Caprese Blossoms Bento
The other day I posted a bento featuring tomato jellies for a caprese salad and I wrote that I had regretfully cubed the jelly instead of cutting out flowers. Well I made up for it with today’s version.
Tucked in next to the caprese is a star-spangled boiled egg and carrots. The second tier is white rice with takuwan flower… I already had the cutter out so why not? The brownish-red squiggle is umeboshi paste. I know it looks like an earthworm…that was not intentional but I had already taken the shot and packed the bento away before I realized it. Eww…
The third tier contains teriyaki falafels.
Really. Odd but very delicious. Just cook or heat the falafel as usual then dip in teriyaki sauce.
But going back to the first tomato jelly bento…I got a couple of emails asking how I made the jellies. It was pretty simple. I pureed enough tomatoes to yeild 1 cup of juice. Just add the chopped tomatoes to a food processor and give it a whirl, then dump the mix into a strainer and let it drip into a bowl. I used a spatula and pressed down on the blob to hasten the process
Heating up the tomato juice and agar-agar.
When I achieved a cup of tomato juice I added 2-3 tablespoons of agar-agar powder and heated while stirring constantly. ( I started with 2 tablespoons, but added a bit more)
When the powder dissolves pour into a flat container and chill. That’s pretty much it. Using a large flat container makes it easier to cut, especially if you want to cube it like in this bento.
Here’s a photo of the box of agar-agar powder and the jelly before it cooled.
Singing “Nobody loves me, everyone hates me, think I’ll go and eat worms!” hehe!
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Seriously though – the Jelly flowers are swish! Very original
Hi Asfora…you want to know something… I was singing the same song as I posted the photo! Ha! Thanks.
thanks for the instructions, i’m excited to try this once tomatoes are more in abundance here! and the jelly looks elegant and lovely in the flower shape — that’s so “debra,” finding more awesome tweaks on caprese!!
Thanks Megan! I’m going to attempt some other jellies too. They’re pretty much bento friendly so why not?
Looks so cool with floral tomatoes and mozz! Can’t wait for summer salads now.
Thank you sheri! Yep, salads…bring them on!
Yum, everything looks great, even the earth worm! LOL. Creative preparation for tomatoes…you should be on Iron Chef! Great tutorial!
Hi Susan, “IRON bentoist” Ha ha! Thanks.
Mmmm…I love caprese salad, this puts an exciting twist on it. After you mentioned it, it does sorta look like an earth worm, but I’d eat it!
Tee hee… Saba Man didn’t mention the worm so I guess he ate it without worry. LOL! Thanks!
Wow, with the flower shapes the Caprese looks even more delicious than it did last time! This is a great idea – I’d never thought of making jellies out of tomatoes but now I want to try it. Thank you for showing us the process, too
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Thanks Mareike! Glad that you’re going to try it!
I don’t mind the earthworm. It’s kinda cute:) lol. The teriyaki falafel is new to me. But it sounds yummy. Perhaps you should copyright it! oh and i love the tomato jelly flower more than the cube
Hi Tana, The teriyaki falafel is very tasty. I eat teriyaki tofu so why not? Thanks for liking the earthworm.
Elegant and gorgeous bento, Debra! Great to have your jellies instructions, too…love them so much in this fresh flower shape!
Thanks Jenn!