FOOD & DRINK

Bento boxes, tiffins can revive your lunch routine

Think inside a new box with containers that inspire creative cooks to bring lunch from home.

By Addie Broyles
AMERICAN-STATESMAN STAFF
Wednesday, July 08, 2009

Brown-bag lunches are about as exciting as the turkey sandwiches and bags of carrots usually packed inside them.

With the economy prompting more adults to pack their own lunches these days — more than 8 billion meals a year, according to NPD Group research, 40 percent of which contain sandwiches — the midday meal needs a makeover.

Sometimes, something as simple as changing your lunch container is all you need to reinvigorate the way you think about food consumed away from home.

Meet bento and tiffin, two out-of-the-ordinary lunch boxes that can help you get creative when you're packing your — or, come fall, your kids' — lunches.

Bento boxes and tiffins are self-contained lunch apparatus, which means no more plastic bags you use once and throw away and no more plastic containers and mismatched lids.

A balanced meal in a bento box

Bento boxes, which the Japanese have been using since the fifth century, contain several smaller containers that are meant to be filled with portions of three parts carbohydrate, one part protein and two parts fruit or vegetable.

But the concept of bento as a balanced, compact and visually appealing meal is what turns bento users into bento fanatics and what has inspired a bevy of bento bloggers, including Austinite Jack Yang.

Bento boxes aren't just about creating a balanced, healthful meal, says Yang, who started Eating in a Box (www.eatinginabox.com) as a way to chronicle the bentos he makes for his wife and her co-workers once a week. "I like the joy of putting together a healthy, economical meal," he says. "It makes you think about how to use things ... and compartments make you think about portion size."

Yang says he likes the challenge of using what's in his fridge and pantry to come up with a coherent meal. Instead of ground beef, for instance, he'll use chuck roast because it's more flavorful. "I focus less on big proteins (than) I do the vegetables."

An average-sized bento box (about 600 milliliters) contains about 600 calories when packed with the right proportion of protein and carbohydrates.

Yang says the emergence of bentos in the U.S. is also partly due to the backlash against what he calls the " 'Super Size Me' culture of consuming" and the slowing economy.

"People are being more conscious about what they eat," he says.

Many bento makers find ways to repurpose leftovers into new dishes or cook larger batches of food and then freeze smaller portions, which they can then assemble into a bento box. Rice, for example, freezes well. Yang will make a batch, then portion the rice into balls and freeze them.

The bentos he makes are meant to be warmed up in the microwave, but many bentos are made to eat at room temperature, so there's no need for refrigeration or heating up.

Part of the fun of bentos are the accessories you can find online. Yang uses collapsible chopsticks, tomato-shaped squirt bottles for condiments and egg and rice molds to liven up his meals, but some people spend hours turning bentos into a work of art by molding the food into animals, cartoon characters or landscape scenes.

Regardless of the time spent crafting the bento, by skipping the chips, candy or vending machine fare, you'll be eating a more well-rounded meal, which will give you something to look forward to for lunch and longer-lasting energy to hold you through until dinner.

Tiffins stack up against best boxes

Tiffins might not have the visual appeal of bento boxes, but they are simple, easy-to-pack, easy-to-clean devices that can cut down on waste.

Tiffins are named for the light afternoon lunches they carry in India. The name "tiffin" comes from "tiffing," a now-obsolete British slang word that means to drink or sip lightly.

For more than a century in Mumbai, home-cooked meals packed in tiffins (also called dabbas) have been delivered through a complex network that involves thousands of home cooks and dabbawallahs, or tiffin carriers. Each day, about 170,000 home-cooked meals are packed into three-tiered tiffins, which have special markings designating the train and bike route they'll need to get to a workplace or school destination.

The dabbawallah system isn't just enormous, it's efficient, with only one error in every 6 million deliveries, or about one every two months, according to an article in the Economist.

Like their working American counterparts, Indians have drifted from home-cooked food during the day in recent decades, but The New York Times reports that the tiffin industry is now growing 5 to 10 percent a year.

Austin cookbook author and nutritionist Elaine DiRico became curious about tiffins after watching a television program about the Mumbai system. "(The dabbawallahs on bikes) look like huge bugs because they are totally covered," she says.

Because tiffin delivery services haven't popped up in Austin like they have in San Francisco and New York, DiRico bought a tiffin online and started to pack lunches in it for her husband.

She says she likes being able to keep food self-contained and separated. For instance, she can pack a salad on the bottom, with an ice pack in the middle and tabouli, vegetables or a sandwich on top.

If she's packing hot food, she'll insulate it with aluminum foil. Because tiffins are stainless steel, you can't microwave them, but you can wrap them in cloth carriers to help keep their contents warm.

Now she has six tiffin sets and is experimenting with different dishes all the time.

In the same way a Superman or Barbie plastic lunchbox got you excited about the meal when you were a kid, bento boxes or tiffins can resurrect your home-packed lunch from something you dread to something that you can look forward to.

abroyles@statesman.com; 912-2504

Microwave mixed rice

This simple recipe, which is easily adaptable for whatever protein and vegetable you have in your fridge, will spice up plain rice.

