Bento 6: Tri-Color Bento

Today's bento was a tasty treat. Eat each part separate or mix them all together. It tastes great either way. Good hot or cold. Which is good, because you'll end up with leftover soboro for days (I am already eagerly anticipating this...).

Turkey and Beef Soboro
(makes too many servings to count)

1 lb ground lean turkey meat
1 lb ground lean beef
1-2 tbsp sesame oil, divided
1/2 cup green onions, chopped, green and white (~2 stalks)
1 clove garlic
2 tbsp sugar
2 tbsp mirin
3 tbsp soy sauce
4 tbsp thai fish sauce

Heat 1 tbsp sesame oil in pan and stir fry green onions. Add meat; brown. Add sugar; caramelize. Add mirin; evaporate. Add soy and fish sauce; simmer. Taste for seasoning.

Now you can end there, and just enjoy it. It's very tasty at this stage. Or you can go a step further if you have a meat grinder (I used my attachment to my mixer):

Pour contents through a strainer, saving the juices in a large bowl. Then put all the meat/garlic/green onions through the meat grinder until it comes out in teeny tiny mushed up bits. Collect these bits in the bowl with the juice, stir well to coat, and refrigerate.


Carrot Brown Rice
1 cup brown rice
1/2 cup carrot juice
water

Using a rice cooker, put 1 cup brown rice in with 1/2 cup carrot juice and then fill to the 1 cup line inside the bowl. Cook like normal brown rice. It will come out orange and mildly flavored. So good!


Asian Pickles
(This recipe was donated by Abby Palanker, who made these delicious pickles and kindly agreed to give me the recipe when I begged.)

2 boxes persian cucumbers (TJ's)
1 tbsp salt
4 garlic cloves minced
1 tsp crushed red pepper
3 tbsp rice vinegar
2 tbsp sugar

[Note: I made a half of this recipe and it's still a lot. I replace the sugar with brown sugar, halved the salt, and left out the crushed red pepper. Very tasty both ways.]

Slice cucumber 1/4 inch thick. Mix with rest of the ingredients.
Leave on counter for several hours, stirring now and then. Refrigerate.


And that is it. All together, it was so good! Yum yum yum. Nom nom nom.
Go on! Have a peace!

Madhupayasa - Bodhi Day Dish

When Siddhartha awakened from his seven days of fasting and meditation, he was emaciated and very weak. A girl named Sujata from a nearby town came to him and gave him a bowl of madhupayasa in offering, believing him to be a deva - a spirit of the Pipul tree. When he told her that he was not a deva, she still insisted that he eat and drink to recover his strength.

Madhupayasa comes from the sanskrit words madhu (honey) and payasa (milk rice).

Madhupayasa (Sweet Milk Rice)

Ingredients:
Milk rice-
2 cups short grain white rice
2 cups thick coconut milk
2 tsp salt
3 cups water

Coconut treacle mix-
800g finely scraped coconut
2 cups treacle (coconut or kithul treacle)
4 cloves
pinch of salt

Directions:
Prepare the Coconut Treacle Mix-
Pour the treacle into a pot and bring to a boil while stirring.
Add the Coconut and mix well.
Take off the heat.
Add pinch of salt and the cloves, mix well.

Prepare the Milk Rice-
Put rice and water into a pan and bring to a boil.
Cover and cook for 15 minutes.
Add coconut milk and Salt.
Stir with handle of wooden spoon, cover and cook on low heat for another 10-15 minutes (until the milk has been absorbed).

With both parts made, divide the slightly cooled milk rice into two portions.
On a flat dish, evenly spread out a layer of milk rice using one portion (should be at least 1cm thick).
Then evenly spread the coconut treacle mix on top.
Cover it completely (including from the sides) with the second portion of the milk rice. It is important to do all this before the milk rice cools down too much as it will become too sticky to handle. When it's cooled, cut the rice concoction into blocks. You can serve this with slices of banana, mango, or strawberry, or just eat it plain.