Scrambled Egg Curry Bento

A colorful medley of vegetables give this bento 'zazz. But the star of the show is my scrambled egg curry. My husband loves Japanese curry, which was the inspiration for this recipe and a big hit. Another of his favorites is kinpira, a popular Japanese dish  with an earthy sweetness.  Kinpira is most commonly made with burdock and carrots,  but I took that flavor profile and applied it to celery and asparagus: yum.

Left tier of bento: cucumber and micro-greens salad with citrus dressing, carrot and hijiki salad, celery and asparagus kinpira.

Right tier of bento: rice-bran pickled daikon, scrambled egg curry (sliced green onions) over rice.

My Bento Recipes:

Scrambled Egg Curry
Curry: now it's for breakfast too! This Paleo friendly bento dish is sure to become a staple in our home.

Ingredients:

white part of 4 green onions, sliced (or 1/8 cup diced onion)
1/4 carrot, small dice
1/4 cup diced tomatoes (canned is fine, it's what I used!)
1 teaspoon coconut oil, or vegetable oil
2 eggs
1/4 teaspoon sea salt
1/2 teaspoon curry powder

Directions:

* Whisk the eggs together with the salt until well combined.
* Heat the coconut oil in a pan over medium low heat.
* Add the onion and carrot and saute until soft, about 5 minutes.
* Add the curry powder and cook for a minute or until fragrant.
* Add the tomato and cook for 5 more minutes or until most of the moisture has cooked off.
* Add the egg and cook while constantly stirring to break up pieces.
* When the egg is fully cooked turn off the heat and let cool.
* Garnish with sliced green onion.

Celery and Asparagus Kinpira
I was delighted to discover that kinpira can be made with other vegetables because I don't often have burdock on hand. Now I will continue to play around with new veggie combinations! This recipe has a refreshing Spring element thanks to the asparagus.

Ingredients:

1/2 cup of matchstick cut celery
1/2 cup of matchstick cut asparagus
1 teaspoon toasted sesame oil
1 teaspoon tamari
1/2 teaspoon maple syrup
1/8 teaspoon shichimi

Directions:

* Heat the oil in a pan over medium high heat.
* Add the celery and asparagus and cut for 5 minutes.
* Add the tamari and maple syrup and continue to cook an other minute.
* Turn off heat and sprinkle with shichimi.

Shichimi: Japanese 7-spice.