Fried rice with shitake bento

Fried rice shitake bento #1 - 24.03.2010


For some odd reason, I never made fried rice. Come to think of it, even back in the days, fried rice never came out of my mom's kitchen. I used to get some from a good Chinese take-away nearby but when that place closed down more than a year ago, I never bother to look for a replacement supplier. All the more reasons to dive into my favourite cookbook (aka internet) and see how to reproduce the yummy dish in the privacy of my own kitchen.

So yesterday I decided to throw myself in at the deep end ... until I realised that I wasn't at the deep end at all, rather in the toddler's section. This is such an easy dish to make, why didn't I give it a try years ago?

Anyway. I had some leftover brown rice in the fridge and turned that into fried rice together with some sliced shitake, scallions, smoked ham strips and a diced omelet. The fried rice took up almost the whole bento, but for some extra veggies, I added a little cucumber baran, two cherry tomatoes and a few green manzanilla olives.

I spotted some strawberries at the store yesterday and although they're still expensive (almost 3 EUR for 250g) because out of season and therefor imported (from Israel this time), I couldn't pass up on the juicy red sweetness. My fruit section has strawberry (of course), kiwi and apple slices, some orange wedges, a piece of yellow plum, two lonely black grapes and some cantaloup melon. It was a pleasure to encounter a cantaloup, it's a telltale sign that spring finally getting here :o)


Fried rice shitake bento #2 - 24.03.2010


As always the main ingredients of Sweetie's bento are the same as mine. Besides the fried rice, I added 2 slices of manchego cheese, boursin (garlic & herbs) balls, a tomato & oliver skewer and some carrot sticks which I attempted to cut into flowers (attempted being the key word!).

The fruit sidecar has again strawberry, kiwi slices, a piece of apple, some orange wedges, a piece of yellow plum, black grapes and some cantaloup melon balls.

7 comments:

Uniflame said...

This looks very tasty :)

Happy Little Bento said...

It's beautiful! Love it!

Susan B. said...

Looks great! Thanks for the reminder about fried rice. I haven't made any in a while but is definitely a favorite.

BentoBoxUK said...

Great job, love the presentation and your fried rice looks very tasty! I have to muffle a snigger at the "shitake" mushrooms because it brings to mind a sketch from Catherine Tate... I will see if I can find it on youtube, you will love it! Okay I have found it - don't watch with young kids present there is a swear word at the end! http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HpUn9tzwj2E

tinyskillet said...

Beautiful bentos, you did a nice job on the fried rice it looks great! I love making fried rice because it's a good way to use things up in the frige. Your fruit bowl is so colorful and looks tasty. The strawberries seem to be worth it!

Unknown said...

Ca m'a l'aire totalement délicieux ! et comme toi je n'ai jamais jamais essayé le riz sauté ! tu m'as convaincue !! et puis j'ai acheté un rice cooker donc il faut que je l'utilise ahahahahah ! Merci bcp pour ton petit mot et "l'award" que tu m'as décerné ! ça me touche bcp !! je prépare la réplique ce weekend ! gros bisous et bonnen journée à toi !

Andi said...

The rice looks great, not too greasy and it is healthy with the brown rice. What kind of oil did you use?