Thai Bento

Welcome back! For my first box back from my Taiwan trip I put together a Thai themed Bento. I really like Thai food, I had to struggle with this box because there were so many great recipes in my head that I would have loved to go with. In the end because the "seed" idea for the box came forth from the desert (more on that later) which is rice based, I had to discard any ideas for a curry (besides I'll save a good curry for the Indian bento). For some reason my prep for this box wasn't very good and it cost me all of a night and some of another to crank out two sets of boxes. (lesson learned better prep == more sleep)

We start with a Pad Thai. Everyone has a variant this happens to be mind. My rice noodles were from the pantry and a little dated, so it required a bit more rehydration. I topped it off with a quick bean sprout stir fry as I had a lot leftover, extra sprouts never hurt anyone. Had to use some fake grass as I couldn't use the container since it would have limited the amount of Pad thai

We follow it up with a nice Beef Satay with a Lime and peanut sauce. I cut the beef a bit thick so it was a little tough, but the coconut spice marinade made for some good flavor. I give my self a B for this dish, I should have known better.

For the vegetable side I put together a Thai cucumber salad. Visually it looks like a standard cucumber salad, the recipe tweaks this a bit by adding ground dried shrimp and fish sauce for a bit of a savory flavor component. I figured it would lighten up the box a bit.


Last but not least the whole reason for the Thai bento. One of my wife's favorite deserts is called Bubor pulot hitam, it's a black rice pudding infused with ginger and coconut. It's not really a pudding per say as the rice doesn't get mushy, it has a harder texture with a bit of a nutty flavor. Quick garnish with some cocnut milk and we're off.

Box Contents:

• Pad Thai topped with sauted bean sprouts
• Beef Satay with Lime Peanut Sauce
• Thai Cucumber Salad
• Bubor Pulot Hitam