The "Tuna Mayo Bento" That Needs No Knife or Bowl: What Ryuji Wants to Convey in Bento for Living

Ryuji says they have been putting a lot of effort into bento-making lately and have been asking in earlier videos, "Aren't people trying too hard with their bento?" The view is that bento becomes a burden precisely because people fixate on color and nutritional balance. So this book was created as a collection of bento recipes that work with just one main dish, even if the result is entirely brown or entirely yellow. Ryuji explains that every recipe is cheap and takes little effort.

Ryuji's thinking on nutrition goes like this: lunch is made in the morning, and mornings are busy. So even if you don't balance your nutrition in your lunchtime bento, it evens out if you eat plenty of vegetables at dinner. At lunch, the most important thing is getting calories first; without enough calories, your body won't move. The book's philosophy is that lunch should center on protein such as meat, with plenty of rice, and dinner can make up for it with vegetables. Ryuji says they wrote it hoping that if the book sells well, it might lower the bar for bento in Japan by a notch or two.

Two sales representatives from the publisher were present for the recording. One said that with Ryuji's books, they are always moved by the "Introduction" and the "Afterword." Ryuji replied that those sections are full of their own sayings, and noted that this book, too, is a recipe book sprinkled with them.

The ingredients are packaged microwavable rice, canned tuna, an egg, shredded nori, bonito flakes (bonito powder), and green onion, with okra added for the deluxe version.

For the tuna, Ryuji recommends Sea-Chicken "L Flake." According to Ryuji, "Mild" is skipjack, while L Flake is albacore. Ryuji prefers albacore, but Mild is cheaper, and the dish works with skipjack too. One whole can of tuna goes into a single bento. The reason: if you save half, you usually end up letting it go bad.

Press firmly on the can to squeeze out the oil. Since the tuna is dressed with mayonnaise this time, the oil isn't used here, but Ryuji stressed that it's full of tuna flavor, so please don't throw it away. They say it makes peperoncino, seasoned rice, and stir-fries taste great.

The tuna mayo is mixed directly in the can. Since you don't need a bowl, there's less washing up. Just add about 1½ tablespoons of mayonnaise and 1/3 teaspoon (about two pinches) of Hondashi to one can and mix. Ryuji said that just a little bonito dashi makes it dramatically better, adding that store-bought tuna mayo products often contain bonito dashi and the like as well. You could make a bento with just this, and it's also great as an onigiri filling. But thinking that something a bit more lavish would be more popular, they added an egg this time.

When a sales rep asked, "You don't use a knife or cutting board?", Ryuji answered that since it's a "bento for living," no, they don't—who wants to use a knife on a busy morning? In Ryuji's view, many people give up making bento because they hate washing up, and as a result end up relying on convenience stores. Convenience stores are fine, but they're fairly expensive. The book is designed so you can make simple bento from everyday leftover ingredients, and Ryuji hopes people will make use of it.

Ryuji also addressed the question of why they'd make a book when they already put out videos. You can flip through a book and look back at it in an instant. Browsing it while thinking about what to make today gets you motivated to cook. With a video, you have to watch for over ten minutes, so experienced cooks say they prefer books, Ryuji says.

After heating the packaged rice, the basic version uses a microwave to make the fried egg. Lightly oil a bento container and crack the egg into it. Making it in the container means less washing up. Pierce the yolk with a toothpick or fork and loosen the area around it a little to make it less likely to explode. The recipe says you don't need plastic wrap, but Ryuji added that it occasionally explodes, so it's better to cover it loosely with wrap. Heat at 600W for 1 minute 10 seconds. It comes out misshapen, but tastes the same, they say.

The other egg is cooked in a frying pan. One reason is to make it look nicer; another is that most people probably don't own two microwaves, so Ryuji wanted to show the frying-pan method as well.

