My lips are still tingling from this tasty chicken fried rice I whipped up for lunch today, the best part? It's a modified eatingwell.com recipe, so it's a heck of a lot lighter than the Chinese takeout version, and you don't have to worry about that pesky MSG (what the heck is MSG anyway?) . Don't worry - if you aren't a big fan of heat, simply omit the drizzle of hot sauce.
Full disclosure, this is the first time I've ever made fried rice. I honestly can't believe I haven't before. It was an excellent way to work my way through the veggie bin (you could really sub in any veggies you've got on hand) and to use up small leftover bits of white rice and baked chicken (brown rice, pork, you know use what you've got!).
Plus, I got to use the delish fresh eggs I picked up at the farmers market Saturday. Not sure if you farm-fresh eggs are still fresh? Use this trick to test eggs for freshness and ignore that arbitrary date stamped on the package.
Ingredients:
4 stalks asparagus cut into one inch pieces
1 carrot cut into one inch pieces
2 stalks celery cut into one inch pieces
2 scallions diced
1 tablespoon minced garlic
1 tablespoon minced fresh ginger (need some help decoding specific cutting instructions, check out this helpful video from Home Cooking New York)
2 eggs, lightly beaten
1.5 cups cooked rice
1/4 to 1/2 cup chopped cooked chicken breast
2 tablespoons grapeseed or canola oil (Why grapeseed? See the facts at Wild Tree)
4 tablespoons reduced-sodium soy sauce
2 tablespoons rice vinegar
1 teaspoon toasted sesame oil
1 teaspoon sesame seeds
Hot sauce to taste, I prefer Sriracha!
Scramble eggs until set, transfer to a bowl
Heat grapeseed oil over medium high heat in a wok it you've got it, a skillet works great too. Add asparagus and carrots and cook for two minutes, stirring. Add rest of the veg as well as garlic and ginger, cook for another two minutes. Add chicken, rice, soy sauce, vinegar and sesame seeds, cook until rice absorbs the liquid. Fold in the eggs. Remove from heat. Stir in sesame oil. Throw in your favorite bowl, top with hot sauce to your limit, add chop sticks, insert in mouth.
Colleen, you are my hero right now! I really need to get back on the "fresh" bandwagon, especially at lunchtime, and you are giving me inspiration. I definitely want to try out some of these ides that you've posted so far, and since I also have a veggie bin, thanks to my weekly produce delivery, it shouldn't be too difficult!
ReplyDeleteP.S. - I highly recommend you check out "The Pleasures of Cooking for One" by Judith Jones. It's a smart cookbook that has great recipes to feed one or a little bit more than one. She is very liberal about substituting whatever you have on hand, as well as what to do with leftovers. I basically want to cook my way through the entire thing!
I recently took that book out of the library, great inspiration indeed!
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