Oriental Orange Vegan Bento Box
Eat the tastiest part of the rainbow with this all-orange vegan bento box, loaded with wholesome ingredients.
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This Oriental Orange vegan bento box includes spicy and aromatic sweet potato chunks paired with a fresh and zesty dressing. It is finished off with butternut squash noodles as well as ripe, juicy melon chunks. All in all, a vibrant and nutritious bento box lunch.
What is a bento box?
Bento is a Japanese word that just means lunch box! While the word bento may invoke images of sectioned wooden lunchboxes with traditional Japanese food, or the more modern iterations of intricately carved, themed foods, in actuality any portable, single-portion meal in a box could be called a bento.
For a vegan bento, you could include a range of vibrant vegetables, rice balls or sushi rolls, and even vegan meat alternatives like deli meat-style slices, hot dogs, or nuggets. Whether you throw them all in a lunch box, or take your time painstakingly carving them into your favourite anime character is up to you!
How do you spiralise vegetables?
To spiralise the butternut squash for this recipe, it helps to have a specialised tool called a spiraliser, which will allow you to make long spaghetti-like strands of a variety of vegetables in minutes. Handheld, manual, and electric spiralisers are available depending on your preference.
If you don’t have a spiraliser, it’s still possible to make this bento dish at home. You could make noodles from the squash by carefully peeling strips around the vegetable with a peeler, or by slowly grating the squash lengthways to get long strips. For a less time-consuming option, take a look in your local supermarkets for pre-spiralised vegetables.
Total Time: 1 hour
Servings: 4
Total Time: 1 hour
Servings: 4
Ingredients
Method
Ingredients
(Servings: 4)
- For the chilli and lime roasted sweet potatoes
- 0.5 0.5 large sweet potatoes, peeled and cubed
- 0.5 0.5 tbsp coconut oil, melted
- 0.5 0.5 large red chilli, chopped and deseeded
- 0.5 0.5 lime, zest and juice
- sea salt and black pepper, to taste
- For the mango, chilli, and lime dressing
- 0.25 0.25 small ripe mango, peeled and cubed
- 0.25 0.25 cloves garlic, peeled and chopped
- 0.25 0.25 tbsp fresh ginger, grated
- 0.25 0.25 tbsp toasted sesame oil
- 0.25 0.25 lime, zest and juice
- 15 15 ml tamari
- 0.25 0.25 large red chilli, finely chopped
- For the butternut squash and sesame noodles
- 0.25 0.25 butternut squash, peeled
- 0.5 0.5 tbsp black sesame seeds
- 0.5 0.5 limes, juice only
- 0.25 0.25 large pinch sea salt
Method
For the chilli and lime roasted sweet potato:
- Preheat oven to 180°C/350°F/Gas 4.
- Place all the ingredients into a roasting dish and toss well to combine.
- Transfer to the oven to bake for 30 minutes, or until tender.
For the mango, chilli, and lime dressing:
- Place all the ingredients, except the chilli, into a high powered blender and blitz until completely smooth.
- Add water to create the consistency you prefer.
- Stir through the chopped chilli and store, covered, in the fridge for up to 4 days.
For the butternut squash and sesame noodles:
- Spiralise the squash into noodles and place in a large bowl.
- Sprinkle over the lime juice and sesame seeds and set aside to soften slightly.
Fill your bento box with these vegan turmeric and beetroot sushi rolls!
