TOTORO

Anime Characters Lunchbox

Chara-ben?

Chara-ben is a shortened word of characters Bento (lunchbox), which expresses anime characters using foods.?
Japanese moms started making Chara-ben for kids’ lunch boxes to make them.The Chara-ben is very cute (Kawaii) and kid’s can proud it toward their friends.?
Kid’s can eat dislike foods as well because of cute shapes and character.?

Nowadays, it is a boom and there are lots of recipe books and contests. Many Japanese people are having fun to post pics of Chara-ben on multiple SNS. As a result Chara-bens are becoming popular in the world! ?
https://jp.pinterest.com/whysojapan/japanese-kyaraben-bento/?
Let’s try making Chara-ben and share pics with friends on SNS!

Ingredients

Ingredients service for 1 person
Quantity
Cooked rice
(for TOTORO include Dust bunny)
0.5 cup
Black sesame seeds
1 tablespoon
Salt
1/4 teaspoon
Salmon flakes for belly
1 teaspoon
Cooked rice (for Dust Bunny)
20 g (1/3 of TTL rice)
Salmon flakes for Bunny
1 teaspoon
Nori seaweed sheet
(for eyes and the Dust Bunny)
For bunny 1/4 sheet
For eyes 1/8 sheet
Slices cheese
(for whites of eyes)
1/6 sheet
Long, thin pasta for salad
(for whiskers)
2 pieces

Direction

Dust bunny

  1. Mix 2/3 of cooked rice for TOTORO with ground black sesame seeds and salt. Shape into the body and ears of TOTORO using a cooking wrap. Make a rice ball stomach using the remained rice with salmon flakes inside.
  2. Mix salmon flakes with rice and make a ball using plastic wrap.
  3. Cut Nori sheet into round shape and wrap 1 with it.

Eyes, whiskers, nose and patterns on TOTORO’s stomach

  1. Punch slice cheese and make four circles using a plastic straw.
  2. Fry pasta and cut it into six.
  3. Punch Nori seaweed sheet by a puncher to make eyes, nose and patterns on its stomach of TOTORO.

Put all staff in a Bento box

  1. Put TOTORO and Dust Bunny into a Bento box, decollate other staff surrounding characters. Put eyes, nose whiskers and stomach patterns carefully with tweezers.