Khao Klug Gapi

A while ago my husband came home from the supermarket with a bag full of green mangoes. "They were on sale", he said. Great I thought, you don't come across green mangoes everyday in Sweden.

I sat down and thought for a while, when I stayed in Thailand, what did we use green mangoes for? Then I remembered, "Kao Klug Gapi". A dish consisting of rice fried in shrimp paste, flanked with whatever tidbits you've got on hand that complement each other in flavour. In Thailand that typically is glacéed pork, shredded omelet, shredded green mango, lime wedges, minced shallots and a big pile of chillies. The ingredients are normally served separate so each eater takes whatever he or she like on her rice and mixes it all up just before eating.

Yep, said and done, this is my version og Khao Klug gapi:

Clockwise from upper left corner, lime wedges and shallots. Then shredded omelet, fried with a bit of fish sauce. Then the rice, fried with shrimp paste and garlic. Last, glacéed pork (glacéed with brown sugar and fish sauce) and mango.

Notice the color of the mango. When I cut up those great green mangoes they were all yellow on the inside. Clearly not the same type of mango as we get in Thailand that tend to be the same color inside and out, but a good sweet mango nevertheless. And it worked out great in this dish that way as well.

Remixing: Bibimbap and Kimchi Fried Rice

Can't say I know many Korean dishes, but Bibimbap I've heard of. A bowl of rice topped with whatever good stuff you've got on hand.

My version had a fried egg, some bulgogi (meat marinated with soy sauce, garlic and sesame oil), garlic fried spinach, stir fried carrot and kimchi. The bowl itself was kinda small so the rice isn't visible, but it's down there, trust me.

Bibimbap

A hearty dish with a home cooked feel to it, containing a little bit of everything.

The next day I made another go at using up my kimchi. I decided on trying Kimchi Fried Rice. Funny thing was, when I read the recipe I realised it called for exactely the same ingredients as for the Bibimbap. Luckily I had some leftovers, so I just chopped up the meat and the kimchi and fried everything together, and voilá - a new dish.

Kimchi Fried Rice

Red Wine Risotto with Rosemary and Garlic

Risottos are not something that I do a lot. I've tried it a few times but, in fact, I've never been happy with the result. Therefore I couldn't wait to try one out from "The Complete Italian Vegetarian Cookbook" and hopefully add it to my repertoire of "black dress" dishes (stuff that goes with anything).

However, risottos are tricky. Not really technique-wise, it's all about boiling rice. The problem is that this rice needs to be stirred and have stock added to it for at least 30 consequent minutes. And that is a very long time when you have 2 hungry little kids competing for your attention!

But I tried to be organized and plan ahead. My 4 year old, I placed in the sofa in front of the TV with a big supply of tomato wedges and cucumber slices. My baby girl (she's only 3 months old and hasn't started to eat solid food yet, that's why I don't mention her a lot in the blog), I put in her little baby chair where I could look at her and talk to her all the time, making sure she was well fed and recently changed.

Then I started to cook. First, the rice is fried in oil with garlic, rosemary and scallions. Then half a cup of red wine is added. When that is absorbed stock is added little by little until the rice is all soft and done. At the end, lots of grated  parmesan cheese is added.

And, I managed to pull the dish off. The fried garlic and rosemary made the kitchen smell magical. I served the risotto with chicken and it was absolutely delicious. The only negative comment I have about this is that the colour of the risotto was very dull. I had expected something more ruby-ish, as I used red wine, but it turned out a rather unappealing shade of brown. Maybe the stock had to much yellow turmeric in it. I use a Swedish vegan brand that tastes very good, but the next time I might use another brand, or simply add some more wine at the very end of cooking.