11/2 cups leftover cooked rice (white or brown, refrigerated, frozen or fresh)

A few slices of kamaboko fish cake (or any protein, such as roast pork or chicken), chopped

1 green onion, chopped

Handful of vegetables (cooked asparagus, frozen green peas or corn, etc.), chopped

Drizzle of sesame oil

1 tsp. soy sauce (or to taste)

Dash of salt

Roasted, ground sesame seeds (optional)

Put the leftover cold rice in a microwave-safe bowl and top it with the chopped protein, green onions and vegetables. Cover with plastic wrap and heat for one minute in the microwave (times will vary depending upon how much food you're nuking and the power of your microwave). If you have fresh rice made up, just microwave the protein and veggies on their own and mix them together with the hot rice afterward.

When hot, add a couple teaspoons or so of soy sauce, a dash of salt and a drizzle of sesame oil to taste and mix it all up. Top with toasted sesame seeds, if desired.

— Deborah Hamilton, Lunch in a Box blogger (lunchinabox.net)

Spinach and Artichoke Salad with Couscous Cakes and Feta

Quick-to-cook couscous cakes make this meatless salad satisfying enough to fill you up at lunchtime.

Dressing:

2 Tbsp. fresh lemon juice

1 Tbsp. sour cream

1 tsp. finely chopped fresh mint

5 Tbsp. extra-virgin olive oil

Kosher salt and freshly ground black pepper

Couscous cakes:

3/4 cup couscous

Kosher salt

1 large clove garlic, peeled

1/4 cup packed fresh flat-leaf parsley leaves

1/2 cup canned chickpeas, rinsed and drained

2 large eggs, lightly beaten

11/2 tsp. finely grated zest of 1 medium lemon

3 Tbsp. vegetable or canola oil

Salad:

8 oz. baby spinach, washed and dried

1 14-oz. can artichoke bottoms, drained, rinsed, and sliced

15 cherry tomatoes, halved

Kosher salt and freshly ground black pepper

1 oz. crumbled feta (about 1/4 cup)

For the dressing, combine lemon juice, sour cream and mint in a small bowl. Slowly whisk in the olive oil. Season to taste with salt and pepper.

To make the cakes, put the couscous and 1 tsp. salt in a medium bowl. Add 1 cup boiling water to the couscous, cover the bowl with a pan lid or plate and let sit 4 to 5 minutes.

Coarsely chop the garlic in a food processor. Add the parsley and pulse until finely chopped. Add the chickpeas and 1 tsp. salt and pulse until coarsely chopped.

Uncover the couscous and fluff with a fork. Stir in the chickpea mixture, eggs and lemon zest until well combined. Press the couscous mixture into a 1/4 cup measuring cup, smooth the top and invert the measuring cup to release the cake onto a plate. Repeat with the remaining couscous mixture to make nine cakes.

Heat 11/2 Tbsp. of the vegetable oil in a large skillet over medium heat until shimmering hot. Add five of the couscous cakes to the skillet and use a spatula to lightly flatten the cakes so they're about 3/4 inch thick. Cook, flipping once, until crisp and golden brown on both sides, 2 to 3 minutes per side. Transfer to a paper-towel-lined plate. Add the remaining 11/2 Tbsp. vegetable oil to the skillet and cook the remaining cakes the same way.

This recipe makes enough for three salads, so keep the salad, dressing and couscous cakes separated until ready to assemble for your lunch. If packing for a lunch, let couscous cakes cool before combining with spinach, artichokes, tomatoes and feta in a container, such as a tiffin. Pack dressing into a smaller container, and dress the salad just before eating.

— Adapted from recipe by Maryellen Driscoll in the June/July issue of Fine Cooking

Haricots Verts With Toasted Walnuts and Chèvre

Kosher salt

3/4 lb. haricots verts or any other green bean, trimmed

1 Tbsp. extra-virgin olive oil

2 Tbsp. minced shallots

1/3 cup walnuts, lightly toasted and chopped

2 tsp. walnut oil

Freshly ground black pepper

2 oz. fresh goat cheese, crumbled, about 2/3 cup

Bring a medium pot of well-salted water to a boil. Cook the beans in the water until tender, 2 to 3 minutes. Drain and run under cold water to cool. Drain well.

Heat the olive oil in a 12-inch skillet over medium-high heat. Add the shallots and cook, stirring, until they begin to brown, about 30 seconds. Stir in the walnuts. Add the walnut oil and the beans and cook, stirring to heat through, 2 to 3 minutes. Season to taste with salt and pepper and transfer the beans to a serving dish. Sprinkle the goat cheese over the top and serve.

— Maria Helm Sinskey, from June/July issue of Fine Cooking

Bento and tiffin supplies

In Austin, you can find bento supplies at Momoko (705 W. 24th St.), Asahi Imports (6105 Burnet Road), Wheatsville Co-op (3101 Guadalupe St.), New Oriental Market (6929 Airport Blvd.) and MT Supermarket (10901 N. Lamar Blvd.) or online at sites including obentec.com, ichibankanusa.com, iloveobento.com and megasuperbento.ecrater.com.

You can buy tiffins in Austin at MGM Indian Foods (7427 Burnet Road), Apna Bazaar (8650 Spicewood Springs Road), Ambica Foods (3203 S. Interstate 35, Round Rock), Taj Grocers (9515 N. Lamar Blvd), Gandhi Bazaar (2121 W. Parmer Lane), Cost Plus World Market (5601 Brodie Lane, 12700 Shops Parkway) or online at sites including happytiffin.com and angelinhome.com.