Instructions

Egg Crepe:

1. Take your 2 eggs and separate the yolks from the whites. Add the yolks to a small bowl and discard the egg whites.
2. In a separate bowl, mix together cornstarch with 1 tablespoon of water. Add the cornstarch slurry to the egg yolks, and whisk together until fully mixed. Optional: Strain the egg mixture through a fine-meshed strainer – this results in a smoother egg crepe.
3. Heat a small non-stick pan over medium-low heat. Add the egg yolk mixture, and swirl to coat the bottom of the pan. Cover pan with lid and allow the egg crepe to fully cook. Remove carefully with a spatula and allow to cool.

Decorations:

1. Using a ruler, measure the length and width of the bento box you will be using. Divide each measurement by 3 to get the length and width measurements for each Hello Kitty square.
2. Take your scrap piece of cardboard, and measure out a square according to the measurements you took in Step 1. Cut this out with scissors – this will become your tracer.
3. Take the carrot and cut in half lengthwise. Using the vegetable peeler, peel long, thin ribbons of carrot from the flat cut-side of the carrot. With a knife and using your tracer as a guide, cut the carrot shavings into squares (3 total), overlapping the carrots as needed.
4. With a knife and using your tracer as a guide, cut the cooled egg crepe into squares (3 total).
5. With a knife and using your tracer as a guide, cut the red imitation crab sheets into squares (3 total).
6. Using the scrap pieces of carrot, egg crepe, and imitation crab, cut out leaves using the mini leaf cutter – you’ll want 3 leaves in each color, for a total of 9 leaf cutouts.
7. Using the Hello Kitty/cat face nori punch, punch out the design from the nori. If using a Hello Kitty punch, reserve all pieces; if using a cat face punch, reserve the whiskers, eyes, and toe pieces of the pawprint (the eyes will become Hello Kitty’s nose, and the pawprint toes make for good Hello Kitty eyes, since they are oval shaped). Make sure you punch out enough nori features for 9 Hello Kitty squares.

Assembly:

1. Fill your bento box with rice, leaving a little bit of space at the top to place the Hello Kitty squares. Flatten the surface of the rice using a rice paddle or clean, wet hands.
2. Place your carrot, egg crepe, and imitation crab squares on top of the rice in an alternating pattern. You’ll end up with a 3 x 3 checkerboard pattern once complete.
3. Using tweezers, apply the nori facial features on top of each square. Start by adding the whiskers, then add the eyes and nose. To get a more accurate “Hello Kitty look”, aim to place the eyes in between the top and middle whiskers. Feel free to use a little bit of water to help the nori stick better.
4. Using tweezers, apply the leaf cutouts where Hello Kitty’s bow would normally go (either the top left or right corner). You can use some honey or mayo to help the leaves stick. I placed the red leaves on the carrot squares, the yellow leaves on the crab squares, and the orange leaves on the egg squares, but feel free to do whatever combination you’d like!