The Fuwanovel Recipe Game

[Nayleen]

So far nobody has called, so I'm looking forward to your results Tay!

 

I just noticed I left out the cucumber slices, those come in at the very end together with the green onion and lime.

[Tay]

Well, it appears my camera didn't have an SD card in it.  Wish it'd told me earlier.

 

I made a small test batch today (to make sure we liked it).  It was good -- nice suggestion, Nayleen.  I'll be making more tomorrow and posting pictures.  Once that's up, I'll post my recipe.

[Nayleen]

I was sad to not see a follow up to this. busy day yesterday?

[Kendjin]

Love this topic, sadly I do not have the tools to cook, so I will only be here to watch on

[Mevvrynne]

For the record, even without a camera to take the pictures I have been cooking these.  That kladdkaka was unbelievably good, been a while since I had something with a good amount of chocolate.  Got it to have that moist and sticky inside fairly easily, but I wonder if it would be different if I convected it rather than baked it (my oven is a convection oven).

As for the fried rice, cucumber isn't something that I can easily eat, so I substituted it with a single green bell pepper, cut that into a few pieces and saved what was left over.  Overall, pretty damn good.

[Tay]

Hey all,

 

So this is probably why it's best to establish time limits.  I've held up the whole game!  So sorry!  I've been having technical difficulties.

 

Suffice it to say, a new camera is in town, and I'm making Nay's Fried Rice for the third time in three days.  The amazing thing? Neither my wife nor I care.  It's really good.  Pictures and review tomorrow.

 

My recipe will be a yummy Japanese classic.  Please look forward to E3 it!

[Tay]

 

 

Review of Nay Fried Rice* 

*Does not include Nay

 

OVERALL RATINGS

Taste: 4.5/5 

Ease: 4.0/5

Preparation and Time: Lots

Cost:  Low

Portions: Nay’s proportions make a lot!  (My wife and I don’t eat a ton, but each batch made for 5 full servings (a serving meaning a meal).)

 

 

Due to technical difficulties which made it impossible for me to take pictures, I’ve made Nay Fried Rice three times this week.  The amazing thing is that neither my wife nor I have minded it one bit.  It’s delicious, and makes for a killer lunch bento (“Throw it in a Tupperware, and you’re done!”).

 

---

 

Taste: Nay offers lots of common suggestions for things to include in fried rice, such as meat (my pictures are with pork, but chicken and shrimp are super yummy, too), carrots (peeled for us), onions, garlic, green onions, etc.  Adding corn and cucumber weren’t firsts for us, but they were unusual ingredients.  If you like other ingredients (peppers, strange veggies, etc.) they’re going to work out just fine.  Stir fry is pretty forgiving this way.

 

 

The sauce (pictured above) was the real winner here.  I’ve done plenty of stir fry before, but this is the first time I’ve used curry paste.  The green curry paste knocked my socks off:  besides adding a delicious taste which compliments the soy sauce, it packs a punch in the spicy department.  My wife – who hates spicy food – said that the level of spice was manageable, though, when I followed Nay’s recipe.   In later iterations, I added slightly less curry paste to soften the blow.   I’m absolutely going to use this sauce for the rest of my life.  It’s delicious.

 

 

Ease: Stir fry is hard to mess up.  Don’t cook it at the upper-limits of your stove’s temperature range, and stir often (constantly once you add the rice), and it’ll turn out just fine.

 

 

Preparation and Time: This recipe takes quite a bit of preparation, though actual cooking time is pretty darn fast.   I found it easiest to cook the rice the night before and leave it in the fridge until you need it the next day (cover it well!).  My wife and I tend to freeze meat, so I had to make sure I didn’t forget to thaw it in the fridge overnight.

Cooking time was between 20-30 minutes (including veggie cutting, etc.).  That’s perfect for me and my morning routine, since I plan 30 minutes to cook breakfast/bento.

 

 

Cost:  The ingredients are stock ingredients, or very cheap, with the exception of the green curry paste, and peanut oil.  I never did manage to buy peanut oil (I used vegetable oil and it still turned out very well), but please believe me when I say you absolutely must spring for the green curry paste.  A jar (which made 3 batches of this rice) cost me ~$2 at the local grocery store.  Considering how much food each batch made, the price averages out to pittance.  

