Sliced Fried Pork on Rice bento

Ok I realize it's been quite a long time since I promised to try out the recipe from my new cookbook but in my defense I have been pretty busy lately! Also I did try the recipe last week but I've been down with a bad cold since then and haven't had a chance to post it yet. Also, I apologize because I did not have a chance to go and find a new bento box for use here in Japan so it's on a plate instead. However now I have the translated recipe and finished product ready to go! Once again it is from: 超早っ!べんとうでマジうまランチ cookbook. This recipe makes enough bento for one person .

Ingredients:
About 1 cup/200 grams of warm cooked rice
3 pieces (100 gram each) of thin sliced pork thigh (pork chop style)
1/3 cup potato starch
1/2 TBSP vegetable oil
-seasonings for pork:
1 TBSP sake
1 TBSP mirin*
1 TBSP soy sauce
1 Tsp. sugar
2 cm of Japanese yam (but US sweet potato should be ok)
-seasonings for yam:
1 tsp. lemon juice
1 tsp. sugar
1 tsp. butter
10 cm of leeks**
1 green pepper (small)
1 TBSP vegetable oil

Directions:

1. Fill bottom half of bento box with rice, press smooth with rice paddle.
2. Rinse yam, cut in half, then cut into 1 cm (1/2 inch) slices.
3. Place yam slices in heat resistant bowl with a little water (for steam). Add seasonings, cover with plastic wrap and heat in microwave for 2 min or until tender. Then remove.
4. Rinse leeks and then cut into 1.5 cm (1 inch) slices on a diagonal angle.
5. Rinse the pepper, slice in half, cut out stem & seeds, then slice in half again.
6. Heat 1 TBSP vegetable oil in frying pan, lay onions in on their sides in one half of pan, and green pepper slices on the other. Grill on medium heat for 1-2 min. Then flip them (they suggest using cooking chopsticks) and grill for an additional 1-2 min. Remove from heat & arrange on top of rice.
7. Take pork slices, coat in a thin layer of potato starch, if you have too much brush it back off.
8. Use a paper towel to clean out the frying pan. Then add 1/2 TBSP vegetable oil and heat the pan. Add the pork slices and grill on medium-high heat for 1 min. flip and grill an additional 1 min. When both sides are done lower temperature and grill 2 min. more (use a lid). Remove lid and raise temperature to medium heat, add sake, mirin, soy sauce, and sugar. Continue frying until liquid is absorbed, flip partway through to evenly coat. Then remove from heat.
9. Remove plastic wrap on yams, put into bento in one corner. Then place grilled meat on top. Let cool completely before placing the lid on top.

Explanations/Suggestions:

* Mirin is a japanese condiment kind of like soy sauce. It is technically a type of sake used in cooking as it has a low alcohol content compared to sake. It also contains quite a bit of sugar and has a strong taste. There are two types: Hon mirin and shin mirin. Hon mirin has alcohol, shin mirin has almost none. I have heard that they taste the same but also that shin mirin doesn't cook as well. So up to you which one to use. Here in Japan shin mirin was like impossible to find.

** Leeks if you don't already know are a type of onion but they don't have a bulb like onions normally do. In Japan they are just called 'negi' which means onion and are left at that. I have included a picture of them in case you don't know what I'm talking about.

- When I made this recipe I used 2 green peppers because in Japan they are tiny and a small US bell pepper is about the size of 2 in Japan.
- I just used the whole leek and didn't worry about it being 10 cm.
-as for the Yams I messed up on them ended up making practically an entire yam so mine ended up with too much lemon juice and not enough sugar. Also you can cook these in a pot with water in the bottom like I did instead of in the microwave.

And here are pictures of the finished product: