Kao Pad Tamada (Plain Red Fried Rice)

This year I decided I wanted to try and make every recipe out of a cookbook. Normally I just pick and choose things from them and I have a feeling I'm missing out on some interesting foods and cooking experiences. So I'm going to change all that by actually (attempting) making everything out of one book. And "The Original Thai Cookbook" by Jennifer Brennan is that cookbook. I like Thai food a lot, it should work out.

The first recipe I made is actually one I've done before. I'm a fried rice fiend and have tried dozens of different recipes for it. This one is different than most because it includes ketchup and fish sauce as opposed to soy sauce and mirin (sweet cooking sake). It has a sharp, vinegar-y taste, with an underlying fish-y flavor.

The ingredients included long grain white rice, tiny canned shrimp, ketchup, fish sauce (Nam pla), white onions, and green onions. The recipe actually called for a cup of normal sized cooked shrimp, but I thought it would be easier to use canned. I think this was a mistake, as the shrimp were mushy and broke up a lot so you couldn't really taste them (plus TheBoyfriend mentioned he thought they tasted "a little off"). I won't be using them again. The green onions were included in the recipe as a garnish, but I went ahead and mixed them in when the rice was almost done stir frying. I love green onions, but prefer them slightly cooked.

This rice was okay, but a little boring. I'm looking forward to trying the next rice recipe from the cookbook, as it includes a lot more ingredients such as pork, eggs, and green peppers. It should be exciting.

Ramen Foo Yung and Fried Rice

Once again this was a dinner that I made as opposed to just a bento, but I'll put the leftovers in a lunchbox for tomorrow so it basically counts.

Tonight I tried a new recipe I found on this awesome website called MyFridgeFood.com. You select all the ingredients you actually have on hand and it spits out recipes that you can make with those ingredients. I find it pretty amusing, especially since most of what is in my house are condiments so it just keeps suggesting sauces at me. Oh well.



Anyways, this recipe was Ramen Foo Yung - a basic Egg Foo Yung recipe combined with Ramen noodles. I whisked eggs together with chopped white onion, chopped green onion, soy sauce, sesame oil, the Ramen seasoning packet, and a little baking powder. At the same time I cooked up two packages of Ramen noodles. When they were done I fried them up for a few minutes in melted butter. Then I added in the egg mixture. I used the big George Foreman grill to make my Egg Foo Yung as that is what I use to make omelets and it is the best way I know to make any kind of egg/cake/whatevers. I cooked the whole mess for about five minutes and it poofed up nicely. I was impressed with the variety of flavors the Ramen Foo Yung had. It was way tastier than anticipated.

To go with the egg mess I made fried rice. It was pretty basic. Long grain white rice, scrambled egg with a little Teriyaki sauce, white onions with a dash of chili oil, and frozen vegetables. I used a mix of red, green, and yellow peppers as I think they add a lot of flavor to the dish. Mirin and soy sauce were mixed in with the whole business and it was stir fried until done. Not my most exciting fried rice mixture but it works well with the egg dish.

Green and Yellow Fried Rice

This wasn't actually a bento, just what I decided to make for dinner. But the leftovers will serve as lunch tomorrow so they got placed in one of the bento boxes.

For the last five years, I have been on a mission to make the best fried rice EVER. First I found dozens of existing recipes to try, and after that I began altering recipes to make it the way I thought it was best. Now I've gotten to the point where I can basically guess amounts and ingredients and still come out with something incredibly tasty and awesome.




That is how I came up with tonight's delightful recipe. I started with long grain white rice, cooked up in my rice cooker. I scrambled up three eggs with a dash of Teriyaki sauce. Once those were done I stir fried some white onion and green pepper in some Chili oil (for a hint of heat). I mixed together the eggs and veggies and also added in some canned sweet corn and lightly blanched broccoli. Luckily I have a large, electric wok, so I had room for all the ingredients as they began piling up. I sprinkled soy sauce over everything and continued to stir fry. After a couple of minutes I added in a can of chicken and sprinkled with a bit more soy sauce.

Now that all the mix-ins were cooked, it was time to add the rice. I put it in a heaping spoonful at a time and mixed well before adding another spoonful. Once all the rice was in the wok I put in soy sauce and mirin (two parts soy to one part mirin). I stir fried for a couple of minutes until everything was thoroughly mixed together. And viola! Green and yellow fried rice was made (green for the pepper and broccoli and yellow for the corn - not terribly creative I suppose).

Gyoza and Rice

This was a pretty simple bento. I actually made fried rice and gyoza for dinner Friday night, and put leftovers in the bento for Saturday.



On one side there is plain white rice. I added it in before using the rest for fried rice, which is on the other side of the box. I don't have a specific recipe for fried rice as I've made it so many times I can pretty much do it without thinking.

For this batch, I've got long grain white rice, scrambled egg, green onion, canned chicken, and frozen mixed veggis. The veggis were a "stir fry" mix, including broccoli, onions, carrots, snap peas, and little noodles. I also used soy sauce and mirin for seasoning - two parts soy sauce to one part mirin (usually two tablespoons soy sauce and one of mirin, unless I make too much rice and need extra flavoring).

The gyoza are a little more complicated. Even though I've made them about a dozen times now, I can't remember the exact ingredients without looking at a recipe. The recipe actually calls for ground pork but I use ground turkey, along with green onions, ginger, sugar, soy sauce, sesame oil, and garlic salt. I tend to skip the cabbage, mainly because it is hard to buy only a small amount at a time and if I can't come up with something else cabbage-y to make right away the unused portion goes bad. I mix the ingredients together and then put small amounts into gyoza wrappers and fold them up. This part takes a long time but is easier than I thought it would be (I watched a video online to learn the proper way to seal the wrappers). The gyoza are fried until the bottoms are just browned, and then water is added to the pan and they are steamed until finished cooking. Most of the time they come out pretty well, though on occasion the bottoms have been burnt because I fried them too long or wasn't paying close enough attention.

This isn't a particularly fancy bento, but the food is filling and good and stuff I know how to make so it is a good start for getting back into the hobby. I'll try making something a little more complicated next time ... maybe.