Bento: Kibi Burgers (295)

Today, I go into work late.  This left me enough time this morning to finally have an opportunity to cook, which meant I could finally get this idea out of my head.  Some time back, I made kibi burgers and froze them for later use.  What is a kibi burger you might ask?  Instead of making my kibi filling loose, I made it into little patties that I pan-fried.  The spices used in the meat give one the illusion of having Greek-spiced meat, like the kibi you get at a Greek restaurant (or at the one in my area).  I needed sides for these burgers and I wanted to do something with cucumber and yogurt, but not a true tzatziki sauce.  I found a recipe for a dilled cucumber salad at Everyday Food as well as a orzo pilaf I found in the April 2010 issue I picked up a little while ago.

Leftovers were packed up into my Laptop Lunches green box that I have grown particularly fond of lately.  This is dinner and is also a prime example of why bento works so well for me.  I definitely don’t mind eating leftovers, which is a fortunate thing.  Living on my own, I tend to cook recipes that leave me with lots of leftovers.

As for the two recipes I used in this bento, I feel the need to add my comments on them.

Orzo Pilaf: This was tasty and the first time I’ve ever cooked with orzo.  As well, once all the veggies were diced it was super simple to make.  However when reading the recipe, I realized I was going to have the same problem as my the recent black bean recipe I’d tried: lack of flavor.  As frequent commenter Liz said, there aren’t enough ingredients.  The orzo pilaf originally called for just carrots and then you cook the whole thing up.  I doctored the recipe with finely diced red bell pepper and onion along with a 1/2 tsp of garlic powder while I cooked the vegetables down.  When I poured the orzo and water into the pan, I added a pinch (or so) of salt.  Once the dish was done, everything tasty pretty well, but needed another pinch of salt as well as black pepper.  These changes made this recipe work very well for me.

Yogurt Dill Sauce – I mixed the yogurt, vinegar, and dill just as the recipe called for, substituting dried dill to taste for fresh (it’s what I have on hand).  While okay, this recipe is a bit too vinegary for me.  I think I’d prefer to cut the vinegar to 1/2 tsp with a splash more rather than a full tsp.  Otherwsie, it was a nice compliment to my raw cucumbers. 

Have a great Tuesday, and be the bento everyone!

Not Exactly Bento has no affiliation with Laptop Lunchboxes or Everyday Food.  I am just a fan of each.  However, Martha if you feel the need to give me a free extension on my Everyday Food subscription, please feel free.  HA!