Rolled Pork with Cabbage & Obento [お弁当 • 肉の野菜巻き]

I just realized that there is not many post about bento (lunchbox) on my blog, although I need to prepare bento at least three times in a week during school term. In Japan, bento can be found in all convenient stores and supermarkets, but hubby prefers homemade version. Homemade bentos coming with surprises as it contains something different from the store-bought version which is quite standardized and expectable. Of course, homemade version is prepared with love but not always his favorite food though, I am trying to get (tricking) him to eat wider variety of vegetables.

最近才发觉“我的厨房”里就只有那几个便当而已，可我一直都有在做便当。 上课期间，一个星期至少有三天是便当日。在日本，便当到处都可以买得到似乎每家便利店和超市都有卖可是老爷偏喜欢住家饭。住家便当是比市贩的多了点惊喜因为市贩的菜式都千篇一律，但这也不代表我每次都会准备他喜欢的菜式。便当，是让老爷尝试（骗他吃）不同蔬菜的机会！

Bento day = busy morning. Hence, bento dishes are something easy to prepare and easy to eat. Usually, I will plan what to cook the night before and cook the main dish first thing in the morning. Meanwhile, I will prepare breakfast. While they are having breakfast I will get other dishes (if any) done and the bento packed. It is a requirement for students to bring tea to school it means I have more jobs in the morning with three water (tea) bottles to be filled.

 
便当日＝忙碌的早晨。因此，便当的菜式都是一些方便吃的简易料理。平常临睡前我都会想想冰箱里有什么材料可以煮，第二天一早先开始煮主菜同时为家人准备早餐。当他们在吃早餐时我就把其他菜式和便当准备好。这里的学校都要求学生带茶去学校，每天都要泡茶和准备三个茶壶。我的半个早上都是这样匆匆忙忙的过的，真正可以坐下慢慢的吃早餐是把弟弟送去幼稚园后。

In this post, I will share the rolled pork with vegetable recipe only. For the tamago-yaki (rolled omelet) recipe, please check out my previous post "Tamago-yaki with Okra" with I made for another bento. The red colour stuff are mini tomato and preserved radish, beans on toothpick is edamame, and halved umeboshi on the rice.

Ingredients (makes 2):
a: 2 leaves Chinese cabbage
    Sugar
    Salt

b: 6 slices pork belly (20cm x 5cm)
    Salt
    Pepper

c: Sesame salad dressing for serving (optional)

Methods:

1. Bring a pot of water (just enough to boil the Chinese cabbage) to a boil,  add pinch of sugar and salt. Blanch Chinese cabbage, remove from pot and rinse to cool it down. Squeeze out excess water then roll each leaf up (10-12 cm in length).   
2. Line 3 slices of pork together, sprinkle with salt and pepper then place a roll of Chinese cabbage over it and roll it up. 
3. Heat a non-stick pan, grease with tinny bit of oil then arrange in rolled pork. Seal side down.
4. Cook on low-medium heat until whole surface is browned nicely and well cooked.
5. Remove from pan, cut into serving size and serve warm.

Feel free to check out the collection of obento on my facebook page.