Do you know Japanese Bento ( 弁当) ? In Japan, the word has been around since the 13th century. There’s however not a really good way to translate those kanji directly into English. It’s just, bento. It’s always been a way to carry your food to work and evolved over the years to expand to train meals and quick bites at a theater even. BentoYa Cooking invited me to try one of their classes and I think this was the most appropriate class. Bento is in their name after all! Bentoya Cooking Vegan Bento Class taught me a lot and was so delicious!
BentoYa Cooking Beginnings
Rina Ikeda and Akiko Sugawara founded BentoYa Cooking in May of this year so the company is new. As someone that is always looking for yummy vegetable based meals, learning how to cook Japanese style AND vegan was something that intrigued me. Their passion is to help educate people on vegetarian focused Japanese food to contribute to the well being of the people, the society, and the environment.
The best part? They teach cooking classes in Tokyo and Yokohama, in English!
Location
As Yokohama is much closer for me than Tokyo, I went to the Kamiooka location. It was an easy 15-20 min walk from the Keikyu Kamiooka station (上大岡駅) or there was a bus option. Which as the bus came up right as I was walking out, I went with that on the way back.
Akiko normally does classes in her kitchen at home but was scoping out locations for larger groups so we had class at the community center down the street. This is something I’ve found very interesting in Japan. Community centers house all sorts of things, table tennis, libraries, classrooms, and apparently, big kitchen class rooms with ovens and burners!
Bentoya Cooking Vegan Bento Class
Akiko taught the class I went to and was setting up the class room when I arrived promptly for our 1830 class. We were in the community center and remember, if you see shoe boxes, take yours off and trade them for the slippers provided! Don’t worry, you’ll be provided with an apron.
At the beginning of class we went over the products we’d be using and were given a recipe card with all the information as well as where to buy things which is super useful.
Dashi
Dashi is used in many Japanese bases. Made out of kelp and shitake mushrooms we learned that the white you may see on the kelp actually contributes to the umami of the broth so don’t wash them before cooking! This was already cooking on the stove when I arrived and I was surprised how many things that we used it in. It’s truly an everyday item. Akiko told the class that as it normally takes several hours to make, most Japanese cheat and use a powder, similar to bouillon cubes!
Vegan karaage
First things first, start with protein! Karaage is typically a chicken dish and we used soy protein instead for this class. Apparently some versions will require you to boil the soy but this one you just had to have in hot water for about 10-15 min. Since this took time, we got this going first. After it’s done soaking, make sure to squeeze the extra moisture out but don’t squeeze so hard you lose the shape!
Use potato or corn starch to help make it extra crispy for frying. And I learned the exact ingredients to make a teriyaki sauce. To. Die. For. I’m not going to give away all the secrets here! Go take the class :D.
Glazed carrots にんじんぐらっせ
Glazed carrots were cooked to make a quick garnish that are super tasty. Japanese cooking often utilizes mirin, which is a sweet sake. Think cheap wine in other cultures cooking. Also soy and some sugar. Bentos are famous for being cute so we used cookie cutters for the carrot to make flowers and then some quick knife work to give them some depth. My first one was atroscious! But you get better with practice.
Green Been Gomaae (ごまあえ)
ごまあえ is a dish that is found very often in Japanese cuisine. Spinach or Green beans are dressed with a sweet and savory sesame sauce (literally, crush some sesame and add soy and sugar to taste). Blanch the green beans or spinach and add the paste. I honestly didn’t realize how simple this one was. I’ve had it in many restaurants and always am looking for it!
Grinding up the sesame in a pestle.
Cute Garnish
Even if you aren’t going for over the top kawaii bento (cute bento), there are still easy garnishes to add some color and vitamins! We used straws to cut holes in the cucumber and spiraled them together. Japanese cucumbers can be bitter on the ends so cut that part off if you find the taste off putting.
Onigiri
And, of
The plastic wrap made it so much easier to make!! The rice is definitely sticky rice.
My first ever onigiri!!
Vegan Power Bento
Finally, assembling the bento. Go largest to smallest and keep it nutrionally portional with rice, protein and veggies. Bright color and foods packed tight. The best part about bento I think is you can be careful with your portion sizes. Most bento boxes are quite small and though to the American eye they don’t look like much food, I was more than full from this!
Miso
Don’t forget the soup! As there was leftover dashi, we added some miso paste, some onion and voila! You have miso soup.
The final product
All in all the cooking side of class took about 1.5 hours. And yes, Japanese Mom’s and Dad’s all over the country are making these every morning. Granted, I’m sure you get more proficient over time. Akiko gave us so many tidbits into the different ingredients and tricks on how to do certain things. The class was super educational and a lot of fun. Plus, the food was amazing. Because once you’re done cooking? You eat! 頂きます (itadakimasu)!
Other Class Offerings
They offer all sorts of classes, including ramen and gyoza! Soon the goal is to start sweets too. The best way to sign up for a course is to message them on Facebook or head over to their website. Some classes are posted but if you are looking for something specific, just let them know. Both Akiko and Rina are super sweet and very helpful. They are teaching classes about 2-3 times a week so there’s options available.
I’ll definitely go back and if you are looking to learn Japanese cooking, whether here for a short trip or the long haul, I highly recommend BentoYa Cooking for a class!
Have you taken a cooking class before?