A round pair of eyes peer out of a tangle of a green spaghetti while an egg yolk Jack-o’-lantern grins from a bed of greens. So cute is Little Miss Bento’s Halloween-themed bento you’d be hard-pressed to pick up a fork and dig into Boo the friendly ghost’s mashed potato body.
What started out as a hobby has grown into quite the full-time career for Shirley Wong, the food artist behind wildly popular Instagram page Little Miss Bento. Then working a corporate job in a secluded area in Singapore, she began packing her own lunches to work. “It started out of necessity, but then I figured if I was already waking up early to make my own lunches, I might as well make them pretty,” she laughs. Each creation might take about an hour to make — and five minutes to devour.
Now with a huge online following, five cookbooks, and numerous TV shows and media appearances under her belt, Wong has shown that it pays to play with your food. You might have seen her most recent TV appearance on brand-new lifestyle channel Makeful HD. As part of its Asian debut on StarHub TV Channel 436, Makeful HD has produced five shorts featuring Singaporean makers like Wong who inspire with their craft and creative lifestyles.
Even if you’re not into scary costumes and trick-or-treating, this adorable Halloween bento box might just get you into the festive mood this Halloween holiday.
Halloween Bento
100g spaghetti (cooked al dente according to packet instruction)
For the pesto sauce:
25g fresh sweet basil leaves
80ml olive oil
40g baked or toasted cashew nuts
0.5 tsp sugar
Salt and pepper to taste
1 tsp grated garlic
1. Wash sweet basil leaves and remove the thick stalks.
2. Add all pesto sauce ingredients in a blender and blend until smooth.
3. Toss cooked spaghetti pasta with pesto sauce
To assemble the bento:
1 hard-boiled egg
3 cherry tomatoes
Broccoli and lettuce or other greens
3 slices of carrot
1/6 sheet of sushi seaweed
1 tbsp mashed potato
1/4 green apple
1 large blueberry
Chocolate pen
A cheese slice (about 2cm by 4cm)
Coloured rice puffs (optional)
1. Arrange pesto pasta in the bento box and add the greens.
2. Slice the hard-boiled egg to reveal the egg yolk and place in the bento along with the cherry tomatoes.
3. Mould the mashed potato into the shape of a ghost.
4. Cut the sliced carrots with a star-shaped cutter and add them in.
5. Cut the sliced cheese into 2 circles and arrange in the pasta like a pair of eyes.
6. Cut the seaweed details and assemble them on the egg for the faces of the Jack-o’-lantern and ghost, as well as eyes for the sliced cheese rounds. Add a small piece of broccoli stem for Jack-o’-lantern’s stalk. Add rice puffs for decoration.
7. Carve a spider web into the skin of the green apple and brush on some lemon juice to prevent browning.
8. Add the blueberry and draw on some legs with the chocolate pen to create a spider.
100g spaghetti (cooked al dente according to packet instruction)
For the pesto sauce:
25g fresh sweet basil leaves
80ml olive oil
40g baked or toasted cashew nuts
0.5 tsp sugar
Salt and pepper to taste
1 tsp grated garlic
1. Wash sweet basil leaves and remove the thick stalks.
2. Add all pesto sauce ingredients in a blender and blend until smooth.
3. Toss cooked spaghetti pasta with pesto sauce
To assemble the bento:
1 hard-boiled egg
3 cherry tomatoes
Broccoli and lettuce or other greens
3 slices of carrot
1/6 sheet of sushi seaweed
1 tbsp mashed potato
1/4 green apple
1 large blueberry
Chocolate pen
A cheese slice (about 2cm by 4cm)
Coloured rice puffs (optional)
1. Arrange pesto pasta in the bento box and add the greens.
2. Slice the hard-boiled egg to reveal the egg yolk and place in the bento along with the cherry tomatoes.
3. Mould the mashed potato into the shape of a ghost.
4. Cut the sliced carrots with a star-shaped cutter and add them in.
5. Cut the sliced cheese into 2 circles and arrange in the pasta like a pair of eyes.
6. Cut the seaweed details and assemble them on the egg for the faces of the Jack-o’-lantern and ghost, as well as eyes for the sliced cheese rounds. Add a small piece of broccoli stem for Jack-o’-lantern’s stalk. Add rice puffs for decoration.
7. Carve a spider web into the skin of the green apple and brush on some lemon juice to prevent browning.
8. Add the blueberry and draw on some legs with the chocolate pen to create a spider.
