Shrimp Fried Rice Bento

 

A very simple but delicious bento today: spicy shrimp fried rice  served with slices of hard-boiled egg, cherry tomatoes and pickled carrot salad.

Spicy Shrimp Fried Rice

• 1 cup cooked rice
• 10 - 20 pieces of shrimps
• 1 tablespoon cooking oil
• 1 tablespoon minced garlic
• 1 tablespoon chopped and seeded bird's eye chili
• 1 tablespoon fish sauce
• 1 tablespoon oyster sauce
• Sugar and pepper to taste
• 1 tablespoon chopped green onions

Instructions

• Heat 1 tablespoon oil in a non-stick pan.
• Add minced garlic and stir-fry for 1 minute.
• Toss in the chopped chili and  stir-fry for another minute.
• Add shrimps and fish sauce and keep stirring until the shrimps turn pink.
• Quickly toss in the rice, oyster sauce and sugar. Mix well.
• Add chopped green onions and pepper to taste. Keep stirring for another minute.
• Serve with a few slices of hard boiled egg, cherry tomatoes, pickled carrot salad, lettuce and a  slice of tangerine.

 

Fried Rice-Noodles Bento

 

This is another simple bento which you can whip up within minutes, provided that you have all of the ingredients ready. And please do use fresh rice-noodles if you could, it'd make such a huge difference...!

Ingredients:

• 250 g fresh rice-noodles
• 100 ground pork (or chicken)
• 100 bean sprouts
• 1/4 cup chopped green onions
• 1 Tbsp olive oil
• 1 tbs fish sauce
• 2 tbs oyster sauce
• 1 tbs sambal oelek
• 1 Tbsp sweet soy sauce
• white pepper to taste

Instructions

• Heat oil in a wok.
• Add the ground pork. Stir fry for 2 minutes.
• Add fish sauce, sambal oelek and oyster sauce. Simmer for 1 minute.
• Quickly add the noodles and stir until well combined.
• Toss in the bean sprouts, green onions and sprinkle a dash of pepper. Stir fry for another 1 minute. Serve.
• Top with slices of boiled egg, carved radish and a dollop of chili sambal :).

Vegetarian Bento: Sesame Noodles

 

Today I made sesame noodles for lunch. If I remember it correctly, this must be my first ever vegetarian bento...! I am not vegetarian and I am not thinking to be one either, but I have to say having meatless meals from time to time can be very tasty...! 

Sesame Noodles

Serves 2

• 200 grams spaghetti, cooked until al dente
• 1 Tbsp sesame oil
• 1 Tbsp chili oil
• 2 Tbsp sesame paste (or peanut butter, if you don't have sesame paste)
• 2 Tbsp soy sauce
• 2 Tbsp chopped scallion
• sugar, to taste
• chili flakes, to taste
• toasted sesame seeds for garnish
• Toppings: cucumber slices, radish, cherry tomatoes

Mix cooked noodles with the rest of the ingredients and topped with refreshing cucumber, radish and cherry tomatoes.

 

Spicy Shoyu Ramen

I had been waiting for the weekend to come because I wanted to try Nami's version of Spicy Shoyu Ramen which I saw on her Monday's post. I love this ramen because it's pretty simple to make and the flavour is quite rich too. Unfortunately I had to omit the chicken stock because I didn't have it, but the mixture of dashi, soy sauce and chili bean paste was good enough for me :).

I am not very happy with my photos though, it was so dark and gloomy today, I hardly could make presentable pictures. I had to sharpen and filled the photos with some light to make them passable to see, but as you can see, they're still pretty blurry.

Anyway, back to ramen making now...!

Spicy Shoyu Ramen - serves 2

Adapted from Just One Cookbook

• 2 packages ramen noodle, cooked according to package instructions
• 1 tablespoon sesame oil
• 2 garlic cloves, minced
• 1 ½ inch ginger, minced
• 2 teaspoon spicy chili bean paste with chili (la doubanjiang)
• 4 cups dashi stock (I used dashi powder + water)
  
• 2 ½ tablespoon soy sauce
• ½ tablespoon sake
• 1 teaspoon sugar

Toppings

• Homemade Chashu
• Homade crispy prawn cakes
  
• 1 soy sauce-soaked boiled egg
• Chopped green onion
• 2 Nori sheets
• Naruto maki (I used regular fishcakes)
• Blanched mushrooms
  
• Blanced arugula
• Blanched carrot flowers
• Toasted sesame seeds
  
• White pepper

Instructions

• Heat sesame oil in a pot. Add garlic and ginger and saute until aromatic.
• Add the chili bean paste and stir-fry for around 1 minute.
• Pour dashi stock, sake and sugar.
• Cook for 2 minutes then simmer until all your toppings and ramen noodles are ready.
  

Szechuan Noodles with Spicy Meat Sauce

I have not been posting for a while because I was stuck on what to make for my 100th bento ;). Finally I made my 100th bento today, but I'll post about it tomorrow. For now, I am simply posting a noodle dish which I whipped up last week. Basically it's got the same recipe as my Szechuan Noodles with Wontons and Meatballs, but I added some boiled shrimps and soy-sauced seasoned boiled egg this time minus the wontons. If you're a noodle-lover like me, this is a must-try recipe. It's extremely simple to make but very flavoursome.


