"udon" news and stories

For your lunchtime pleasure, I'm presenting a series of my favorite bento boxes. Bento are Japanese home-prepared meals served in special boxes, usually eaten for lunch at work or school. These days, bento enthusiasts from all over the world share their creations on Flickr.

Today's bento, from I Love Egg, is perfect for lean times, with a calculated cost next to each recipe. We've got instant udon with a sauce made out of its flavor packet and a sprinkling of flying fish roe, some cuttlefish balls, mini toasts, mushrooms, kamaboko (fish cake) and sliced peach. All for less than the price of a cafeteria lunch, with enough for leftovers.

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Perhaps calling this bowl "perfect" is a bit of a stretch, but it is designed for both utility and beauty, so it must be getting close. The Udon Noodle Bowl is reminiscent of a giant shell, with spiraling layers that fit perfectly into your hand. At the top, there are grooves to hold the included chopsticks in place when you're not eating. Every bowl is handmade and will vary from the next ever so slightly. All are both microwave and dishwasher safe.

If soup, rather than noodles, is your comfort food of choice, you might want to consider the buddah bowl instead. Also designed to fit ergonomically into the palm of your hand, this bowl can double as a giant mug for large cappuccinos in the morning and a soup cup in the evenings, or even as a dessert bowl for ice cream.

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One of my favorite portable lunches or quick snacks to share with my kids is an udon sushi roll. It's made the same way you would prepare regular maki sushi except thick, chewy udon noodles are subsituted for rice.

My local natural foods supermarket sells these rolls in the deli case and they are delicious, but they are not hard to make at home. My favorite version includes cooked udon noodles tossed with a little sesame oil (or peanut oil for milder flavor), a shmear of umeboshi paste (or wasabi), sliced avocado, some shredded carrots, sliced green onions, and a sprinkling of nori furikake or toasted sesame seeds for crunch.

Roll ingredients up in a sheet of nori then wrap tightly with plastic wrap and chill. (The chilling helps with slicing later.) Serve sliced or eat temaki-style (like a burrito!).