Soboro Bento (そぼろ弁当)
Japan
Japanese boxed lunch (bento) consisting of boiled rice, simmered ground chicken with ginger, scrambled eggs, and fresh green pea pods. The dish is served cold, and its aroma is preserved by the fukume‑ni technique.
Ingredients
- 200 g ground chicken
- 5 g ginger root
- 2 pcs egg
- 6 pcs green pea pod
- 600 g rice
- 2 tbsp sugar
- 2 tbsp soy sauce
- 4 tbsp water
- 1 pinch salt
- 2 tsp vegetable oil
Steps
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Peel the ginger and finely chop it. Remove the strings from the pea pods, blanch them in salted boiling water, drain, cool and cut diagonally into small pieces.
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Prepare the "soboro" from ground chicken: heat a pan, add 1 tsp vegetable oil, remove from heat, add ginger and ground chicken, stir vigorously, then place over low heat, add a mixture of 2 tbsp sugar, 2 tbsp soy sauce and 4 tbsp water and simmer until the liquid evaporates.
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Prepare the "soboro" from scrambled eggs: crack the eggs into a bowl, discard the whites' membranes, beat, add a pinch of salt and 1 tsp sugar, heat a pan, add 1 tsp vegetable oil, remove from heat, pour in the egg mixture, quickly stir with a fork, then cook over low heat, constantly stirring, until a fine grainy texture forms, then cool.
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In four bento boxes, spread the boiled rice, smoothing it out, then top with the sauce from step 2, then cover one third of the rice with chicken "soboro", the second third with scrambled egg "soboro", and the remaining third with the sliced green pea pods. Serve cold.