Hi there!
Today I want to talk about how to make a high-protein plant-based BENTO box.
Vegan or Vegetarian people are always getting enough vitamins from lots of vegetables but our bodies need protein as well so this post will concentrate on protein.
Where I work, I see sometime vegan people don’t know how to take protein also which vegetables has high contain protein.
Good plant-based sources of protein:
Aburaage – Deep fried tofu pouch.
Chickpea
Tofu
Quinoa flakes
Sunflower seeds or pumpkin seeds
Red rice
Black rice
Mushrooms
Eggplant
Tamari
Soy sauce
Plant based bento box
Equipment
- Bento box
Ingredients
Enoki and Aburaage
- 100 g Enoki mushroom
- 1 each Aburaage
- 1 tsp Ginger Tube
- 1 tbsp Sesame oil
- 1 tbsp Tamari (soy sauce)
- 1 tbsp Sake
- 1 tsp Sugar
Carrot and Sultana (raisins)
- 80 g Carrot
- 35 g Sultana
- 1 tbsp Olive oil
- 1 tsp Apple Vinegar
- 1 tsp Maple Syrup
- ¼ tsp Cumin
- ½ tsp Salt
- ⅛ tsp Pepper
Chickpea and Tofu Hamburg (Rissoles)
- 125 g Chickpea Tinned
- 75 g Tofu
- 65 g Onion *
- 50 g Carrot *
- 100 g Zucchini * ½ each
- 30 g Mini Capsicum *
- 1 tbsp Sesame oil *
- 5 tbsp Quinoa flakes
- ½ tsp Ginger Tube
- ½ tsp Salt
Sauce for chickpea and Tofu Hamburg
- 2 tbsp Tamari (soy sauce)
- 1 tbsp Sake
- 1 tsp Ginger
- 1 tsp Sugar
- 1.5 tbsp Sesame oil
Eggplant and Mushroom Kinpira
- 160 g Eggplant 1 each small one
- 100 g Zucchini ½ each
- 2-3 each Brown mushrooms
- 1 tbsp Sunflower seeds
- 2 tbsp Sesame oil
- 1.5 tbsp Tamari (soy sauce)
- 2 tbsp Sake
- 1 tbsp Sugar
- ¼ tsp Chilli flakes
Instructions
Enoki mushroom and Aburaage
- Boil water and add aburaage to remove excess oil (1-2mins is enough).
- Remove the aburaage from the boiling water and let cool.
- Wash enoki, trim the edges then cut in half.
- Remove excess moisture from aburaage and slice it.
- Add 1 tbsp of sesame oil into a pot and turn heat to mid.
- Add the enoki and aburaage into the pot and stir.
- Add 1 tsp of ginger, 1 tsp of sugar, 1 tsp of sake into the pot than stir.
- Add 1 tbsp of soy sauce into the pot and stir.
- Turn off the heat and let cool.
Carrot and sultana or raisins salad
- Wash and shred the carrot.
- Add sultanas or raisins into a bowl.
- Add the shredded carrot into the bowl.
- Add 1 tsp of apple vinegar, 1 tbsp of olive oil, 1 tsp of maple syrup, ¼ tsp of cumin, ½ tsp of salt and 1/8 tsp of pepper into the bowl and mix well.
Chickpea & tofu Hamburg (Rissoles)
- Wash all the vegetables, chop 65g of onion, 30g of mini capsicum, 50g of shred carrot, and shred 100g of zucchini.
- Heat up a frypan over a mid-heat and add 1 tbsp of sesame oil.
- Add all the chopped vegetables to the frypan, stir, and cook until the onion is soft. Turn off the heat and let cool.
- Add the chickpeas and tofu into a blender and blend well.
- Add the blended mix into a bowl.
- Add the cooked vegetables into the bowl.
- Add ½ tsp of ginger, ½ tsp of salt and 5 tbsp of quinoa flakes into the bowl and combine well.
- Heat up a frypan over a mid-heat and add 1.5 tbsp of sesame oil.
- Form the chickpea and tofu mix in to 7-8 ball-shaped portions and add to the frypan.
- Cook one side until a light brown colour and turn over and do the same.
