A clever recipe

Winter jewels bento

Makes 2 bentos

1 portion of cooked quinoa 1 tbsp hazelnuts, dry-toasted 1–2 tbsp saltwater nuts and seeds 1 tsp furikake* (optional) Pomegranate seeds (optional)

For the winter salad:

50g kale leaves (about 6) 50g red cabbage, finely shredded ½ parsnip, cut into thin half moons 1 small carrot, peeled, and thinly sliced 30g (about 4) dates, finely chopped 1 orange, scrubbed and halved 2cm piece of fresh ginger ½ tsp sea salt

1 Rip the washed kale leaves off their stems and roughly chop the leaves. Unless the stalks are very dry and fibrous, chop them, too, very finely, and add both to a mixing bowl, along with the rest of the salad veggies and dates.

2 Squeeze the juice of half the orange into the mix and finely grate a little orange zest in, too. Save the second half to use later. Finely grate the ginger and squeeze the pulp over the salad mix to extract the juice (discard pulp).

3 Add the salt and gently massage the mix, until quite a lot of juice is released.

4 Pack snugly into a glass container and marinate in the fridge for up to 3 days.

5 To assemble: make a slope of quinoa in your box; top with salad; tip in all the juices. Skin and cut reserved half orange into bite-sized pieces. Top the salad with orange and nuts. Finish with furikake and pomegranate, if using.