 

Portions:  Like I mentioned, each batch of this recipe made 5 servings (dinner for both my wife and I, lunch for both of us the next day, and one extra serving).  If you’re cooking for one and are hesitant to make a ton, you can definitely cut this recipe in half (or in fourths).  (Image above is to show the amount of food one batch made.  The image was taken before the soy-curry sauce was added, thus the light colors.)

 

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On the whole:  a winner.  Thanks, Nayleen, for such a yummy recipe! Sorry it took so long to post my full review!

 

[Nayleen]

Oh right, sorry about the huge portion, I couldn't for the life of me remember how much my recipe makes.

 

I always make a ton because I can always freeze stuff or - back at work - there were never any leftovers, no matter how much you cooked. We simply included more and more people until everything was gone.

 

So glad you enjoyed it, Tay!

[Tay]

The next recipe challenge: Tamagoyaki

 

Tamagoyaki is a famous and traditional Japanese egg "omelet" that makes for a delicious breakfast item or addition to your bento.  I tend to think of them as egg-crepes, but that's because of the way I cook them: there are tons of ways to make Tamagoyaki, and tons of delicious recipes to try.

 

This recipe comes from the Just Bento Cookbook (which is also a blog) (if you dig around the JustBento blog and love it, check out her other blog).  I tend to think of it as "Beginner's Tamagoyaki", because it's a clever recipe which is hard to mess up.

 

I'm essentially copy-pasting this from the Just Hungry Recipe, so if you're interested in accepting the challenge, you might benefit from the pictures there.

 

 

Ingredients:

• 4 ‘large’ eggs
• 1 Tbs. sugar
• 1 tsp. mirin
• 1/4 tsp. salt
• 1/2 tsp. light soy sauce (usukuchi shoyu); you can use regular soy sauce instead  <--- (I do)
• Oil for cooking

You'll need a small non-stick frying pan.

 

 

Directions:

1. Heat up the pan on medium-low heat.  
2. Beat all the ingredients together in a small bowl (don't let it get foamy, though). 
3. Brush the heated pan with a little oil (put a little oil on a paper towel, for example, and rub that around).
4. Put in about 2 to 3 tablespoons worth of egg mixture in the pan. Cook gently (lower the heat if necessary) until it’s not quite set on top, but not runny.
5. Roll it up with a fork or chopsticks to one side of the pan (you don't have to roll it up gently, or neatly, but I always end up doing so and so my tamagoyaki end up looking like crepes).  
6. Brush the exposed part of the pan with a little more of the oil (rub that paper towel around again). 
7. Put another couple of tablespoons of egg mixture in the pan. Spread it around, lifting the cooked egg so that the uncooked egg flows below it.  
8. Roll it up, as before.
9. Repeat until all the egg mixture is used up.

 

NOTES:

I always tend to use oil-on-paper towels to lightly "grease" the pan before adding eggs and in-between adding eggs.

 

Don't add the egg mixture until the pan is hot enough to instantly cook small amounts of egg drizzled on top.  ("Cook", not "Burn")

 

My tamagoyaki aren't super-true to tradition, and end up looking like crepes, but boy are they delicious.  Check out an image search of tamagoyaki to see what other recipes/preparation styles can look like.  There's a vast tamagoyaki-flavored world out there, waiting for you to explore it!

[solidbatman]

I have no clue what these are, but I'll do it! I might get to it tomorrow depending on things. 

[Sioxz]

i have just made a Swedish Kladdkaka here is the result (my father in law had his birthday today thats why all the fancy decoration)

[solidbatman]

Apologies, got sick and haven't felt like cooking. 

[Tay]

I guess I'll post a new recipe. Anyone opposed?

[Nayleen]

I'll keep it in mind if I actually remember to buy the ingredients, but I'm not opposed to a new one right now. o.o

[jeftai]

new here but ill join the fray.

ill try to post recipes too iff i remember too.

