Cara's Lunch: Filipino Bento Box

So, the girls found out about my lunch making "skills" and since Cara is part of our country's workforce now she has requested me and Mae-Ann to prepare her lunch to bring to the office. I was in charge of the main, while Mae on dessert - she's kind of our dessert princess, her red velvet cupcakes are to die for! Anyway, our inspiration for Cara's lunch was one of those cute little Japanese Bento Boxes that you wish your mom made for you as a kid so you could show off to all your playmates in school.

MENU

  Savory Chorizo and Egg Crepe

Sweet and Sour Pork Roll

Brown Fried Rice

Coke Cupcake

Scroll down for the recipe :)

 

RECIPE

Crepe

1 cup flour

1 1/4 cup of water

1 egg

a pinch of salt

Filling

2 pieces of chorizo

1/2 cup onion

1 egg

butter (enough to saute the onions in)

Pork Roll

4 pieces of Pork Chops

1/2 cup onions

1/2 cup carrots

1/2 cup pickle relish

1/4 cup tomato sauce

Fried Rice

1 1/2 cup brown rice

2 cloves garlic

1/2 cup onions

1 egg beaten

1/2 cup carrots

*cupcake recipe: read on*

  

Crepe Procedure:

1. Make the crepe. Dump all the ingredients together and whisk.

2. Cut the chorizo wrap open and scoop out all the chorizo.

3. Saute onions in butter and add the chorizo. 5 minutes

4. Beat an egg and add it to the chorizo mixture.

5. Transfer everything to a plate and re-coat the pan with butter.

6. Ladle a small portion of the crepe batter into the pan. 

7. Instantly scoop some of that chorizo filling and place it on the crepe while it's still wet in the middle so it can stick to it, so when you cut the crepe into rolls the filling won't spill out.

8. Gently roll the crepe. To seal it pour a small portion of the batter on the edges and roll closed.

Whew! On to the next one!

Pork Roll Procedure:

1. Flatten the pork chops using a rolling pin. Or basically anything you can grab: pan, hammer etc. 

2. Place equal portions of the diced carrots, onions and pickle relish on the pork. Roll carefully.

3. Secure with toothpicks or strings.

4. Heat oil in the pan and brown all sides of the pork roll.

5. Add the tomato sauce and a splash of water. Simmer until tender. 

6. Take out the toothpicks and cut into rolls.

And... Done! 

- Nicole

Ok yay, so it's my turn! Well, one of the perks of living next door to the Philippine version of Martha Stewart is that she lets me in on some of her cooking secrets. She actually let me cook the fried rice! Woo hoo! Do I sound too excited? It's probably because it was my first time cooking fried rice, and I had no idea where to even start but Nicole just told me what to do, and *poof* fried rice appeared. I think I'd make an excellent sous chef! Last note on fried rice: I think everyone has their own version of fried rice but a sprinkle of cayenne pepper did wonders! It was soooooo good, I had to stop myself from eating everything. (My goodness, how many times did I write fried rice in this paragraph?!)

Now! On to dessert! The cupcake! I've been trying to experiment with different cupcake recipes and I was wondering if there was a cupcake that integrated Coca-Cola (yes the drink) anywhere in its recipe (I love Coca-Cola ok.) So i typed "coca cola cupcake" into google search and there was an actual recipe for COCA COLA CUPCAKES! Lucky me! I clicked the first link I saw. Here's the recipe I used: Coca Cola Cupcake Recipe

I accidentally put the cupcakes a bit too long in the oven, but I think it actually worked for this recipe. The marshmallows gave the batter a rather gooey consistency and when it finished baking, it was crunchy on the outside and gooey on the inside.
So that's it for the entire meal. Let's just hope that Cara liked it? 

- Mae

So I'm the lucky one who gets to try out Mae's and Nic's experiment! I must mention that these guys woke up pretty darn early (6 AM is early for them) just to make sure that I have lunch that day. I was actually surprised to see Nicole awake before I was, already hustling and bustling in her kitchen. 

So I must say... This Filipino-Japanese fusion of a dish was very tasty! First of all, I liked the presentation. I noticed the bento box reference as soon as Mae and Nicole handed my lunch to me. The chopsticks that went with it gained some attention in the office too. Plus the Post-it note was the cherry on top for me. It definitely made me smile while I was eating my lunch! 

As for the food itself, it was a lot of fun to eat! I honestly did not know what I was eating so every bite was a surprise. The fried rice had a zing to eat and I knew right away that they went crazy with the spices (cayenne pepper right?). I also liked that it had a crunch to it, not your typical fried rice! For the pork roll.... I did NOT know that these guys placed pickle relish! That was just... Such a surprise! I know that pickle relish is good, let's say for hotdogs or burgers. But I never thought of pork chops and relish together! Lastly... My personal favorite, the tocino sushi dish! WOW! I'm a big fan of tocino so there's probably some bias there. But I must say... The egg was just soft as silk!! And the tocino with the sauce was just so sweet! It was like Filipino breakfast sushi heaven for me! Amazing stuff really... Nicole, I want some more!!! 

Anyway, I want to thank Nics and Mae for making me such a scrumptious lunch! Kalil (Nic's boyfriend) must be lucky as hell to have his very own personal chef! 

-Cara