Bento No 5 - Chicken Pandan with Caramelized Eggplant

This post is originally from my personal-anything-goes-blog, dated May 15, 2012
 
Today's bento is especially scrumptous! I guess Ive broken my blah bento streak! It's also great news for me, cause I created a bento for bubu (my sister) as well.


Today's Menu:

• Plain, unsalted onigiri
• Pandan Chicken
• Caramelized eggplant

Today's carb is just plain rice. I just molded the rice using the onigiri mold I bought last week. The brown sauce you see on the rice are the drippings of the caramelized onions

The pandan chicken is again, bought from SM Supermarket. I have no idea how to cook it, but what I did was I fried it while still wrapped in pandan.

The caramelized eggplant is a stroke of genius for me. Last night, I had no idea what to do with the eggplants. Before sleeping, I had a eureka moment. I told my self I'll make a rub for my eggplants. I dozed off as I was listing the ingredients for the rub in my head.

Ingredients

• 2 medium sized eggplants sliced
• Sugar
• Garlic powder/ground fresh garlic
• Salt
• Paprika
• Turmeric

Procedure:

1. Mix all the dry/powder/flavor ingredients together according to your taste. I didn't measure my ingredients but the major component of the rub is sugar. Don't add too much turmeric cause it can discolor your skin
2. Rub the flavor on the sliced eggplants. Coat both sides. Set aside for a few minutes. The eggplants will excrete water while letting the flavors set
3. Water fry the eggplants - Using a non-stick pan, just fry the eggplants as you normally would with oil. The eggplants will naturally excrete water.

My Bento Story:
This bento has a fried leaf theme, or that is, the colors are those of burnt plants. I really wanted to make this bento savory because I was making it the first time for my sister and she loves eggplants! Needless to say, she and kitty loved my bento! It really is yummy!