Bento#121: Char Siew Pao Bento
It’s been very hot here in Bangkok. You don’t have to bathe with electric tankless water heater, and it’s so hot, it’s hard to sleep at night.
I can’t sleep without air conditioning, but hubby wants the kids to sleep with the fan, after turning on the air conditioning for a while. He says it’s better for their lungs, or don’t know whatever reason it is. But I feel that my kids sleep lesser this way as they wake up earlier than usual for the past few days. I will normally get myself busy at the kitchen at about 6.30am when everyone is still sleeping. It’s easier and faster for me to cook and cut the fruits without distraction, but with my kids waking up at the same time as me, I’m rather kelam-kabut (chaotic) most of the time. LOL!
This morning, we had char siew pao (barbecued pork buns) for breakfast. When we first moved here, my boy craved for char siew pao, but we didn’t know where to find a dim sum restaurant. But after some time, we managed to find some Chinese or Thai restaurants with char siew pao but the buns were not as tasty as those back home. So, whenever we fly back for holiday, we will go for dim sum and my kids can have as much char siew pao as possible. 
I’m not good at fixing buns, thus I bought the frozen char siew pao from the supermarket. All I need to do is just steaming them for 15 minutes and they are ready to be eaten. And of course, as I was busy packing today’s bentos, my kids already started snacking on the char siew paos. LOL!
What I had in mind were Mickey Mouse and Minnie Mouse. So, this is how I did it…
I cut the nori in circles to form their faces, and placed the nori onto the buns. Since the char siew pao has uneven surface, you might need some jam or butter to stick the nori on. If it’s still hot, the nori might “melt” on the bun, so make sure that you let the buns cool down first.
Then it’s all about adding in the details and packing the fruits. Here’s the end result…
My boy has a Mickey Mouse (char siew pao) in his bento, with lots of grapes, rose apples and strawberries. I used 2 grapes to form Mickey’s ears.
My gal’s bento with Minnie Mouse, and the same bento meal.
Some mothers asked where I got my ideas from and I think it’s a great idea that I share this out…
- Blog hopping. There are a few good blogs which I bookmarked. In fact, Kaerenmama showed how to prepare Mickey and Minnie with rice balls, and that’s how I got today’s idea from. It was an old post, so please go through her achieves if you are interested to see her tutorial. But if possible, I think it would be nice if we link back to the blogs because they are willing to share their ideas, and it would be nice to give the credit back to the blog owners.
- I have a few bento books, but after flipping through them for the first few times, I stop reading them. You can get some of them from Kinokuniya or maybe anywhere which sells Japanese books.
- Brainstorm with my kids! My kids have a lot of bento ideas, and in fact, it’s me who can’t fulfill their bento fantasy. I just keep them in mind, or write them down on a notepad. I’ll go through the notepad once in a while and think about the possibility of fixing them. If not, I will just KIV them.
- Pack frequently? LOL! I think I pack bentos like 6 days a week, either I like it or not. As you get used to it, it becomes easier. I hardly have bento break because my kids already got used to having their bentos, even on weekends. But sometimes, I will tell them that mommy needs a break.
- Having a lot of tools help a lot, but I try my best not to buy too much now. I already have a lot of bento tools, and I haven’t used all of them yet. There are a few ones which I use frequently, like the wheel cutters and the Carla’s Craft punchers. If you have limited budget, don’t buy a lot yet. Most likely, part of them will be ended in the toolbox and never see the daylight again. So, if I have time, I will “stare” at my toolbox and see if I can give those “less popular” ones a chance.
I think that’s all about it. Have fun bento-ing and enjoy your weekend!
What cute char siew baos. Haha.
Thanks for sharing the source of your ideas
That was really cute bun there Amy, can’t really tell it’s originally is a bun coz they have been dressed up soooo nicely.
Oh ya, and thanks for sharing your tips on where to get ideas to do nice bentos too ….. you are really great la.
Hhhhmm …. now talking about the bento accessories, I think I just got too much for the moment being and having a headache ….. now I am wondering how you store all your bento accessories ya? At the moment, I am putting them into 3 huge plastics bags lying at the corner of my kitchen which makes it look so untidy. Got a box to store them actually but can’t fit all in and very hard for me to ‘dig’ them out under the pile of ka-lang-chang ….. maybe you can show us how you store your stuffs because obviously you have a lot of that leh ….
Thanks again for sharing so much nice bento post with us!
Absolutely ingenious!! Love this one.
Btw tks for replying to my earlier email (hope u don’t mind my short-cut way of responding).
the ear (grape) wont move or u are using something to hold them in place?
yes i agree….i think mostly was due to yr “practice makes perfect” ….once u r familiar, all d ideas might pour our naturally !!! unfortunately, like me not many has the time ….
you are a great mum.your kids love you more for your effort of creative bento which always adore by their classmates.keep the spirit of your bento project,their love for you last forever.
Patsy, welcome to my blog.
Actually, my kids hardly bring bento to school, even if they study from 8.45am to 4.30pm mostly. 95% of the bentos are made for their after school tea because I pick them up and bring them back to our office with us until we finish work. With their tummies filled with bentos, I don’t have to worry about fixing dinner late, as I can only cook when I reach home. So, I guess their classmates hardly see their bentos, except on my boy’s field trips. 
Chinnee, you can use a thin spaghetti strip to secure the grape to the bun. That’s how I join the parts together mostly. But for this bento, I just left the grapes there as they were, and the uneven surface and silicon cups did help to prevent the grapes from slipping off. If the things really ran off the position, some times, my boy will put them back first before starting to eat. LOL!
Ur bentos r always so cute! Tapek u so much!
Btw, u were tagged, check out my blog ya.
Aiyo, your mickey & minnie soooo cute!! Did you see mine?? With the cutter yet looks ugly… it’s the eyes la.. but I will try, try & try. Your bentos always look so cute.. u have such a deft hand leh, placing all the eyes & mouth in the right cutesy places.
I still have a long way to go…
Amy, you mentioned you put spaghetti strip to hold food together. Do they know there’s spaghetti strip there when they start to eat? Cannot eat wan rite?
Khongfamily, ya ya, don’t worry, the reason why we use spaghetti strips instead of toothpick is the spaghetti strip will be soften after some time, and it’s edible. Can eat, don worry.
[...] kids love char siew pao (barbequed pork buns), and previously, I did a char siew pao bento before, and this is my second attempt. I wanted to fix something like Hamutaro, so I cut some [...]
[...] char siew pau, and if you are interested to see my other bentos with barbecued pork buns, check out Mickey and Minnie Mouse, and [...]