Recipe
Teriyaki salmon bento
This is the classic bento main: crisp-skinned salmon in a glossy soy-mirin glaze. The trick for a lunch box is reducing the sauce until it's sticky, so it clings to the fish instead of soaking into the rice.
Why this works in a bento
Salmon stays moist after cooling, and a reduced teriyaki glaze is salty and sweet enough to taste good without reheating. Salting the fish for 10 minutes first draws out surface moisture, so it browns well and holds its shape.
Ingredients
Teriyaki sauce is just soy sauce, mirin, sake and a little sugar, in roughly equal parts of the first three. If you don't keep sake, use water. Mirin is a sweet rice seasoning found in the Asian aisle of most supermarkets.
Building the box
Pack rice on one side, lean the salmon against it, and fill the rest with blanched broccoli and a few slices of tamagoyaki. A sprinkle of sesame seeds on the salmon and a pickled plum on the rice finish it off. See how to pack a bento for the full method.
Ingredients
- 2 salmon fillets, skin on (about 5 oz / 140 g each)
- ¼ tsp salt
- 1 tsp neutral oil
- 2 tbsp soy sauce
- 2 tbsp mirin
- 1 tbsp sake or water
- 1 tsp sugar
- Toasted sesame seeds, to finish
Steps
- Sprinkle the salmon on both sides with salt and leave for 10 minutes. Pat dry with paper towels. Cut each fillet into 2–3 pieces if needed to fit your box.
- Mix the soy sauce, mirin, sake and sugar in a small bowl.
- Heat the oil in a nonstick skillet over medium heat. Add the salmon skin side down and cook for 3–4 minutes until the skin is crisp.
- Flip and cook for 2 minutes more. Wipe excess oil out of the pan with a paper towel.
- Pour in the sauce and let it bubble for 1–2 minutes, spooning it over the fish, until it's thick and glossy and coats the salmon. The fish should flake easily (145°F / 63°C).
- Transfer to a plate, sprinkle with sesame seeds and let cool completely before packing.