...YUM is the word for this deliciously made bento. The char siu look so plump and splendid!

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  13. Thanks Bentobird! The great thing is I didn't have to slave over anything to make this bento. The buns were steaming while I made the fried rice, super easy.

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  14. Those look really fresh, I didn't think they were frozen! I've bought the Ajinomoto shumai before and they turn out looking downright terrible. ; ;

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  15. Ok, I have seen those at our hmong grocery before, but had no idea what they were! Lol. Do you have to do anything to them, or just pop them in frozen. I send my kids' bentos after letting them cool, and they have no way to reheat... is this a cook first, or thaw and eat food?

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  16. Hi pikko! Yeah, the frozen shumai do not turn out as well as buns and gyoza. I steamed these on a lettuce leaf for 10 minutes. They were puffy right out of the steamer, but deflated a bit after I picked them up.

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  17. Hi Sonja! I have tried both steaming on the stove top, and also steaming in my microwave. Both methods work, but I think the stovetop worked better. Definitely let these cool a bit after steaming before you put them in the bento.

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  18. Sonoma Jack cheese from Wisconsin? Love it! IT's like getting those little plastic American flags that say "Made in China". Lol! Your fried rice looks amazing!!!

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  19. Ha ha, Ohayobento! So true. I was scratching my head about those 'Sonoma' Jack cheeses. I use hapabento's method for making fried rice. It works really well!

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