Batman Bento

My godson J is currently into Batman, so when I went over to visit, I attempted to make a Batman Bento for him. Batman to me is rather dark and gloomy, but as J is only 4 years old, the bento is a light-hearted one, with little masked onigiri (rice balls), chicken teriyaki meatballs, and a batman emblem cut out of nori (seaweed) sitting on top of an oval tamagoyaki (fried egg omelette). Edamame, slices of baby corn and glazed fried luncheon meat stars complete the bento. 

Continue reading for the Glazed Fried Luncheon Meat recipe...

Glazed Fried Luncheon Meat

Luncheon meat is not the healthiest, but it is extremely tasty and I do indulge once in a while. Try to buy a good quality luncheon meat. For this recipe, I used Spam Lite, but other brands would work just as well. The ingredients used for the marinade and glaze are similar to those for a teriyaki sauce, except for the soya sauce, as the luncheon meat is already very salty.

Luncheon meat
Mirin (Japanese rice wine)
Sake
Sugar

1. Slice and cut the luncheon meat into decorative shapes, or cubes.
   
2. Mix together equal amounts of mirin, sake and sugar in a bowl and add the cut luncheon meat. Stir gently to coat the luncheon meat. Add more marinade if necessary. (For half a small tin of luncheon meat, I added 1 Tbsp each of mirin, sake and sugar)
   
3. Heat up a non-stick frying pan over medium low heat. Add a very small amount of oil if desired, although I prefer not to add any oil, as the fat in the luncheon meat will exude when it is fried.
   
4. Fry the luncheon meat on both sides until browned.
   

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