Instructions

Carrot Flowers:

1. Boil carrot slices in water or dashi until tender.
2. Using the larger flower cutter (2.5 cm), punch out flower shapes from the carrots.
3. Using the smaller flower cutter (1 cm), cut out flower shapes from the white cheese. You should cut out the same amount as you have carrot flowers.
4. Using a small circle cutter or drinking straw, cut out circles from the orange cheese. You should cut out the same amount as you have carrot flowers.
5. Using tweezers or chopsticks, place the carrot flowers on top of the green soboro portion of the bento.
6. Using tweezers, place the white cheese flowers on top of each carrot flower, right in the middle.
7. Using tweezers, place the orange cheese circles on top of each white flower, right in the middle.

Baby Corn Flowers:

1. With a knife, slice the baby corn into thin coins.
2. Take a baby spinach leaf and carefully slide your knife down along the line where the stem meets the leaf. Repeat this on the other side until you have fully separated the stem from the leaf. Set the stem aside (don’t throw it away!). Repeat as many times as necessary.
3. Using the teardrop cutter, cut out teardrop shapes from the spinach leaf pieces. These will become leaves for your corn flower.
4. Using tweezers, place the corn pieces (cut side up) on top of the beef soboro portion of the bento.
5. Using tweezers, place the spinach leaf cutouts beside each corn flower, so that the pointy part is touching the side of the corn. You can place one leaf onto each corn, two leaves per corn, or vary it up – it’s up to you!

Purple Cabbage Flowers:

1. Using the petal cutter, punch out petal shapes from the purple cabbage. It’s best to use flatter pieces of cabbage for this. For one flower sprig, you will need approximately 9 cabbage petals.
2. Using tweezers, place the spinach stems that were set aside onto the egg soboro portion of the bento. You may need to cut them a bit shorter so that they fit better. Ideally, one end of the stem should be touching the edge of your bento box.
3. Using tweezers, place the cabbage petals along the top and sides of each spinach stem. For mine, I placed 4 petals on each side of the stem, and one at the very top. Place the petals so that they are pointing slightly upwards.