remember?
i told you guys i would post our recipes from the week. we made the fried rice first, so lets start with that…
monday we didn’t have any plans for dinner…meaning, at about 12pm i was peering into the freezer to determine what to take out. after a quick text to matt about his dinner preferences, we decided on fish, brown rice, and steamed carrots. matt would grill and make the miso sauce from a few weeks ago to amp things up on the fish, and i would take care of the rest.
well, for some reason i decided to make gobs of rice. i always have a hard time finding a happy medium amount of rice. we always want to make our meals go farther and be able to have them for at least one other meal for us both. usually i don’t make enough, so one or the other of us goes without a base to a leftover asian meal. but, this time i was determined not to let that happen…and, of course, i made too much. someday i’ll figure out what is the right amount (it seems to be between 1 and a half and 2 cups right now).
the bright side of making too much rice though, the next day, we were able to make fried rice. which is really what my pathetic little story all leads up to.
i looked up a few recipes/refreshers (i made fried rice a lot in college), and settled on a happy combination of this one and this one. both of which called for frozen veggies. good thing i had already planned on going to the store that day! frozen veggies are rare around here!
1 chicken breast
1-1/2 c. frozen veggies
sesame oil
soy sauce
1/4 onion, chopped
2 cloves garlic, minced
2 eggs, lightly beaten
2 cups day old rice
green onion (garnish)
cut up the chicken breast into bit size pieces, season with salt and pepper. chop up the onions and garlic.
in a large pan, heat 1 T. sesame oil until shimmering. add chicken, onions and garlic, cooking until the chicken is completely cooked. remove and drain on a plate with a paper towel.
heat 1 T. sesame oil in the same pan, and throw in the mixed veggies. we had a broccoli/cauliflower/carrot medly and peas. season with salt and pepper. remove when all of the veggies are cooked through. remove and drain on a plate with a paper towel.
return the pan to low heat and cook the eggs, being sure to break them up as they scramble. remove from the pan.
return the pan to low heat and and add 1 T. sesame oil. once the oil is hot, add the day old rice. add 1/4 c. of soy sauce, salt and pepper to taste. once the rice is heated through and “popping”, return the chicken, veggies, and egg to the pan and combine well.
overall, this recipe was very simple. but it tasted like real fried rice from a restaurant, so i’m counting it as a success. i think next time we make this, we will add a little fresh diced ginger, and maybe some chili flakes for a little spice.
one thing i have to say is that i really enjoy about cooking over baking in that cooking is so much more forgiving. there is freedom to combine recipes, do what you want, suit things to your tastes. rarely do i strictly follow a cooking recipe, most the time i add my own flare, remove what we don’t want to eat, and i never measure. that said, once i get a good knowledge base of what ingredients are needed to to make “x”, it usually all comes from the magic in my head (which isn’t always tasty magic). while i’m not counting this toward the recipe challenge, i really appreciate that this challenge has educated me in terms of giving me a broader base to work from. does that make sense? i feel as though i have become much more comfortable cooking and adjusting things to what we truly love to eat.
enjoy the silly story and simple recipe!
matt & rachel
Leave a Reply