Ingredients - serves 2

• 400 g Udon noodles
• 250 g ground pork
• 100 chopped mushrooms
  
• 2 tbs fish sauce
  
• 3 tbs 'Fried pork with chili in oil' (click my previous Szechuan noodles recipe to see what it is.)
  
• 2 tbs oyster sauce
• Pepper to taste
  
• Frozen meatballs
• Boiled shrimps and eggs - optional
  
• Chopped green onions and fried onions for garnish

Instructions

• Heat 1 tbs oil in a wok.
• Toss in the ground pork and mushrooms and stir fry until slightly brown.
• Add fish sauce, 'fried pork with chili in oil', oyster sauce and pepper.
• Simmer the meat sauce, stirring occasionally until cooked through.
• Place cooked udon noodles in a bowl. Top with the meat sauce, cooked meatballs, shrimps and eggs. Garnish with green onions and fried onions.

Have a lovely evening and see you all tomorrow :)!

Spicy Ramen with Pan-Fried Gyoza

I love to make loads of dumplings in advance and then freeze them for future use - this can be very useful for days when you don't have any real time to cook something big. If you don't like to make homemade dumplings, then buy frozen ones, there are quite some good ones out there too.

This spicy ramen version of mine is very simple and only needs minimal preparation. The broth is only made with water, dashi powder, soy sauce, mirin and chili oil. Then I pan-fry my frozen homemade gyoza, add a semi boiled egg, a few slices of kamaboko (fish cake), chopped green onions and toasted sesame seeds and tadaah...: a delicious spicy ramen is ready to be consumed ;).

I intend to make another charaben tomorrow. But to be honest, I have not been so inspired lately, I don't have real motivation to make cute bentos either. What should I make next..?

By the way, I got an award from Melonpan a few days ago. Thank you so much, Manja :), you're too kind !! Apparently I have got to tell 7 things about myself. Hmm...At the moment I am not sure what to write, so let me just write some random stuffs about me.

• I can be very childish.
• I am often lazy too ;).
• At the moment I am in love with Pip Studio products :)!
• I love to hang around doing nothing, as have been mentioned above - I am lazy ...;).
  
• I think I am not really able to multi-task - bad, bad, bad...!!
• I am trilingual.
• One day, I would really love to visit Japan and Korea for real, not just the airports ;).
  

Tsukemen - Japanese Dipping Noodles

I made Tsukemen today. I knew I had to make Tsukemen after I saw this video below from Cooking with Dog :).

It's really delicious! The portion looks huge in the picture, but it's actually not as much as it seems. These little bowls are in reality quite tiny - I bought these beauties in Daiso Singapore. I really shopped till I dropped there, such a pity that I couldn't buy as much as I wanted, as I would have to carry all those back to Germany and would in the end have difficulty with the luggage.



Ingredients - serves 2

Source: Cooking with Dog



2 bags of fresh ramen

100g pork belly slices

400ml chicken Stock

2 tbsp sake

1 clove garlic

1 piece ginger root



1 tsp dried red chili pepper, sliced into rings

3 tbsp soy sauce

1 long green onion

40g Shiitake Mushrooms

40g Shimeji Mushrooms

½ tsp sesame oil

1 tsp vinegar



Toppings

1 soft boiled egg

Chopped Spring onion leaves

Katsuobushi shavings (Bonito flakes)

Grated garlic

Szechuan Hotpot Style Udon Noodle Soup

Hello again, my dear readers...! I am still alive and kicking despite of not being active virtually for one whole week :). In fact I feel very well and rather excited because I am officially on a long summer vacation now :D).

I thought about making a bento lunch today, but I finally decided to make a 'normal' meal which wouldn't take so much time to make, since I still had to do a lot of packing.

This soup tastes quite similar to my Szechuan Noodles with Wontons and Meatballs, but this udon noodles soup has got more toppings and looks indeed prettier ;).

Ingredients - serves 2

• 400 g Udon noodles
• 250 g ground pork
• 1 small onion, chopped
• 2 tbs fish sauce
• 3 tbs 'Fried pork with chili in oil'
• 2 tbs oyster sauce
• Dashi powder to taste
• Pepper to taste
• 800 ml water
• Chopped green onions
• Topping suggestions: store-bought meatballs, fish balls, shiu mai, chikuwa (fish cake), shrimps, you tiao (Chinese bread stick), boiled egg, mushrooms and sugar snap peas.

Instructions

• Heat 1 tbs oil in a wok.
• Toss in the ground pork and chopped onion and stir fry until slightly brown.
• Add fish sauce, 'fried pork with chili in oil', oyster sauce and pepper.
• Simmer the meat sauce, stirring occasionally until cooked through.
• Add 800 ml water and dashi powder to taste.
• Add udon noodles and the toppings (except the you tiao) and cook for a few minutes.
• Garnish with green onions and you tiao slices.

Happy Cooking :)!