- Add 1 tbsp of sake, 1 tsp of ginger, 1 tsp of sugar to the frypan.
- Add 2 tbsp of soy sauce to the frypan and turn over the Hamburg.
- Turn off heat.
Eggplant and mushroom KINPIRA
- Wash all the vegetables.
- Cut eggplant and zucchini in to bite-sized pieces.
- Remove the core and slice the mushroom.
- Heat up a frypan over a mid heat and add 2 tbsp of sesame oil.
- Add the eggplant to the frypan, stir, and cook until half done.
- Add mushroom and zucchini to the frypan and stir.
- Add 2 tbsp of sake, ¼ tsp of chilli flakes, 1 tbsp of sugar and stir well.
- Add 1 tbsp of sunflower seeds and stir.
- Add 1.5 tbsp of soy sauce and stir well then turn off the heat and let cool.
Pack all dish to a bento box
- Put cooked rice into a bento box.
- Add all the cooked ingredients to the bento box.
Video
You can prep before day
Enoki & Aburaage
You can cook it the day before and store in your fridge. It will actually taste better because the aburaage and enoki soak up the sauce.
Carrot and raisin salad
Shred carrot and add raisin then mix in the dressing. The next day the dressing will have soaked into the raisins.
Egg plant, mushroom & zucchini KINPIRA*
Cook all ingredients in sauce. Like the enoki and aburaage the eggplant will soak up the sauce and taste better.
Chickpea & tofu Hamburg (Rissoles)
Using ready-cooked tinned chickpeas is easy but you can also use dry beans, soak 1 day, then cook the next day. Make rissoles before day and next day, just cook with frypan.
Cook rice and freeze in small portions.
Being Japanese, I really love cooked rice, so I always cook a lot and freeze in small portions. Because I am always busy it’s good to always have in the freezer when I need it.
*What is Kinpira
Kinpira is a Japanese cooking method in which root vegetables like burdock, carrot, lotus roots etc, are simmered in a sweet soy sauce. You can use other vegetables but these are most commonly used in Japan.
How much protein do you need in one day?
As you know, vegetarian or vegan people always eat lot of vegetables but you need good proteins as well. For woman at east 40g a day and for men at least 50g. If you exercise often or have a higher-than-average muscle mass then you’ll need more.
0.8g protein per kg body weight
EX 50kg of weight X 0.0008 = 40g
Athletes or highly active people need from 1.4 g of protein per kg body weight.
High protein contains food list
Pumpkin seeds 26g
Almond 20g
Sunflower seeds 20g
Chia seeds 20g
Cashew nuts 19g
Oats 13g
Edamame 11g
Soybeans 15g
Chickpeas 9g
Peanut 25g
*Protein contained in 100g of food
Yes, plant-based diets can be high protein, but some ingredients contain the 9-essential amino-acids found in animal protein.
Animal protein contains these essential amino-acids and is called a complete protein. Vegetable protein doesn’t usually have these essential amino-acids and is called an incomplete protein but that doesn’t mean amino-acid content is zero. However, some vegetable protein, such as soybeans, quinoa, or buckwheat kennels do contain the 9-essential amino acids so they are a complete protein.
How to ensure good protein intake for Vegans.
Mixing a few kinds of vegetable protein and using complete proteins will ensure an adequate protein intake. Soybeans or legumes don’t contain methionine, but seeds and nuts do. Seeds and nuts don’t contain lysine and threonine, but legumes do so mixing them in a dish will increase the amount of complete protein.
What are the 9 essential amino-acids?
• Valine
• Leucine
• Isoleucine
• Threonine
• Methionine
• Lysine
• Phenylalanine
• Tryptophan
• Histidine
These are used for muscle repair/growth, metabolism, immune functions, etc.
Have a snack between meals
If each meal doesn’t contain enough nutrients or sometime you don’t have time to eat because of work or whatever reasons, have a snack between meals like nuts or seeds. Theses day you can buy snack packs at supermarkets or make small portions of nuts and seed at home and take with you.
Check my latest video on how to make rice the Japanese way and how to cook multigrain rice.
How to cook multigrain rice
YouTube
How to cook multigrain rice
