{"id":45201,"date":"2019-09-25T13:42:49","date_gmt":"2019-09-25T04:42:49","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/savvytokyo.com\/?p=45201"},"modified":"2019-09-25T14:07:51","modified_gmt":"2019-09-25T05:07:51","slug":"making-a-bento-box-is-a-breeze-with-kokoro-care-packages","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/savvytokyo.com\/making-a-bento-box-is-a-breeze-with-kokoro-care-packages\/","title":{"rendered":"Making A Bento Box Is A Breeze With Kokoro Care Packages"},"content":{"rendered":"

Locally-produced, chemical-free, and delicious<\/strong><\/h3>\n

Working directly with regional farmers and producers across Japan, Kokoro Care Packages are filled with unique and high-quality Japanese products. Unlike other care packages from Japan that are often filled with colorful sweets and treats full of harmful chemicals and artificial who-knows-what, Kokoro fills their packages exclusively with products that are free of all such chemicals like MSG. <\/span><\/p>\n\n

Thanks to its healthy eating habits<\/a>, Japan is known to be one of the healthiest countries around, in fact, Bloomberg<\/a> ranked Japan as the healthiest nation in Asia earlier\u00a0this year. Striving to uphold that reputation and provide a nutritious product, Kokoro works directly with local farmers who not only produce fresh, healthy, and local food products, but each has a unique background and story to share, giving you a bit more insight as to why it\u2019s so special to the locals of the area.<\/span><\/p>\n

\"Kokoro

The theme for the September Nourishing Essential care package was Bento!<\/p><\/div>\n

We were lucky enough to receive the Nourishing Essentials box for September 2019, and the theme this month was Bento Box Essentials. The box was filled with many bento-related ingredients such as Nikomaru rice, healthy 16-grain rice mix, hijiki flakes, dried pickle flakes, soy sauce simmered butterbur, nori (Japanese seaweed<\/a>) paste, mulberry tea, and tasty dashi chips called Daships.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

So what do you do with all the products when you get them? Conveniently, the package comes with a handy \u2018how-to\u2019 instruction pamphlet for each item and also lists all the ingredients in English. We followed along and made our own little bento box!\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Putting our bento-making skills to the test<\/strong><\/h3>\n

One of the main items in the package was the Nikomaru rice, the ultimate essential for any Japanese bento<\/a>. The recommendation was to use the rice to make onigiri (rice balls), so that’s precisely what we did!\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

\"\"

Mochi mochi: the only way to describe this fluffy, soft, cloud-like rice.<\/p><\/div>\n

We used the other ingredients in the box to make three different onigiri flavors: a healthy 16-grain mix, hijiki, and dried pickle flakes.<\/span><\/p>\n

Making the onigiri was quick and easy\u2014with the 16-grain mix onigiri, we just steamed the rice in the rice cooker<\/a> with the contents of one of satchels in the pack. We then balled up the rice (our hands were pre-washed and clean) and voila! You\u2019ve got yourself one scrumptious onigiri.<\/span><\/p>\n

The other two onigiris were just as simple; after the rice was done cooking, we separated it into two bowls, added the hijiki and pickled veggie flakes, and made two more varieties of onigiri.<\/span><\/p>\n

\"\"

Hijiki and rice make for the perfect meal combo.<\/p><\/div>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

Rice is a staple ingredient for bentos<\/a>, but we decided to fry up some crispy <\/span>karaage <\/span><\/i>(Japanese fried chicken) to accompany the onigiris. Add some fresh veggies, juicy fruits, and the sweet soy sauce flavored butterbur for the perfect <\/span>okazu<\/span><\/i> (side dish) to go along with the onigiri.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Ta-da! Feast your eyes on this Savvy<\/em> bento made from locally produced, healthy, and tasty ingredients!<\/span><\/p>\n

\"Kokoro

Onigiri from left to right: dried pickle flakes, hijiki, 16-grain<\/p><\/div>\n

\"Kokoro<\/p>\n

The extra crunchy and savory dashi flavored chips were extra crunchy and the perfect side to the soft rice balls, and the mulberry tea (hailed as a superfood) was the most refreshing way to wash it all down.<\/span><\/p>\n

\"Kokoro

These dashi chips were everything\u2014brb, going to order some more because we ate them all.<\/p><\/div>\n

Savvy Tokyo X Kokoro Care Packages Giveaway<\/strong><\/h3>\n

We loved making our own bento with these fresh ingredients and we want you, our readers, to have a chance to get creative in the kitchen too. Savvy Tokyo is teaming up with Kokoro Care Packages to give away three November Monthly Nourishing Essentials<\/strong> packages<\/strong>!<\/span><\/p>\n

\"KokoroGiveaway\"<\/p>\n

All you have to do to enter the giveaway is follow the instructions below:<\/span><\/p>\n

    \n
  1. Follow<\/strong> @SavvyTokyo<\/a> and @KokoroCares<\/a> on Instagram<\/span><\/li>\n
  2. Tag<\/strong> a friend (Instagram or Facebook) who you think would also love a Kokoro Care Package<\/span><\/li>\n
  3. Share<\/strong> this giveaway on Facebook or repost to your Instagram page\/story and tag us so we can see!<\/span><\/li>\n<\/ol>\n

    The giveaway ends at 12 p.m. on Friday, Oct. 25\u2014good luck!<\/strong><\/p>\n

    The Deets<\/strong><\/h4>\n

    Kokoro Care Packages<\/span><\/a>
    \nPricing:<\/b>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n