A Valentine's Day Fiesta Bento

This bento says "I'm hot for you!" with its South American inspired dishes. I feel pretty good about it not be too cutesy, but sort of a manly Valentine's Day lunch. I didn't go with all pink foods and kissing bunnies...but I could have. Maybe next year?

Top tier of bento: Spanish Rice-balls with Lemony Avocado Filling, raw cheddar cheese hearts, nori, and Mexican Street Salad. The "I" is made from red onion, the heart from carrot and the "U" from radish. 

I used bits from the salad which had softened a bit (like pickles) which made cutting the shapes a sinch with my paring knife.

I used a metal heart shaped mold (shown with my Mexican street salad recipe) to make the "rice balls", laying rice, then the avocado mix, and the more rice. I added a little extra tomato paste to the tops to redden them. Cut nori helps the heart shapes to pop. Then I surrounded the rice-balls with the Mexican Street Salad, packing it in carefully.

Bottom tier of bento: Caramelized onion and beet salad, chili-lime chicken patty (thank you Trader Joe's) cut into heart shapes over a lettuce salad with orange-miso dressing. Dividers: chard and lime slices. Garnishes: lime slice and pickled carrot flower. 

The Xs are cut from red radish and the O from a carrot slice. I used a large straw to help with the O.

My Bento Recipes:

Here you can see the Spanish Rice-balls with Lemony Avocado Filling before I packed them. 

Spanish Rice (2 portions, I froze half for another time)

Ingredients:

1/4 cup onion, small dice
1 clove garlic, minced
1 cup rice
1 tablespoon butter
1 1/2 teaspoons fresh oregano (or 1 teaspoon dried)
1/4 teaspoon sea salt
2 teaspoons tomato paste (which freezes excellently in an ice cube tray!)
stock to cook the rice

Directions:

* Saute the onion and garlic in the butter on medium heat for 5 minutes. 
* Add the rice and cook another 3 minutes or until it looks a translucent and begins to brown. 
* Put everything in the rice cooker or cook on the stove top as you know how.

Lemony Avocado Filling

Ingredients:

1/2 avocado
1 teaspoon fresh lemon juice
a good pinch of sea salt

Directions:

* Mash everything until a semi-smooth paste using a fork. 
* The lemon will help the avocado to not brown!

Mexican Street Salad (2 portions)

This seemed like a lot when I was first making it but it shrinks down quite a bit. I based this recipe on Jamie Oliver's Mexican Street Salad (which looks gorgeous) and an other recipe for an El Salvadorian Cabbage salad. I was looking for a way to use up some green cabbage: jackpot. So here's the love-child of those two recipes:

Ingredients:

1/8 red onion, thinly sliced
1 cup shredded green cabbage
1/2 carrot, thinly sliced (I then cut those into wide strips)
2 radishes, quartered and then thinly sliced
2 tablespoons roughly chopped cilantro
1/4 teaspoon sea salt
2 tablespoons fresh lime juice
1/8 teaspoon cayenne
1/8 teaspoon cumin
4 drops stevia extract (or 1/2 teaspoon maple syrup)

Directions:

* Chop and slice your way through the list of veggies.
* Mix in the remaining ingredients. 
* Gently massage the salad with your hands (discovering any paper-cuts you might have!) until it breaks down a bit.
* Top with fresh cilantro leaves.