Bento is a single-portion takeout or home-packed meal common in Japanese cuisine and other neighboring countries.
In Bento (Food), rice is the main staple food which means it can be prepared anywhere in the world following the guidelines and procedures.
A traditional Bento holds rice or noodles, fish or meat, with prickled and cooked vegetables, in a Box. Unfortunately here in Nigeria, we do not make use of Box for meal take-out rather we use Food flask .
Traditional bento contains rice, fish, meat and vegetables which is what I have prepared above and this is the simple recipe
Fish pepper soup
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To start, boil some water on the burner. If the fish isn’t cleaned out, you will have to gut it and clean it out yourself. Thoroughly clean the inside and outside with lime or lemon to get rid of the sliminess.
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Chop the habanero pepper into tiny pieces. Also, loosely chop the basil leaves and set aside.
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Cut the fish into medium-sized pieces. When the hot water boils, pour it over the fish and leave for about 30 seconds
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Fish is quite notorious for completely breaking apart when cooked for long periods but doing this will help toughen the skin so that it can withstand prolonged cooking which is essential for this pepper soup
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Drain out the hot water, rinse under the tap and place in a pot. Add about 6 cups of water or until the fish is completely submerged. Add the bouillon powder and bring to a boil
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Add the rest of the smoked paprika, crayfish, salt, and chopped habanero pepper.
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Only add the cayenne pepper if you want it spicier
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Let simmer for 20 minutes on medium heat
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Taste and adjust the salt if needed.
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Add the chopped basil leaves and let simmer for 5 more minutes.
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Serve and enjoy!
Meat pepper soup
- If you are using lungs and liver, I’ll advise you parboil for about 6 minutes before adding to the rest of the meat or simply cut the meat to cube size to allow easy access when washing to get rid of the clotted blood. rinse clean and continue with the cooking procedures
- Place a pan containing washed assorted meat on medium heat add chopped onions, garlic, salt, seasoning, half of the pepper soup spice, add enough water to cover the meat and bring to boil for about 15 minutes.
- Add the remaining pepper soup spice and vegetable oil and reduce the heat. Also, check for salt and seasoning. Add more water to the broth is needed.
- After about 10 minutes, add a handful of scent leaves or basil*.*
- Bring to boil till meat is tender and serve immediately
Vegetable Recipes
- Wash and slice the vegetables, onion and pepper.
- Set a clean dry pot on the gas cooker and set the heat to medium.
- Add the sliced onion and pepper.
- Crush and spread the seasoning on the onion and pepper.
- Add the sliced vegetables
- Cover the pot and steam for 3 minutes. This is so that the vegetables are not overcooked.
- Stir very well and it is done.
Note: This is Bento in the hands of an African Chef 
. Normal Bento can still be found in Japanese Restaurants in Abuja, Lagos, Portharcourt and other parts of the country.
P.S. This is part of #monthlytopic initiated by @HiroyukiTakisawa which is theme is Bento.
Itadakimasu 
Thank you
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. Thanks for this really nice post
