The 2 Dollar Bento Box | But Cheaper

Center Dipping Sauce:

1. Mix all the ingredients in a bowl except for the togarashi, reserve.

Cabbage Slaw:

1. In a mixing bowl, combine all the ingredients until thoroughly dressed.
2. Reserve in the fridge.

Rice:

1. Before cooking the rice, wash thoroughly 3x.
2. Place into a rice cooker and add equal parts of water.
3. Cook until rice is fully cooked.

Teriyaki Chicken:

1. In a medium saucepot, add enough vegetable oil to coat the bottom of the pan, add the garlic, sauté until it starts to toast, and turn golden in color.
2. Then add the sugar, soy sauce, and vinegar, stir that together to dissolve, and bring it to a boil, then reduce the heat to low, simmer and reduce 25% (about 3 min).
3. In a small bowl, combine the cornstarch and the water, whisk it together to make a slurry, and add it to the simmering sauce, constantly whisking, until it reaches a glazy consistency.
4. Pass it through a strainer and reserve.
5. In a yakitori style grill, place preheated white-hot binchotan (charcoal) in the bottom, light one side of your grill to be high heat, and the other side to be low or completely off.
6. Season the chicken, grease the grill grates, and place the chicken on the hot side, constantly flipping until golden brown on both sides and the internal temperature reaches 165℉.
7. Brush the chicken with the teriyaki sauce to glaze, flip the chicken, glaze one more time, and cover it with foil to keep it warm.

Tempura Vegetables:

1. In a mixing bowl, place flour and whisk in the carbonated water until you have a loose batter, then add one or two ice cubes to keep the mixture cold.
2. Heat a five-quart pot halfway filled up with vegetable oil to 350℉.
3. Dredge your vegetable of choice into all-purpose flour, shake off the excess, dunk into your batter, and immediately drop into your oil. Optionally, you can use your hand to dip in the batter and allow the extra batter to drip onto the vegetable as it fries; let it fry until crisp and golden brown.
4. Place on a wire rack and season with salt and togarashi (optional).

Assembly:

1. Fill up the center well with the spicy mayo, add a little padding of thinly sliced cabbage in one of the medium slots, slice up a chicken thigh, place it on top of the cabbage.
2. Add a combination of tempura vegetables, then the cabbage slaw.
3. Place a nice layer of rice in the last slot.
4. Garnish - on the mayo, add a small line of togarashi spice, sprinkle some furikake on the rice, add some extra sauce to the chicken along with a generous sprinkle of thinly sliced green onions.