When a sales rep asked whether eggs in a bento should be cooked through, Ryuji answered that soft-cooked eggs should be avoided. The exception is ajitama (marinated eggs). Because they're soaked in a salty marinade, they're fine even when soft-cooked. The ajitama in the book are no problem, and eggs heavily salted will keep too, Ryuji says. On the other hand, they stressed never to include unsalted soft-cooked eggs, rare eggs, or runny eggs.

To assemble, put shredded nori and green onion on the warm rice and season with soy sauce and Ajinomoto. When a sales rep asked if the nori was essential, Ryuji answered, "Honestly, you can skip it," and said the green onion is optional too. But it's tastier if you have it. Cooking is all just a repetition of "it's tastier if you have it," as Ryuji puts it. Nori has almost no nutritional value, so there's no need to force it in, but it's still delicious if you have it, they continued.

On top goes the microwaved "slapdash fried egg," then the tuna mayo, with a light drizzle of soy sauce over the tuna mayo as well, and the basic version is done. The egg is fully cooked, so it's fine, they say.

The deluxe version is the same up to packing the warm rice. Ryuji positions it as "one variation."

Here, frozen chopped okra goes straight onto the rice while still frozen. The package says it can be thawed naturally, so the heat of the rice thaws it. Rice for bento is normally cooled before packing, but Ryuji explained that putting frozen okra on top saves you that step too. Just adding okra should get rid of any guilt, they also say. Shredded nori goes on top, and a bit more soy sauce is added to account for the okra.

Ryuji strongly recommended frozen vegetables. They're sold even at convenience stores now, and isn't that enough? Bento is all about how you think about it, they say. Ryuji also said it's better to use lots of frozen vegetables—that's the way things are headed.

For the frying pan, Ryuji showed how to cook a fried egg that fits easily in a bento box. As it cooks, push the egg white toward the center to gather it, so it stays compact and doesn't spill over.

Left as is, it would be soft-cooked, so once it's cooked to some extent, add water and steam it. Steaming raises the temperature and cooks it from the top as well. It's fine to cook it to about 70–80% done, they say. However, Ryuji themselves admits that if you're going to cook it this carefully, the microwave is easier. The point is simply to show how much difference careful cooking makes to the appearance. The finished egg was cooked all the way through, but since it's for a bento, they decided to cook it a little longer. If you're worried, you can cook it even more. For those who absolutely want to bring a soft-cooked egg, Ryuji added that they should salt the fried egg, and only in winter.

Meanwhile, the okra had thawed considerably. When the tuna mayo is added, just a bit of green makes it look completely different, Ryuji says. Adding red with shichimi togarashi and scattering chopped green onion makes it even cuter. Asked whether nothing goes on the egg in the basic version, they answered that you can add seasoned salt or soy sauce. Ryuji summed up that even for the same tuna mayo bento, there's a carefully made version and an "if it's just for me, whatever" version, so pick whichever you like.

The sales reps who tasted it, though nervous, said it was "ridiculously good." Ryuji commented that the egg is good, tuna mayo alone is a bit heavy but delicious when mixed, and the shredded nori is better included. At the same time, they noticed they'd forgotten to put bonito flakes in one of the bento, and said bonito flakes are tasty on rice or wherever you sprinkle them.

To a sales rep who said they don't cook at all, Ryuji joked, "I don't want to cook for this person." The point was that the person cooking wants others to notice what's "different from usual" and comment on it. Prompted, the rep said the crunchy texture of the okra was delicious. On the difference between the eggs, they agreed that the frying-pan one was soft and the microwave one was firm, and the rep said they'd like to make the frying-pan version.

This sales rep didn't know that frozen vegetables are sold at convenience stores. Ryuji took this to mean there are probably still many people like that, and asked the rep to study up, make every recipe in the book, and feed them to their kids.

Finally, Ryuji reported that the book had ranked No. 1 overall in Amazon pre-orders. Since many of the dishes use pork or chicken and are finished in the microwave, they can be used for dinner as well, they say. A sales rep said that many bookstore staff love it and it's set to be stocked nationwide, and urged viewers to read at least Ryuji's "Introduction" and "Afterword," bringing the video to a close.