(thoughted they will be mostly traditional chinese food or other random stuff i came up with)

in short please dont mind me to much.

[Tay]

So we should change the rules so that if the recipe-giver, or the accept-or go AWOL for >4 days, somebody else can step in. Sorry guys!

 

Recipe attempt #2:

Many of us here on the site are poor students.  This is a very cheap recipe with lots of nutritional value!

 

Tuna Tomato Pasta

3 Cloves of garlic (crushed/cut up)

2 tbsp of olive oil

1 28-oz (796 mL) can tomatoes

1 6.5 oz (186g) can tuna, drained

0.5 tsp dried oregano

0.5 tsp dried basil

0.5 tsp red pepper flakes

0.5 tsp salt

1 tbsp capers (optional but yummy!) (<-- I almost never have these on hand, though)

 

In a large skillet saute the garlic in the olive oil for a couple of minutes until softened.  Dump in the tomatoes, juice and all, and mash them up with a fork or potato masher.  Add the tuna, seasonings, and capers and stir.  Bring to a boil, then lower the heat and simmer for ~15 minutes.

 

Toss with hot cooked pasta and sprinkle with lots of grated parmesan cheese.

 

Makes 4 servings.

[Flutterz]

I can do some cooking this weekend, but I'm really bad at it so I'd appreciate a simpler and more detailed recipe.

[littleblufish]

I would totally jump in on this if I wasn't banned from the kitchen for accidentally almost burning the house down.... I look forward too all the noms that come out of this thread :3

[Flutterz]

Tay-magoyaki

Difficulty: 1/5 (even I managed)

Taste: 4/5

 

So I'm home alone, and as I mentioned in my last post, willing to try cooking something. I pretty much never cook and Tay's Tuna Pasta recipe seemed a bit too complicated for a complete amateur, so I decided to try the Tamagoyaki which seemed simpler.

 

I had to go through 3 grocery stores before I managed to find mirin. I would have done this yesterday if one of the 2 stores I checked yesterday had it.

 

The hardest part was the first one - getting the eggs in the bowl without getting any of the shell in. I took my sweet time, and after 3-ish minutes I had all 4 eggs completely shell-free.

Thankfully I'm not completely incompetent, so adding the rest of the ingredients and mixing it all up wasn't too much of a problem.

The extent of my interaction with the stove was, up until today, watching other people use it, but thankfully finding the right dial and turning it a bit wasn't too complicated.

The first 3 times I tried to roll it up I only ended up sweeping the Tamagoyaki to the side of the pan, and only on my last try did I realize that I should probably roll the side that already has some rolled up, rather than going from the thin side each time.

Take it off the pan, cut it up, arrange it nicely, and voila!

いただきます～

 

This made for a nice light dinner. I don't know what Tamagoyaki is supposed to taste like, but this tasted like a sweet, airy omelette.

I might do this again tomorrow, maybe use a bit more mirin just to see what it'll taste like.

[Sioxz]

well next recipe then flutterz otherwise will i throw in some absurd fat food from the north off sweden

 

(in the north off sweden is were the cold is at it's worst and the labor is the hardest becasue we have a lot off forests and the tree there are strong becasue the they grow slow becasue off the cold so lot off lumber jacks and they need calories and fat to stay alive up there during the hard work days)

[Guest]

Woah, I just found this thread.  I kinda want to play 

 

If Flutterz isn't going to post a recipe I'll do it 

[Flutterz]

Yeah, I've been thinking of something to post, but I don't really know any recipes.

[Tay]

Thank you for taking the challenge, Flutterz!  Mirin can be a pain to find -- thank you for toughing it out : ).

 

Looking forward to the next recipe (Flutterz/Naomi)!

[Flutterz]

Guess I'll post a recipe. My dad used to make french toast for me all the time, and while I'm not sure of the exact recipe this seems to be close enough:

http://www.simplyrecipes.com/recipes/french_toast/

Only he never used cinnamon, he used a little bit of salt instead.

[Yukiru]

I didn't want to eat old bread but i want this game to continue, so i'll take on that one.