Fried Rice Special – Asian Style

Fried Rice Special – Asian style – delicious, nutritious, cheap, easy to prepare fried rice which is a complete meal with veges and meat.

Fried Rice Special – Asian style is a light-ish meal which provides a good balance of meat and veggies – though this version is light on meat. It’s colourful and interesting to look at and full of marvellous piquant flavours.

This recipe will feed four, exceptionally well. If you’re not four, it freezes beautifully and is happily revived in the microwave.

 

Fried Rice Special – Asian Style

Ingredients

• 2 Eggs
• 2 Tbsp chopped fresh parsley (flat leaf or curly)
• 1/4 Teaspoon salt
• Pepper to taste
• 1 clove garlic
• 1 tablespoon olive oil (or your favourite oil)

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• One and half cups of Basmati or other long grain rice

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• 2 Tablespoons of olive oil (or your favourite)
• 1 teaspoon of sesame oil
• 1/2 teaspoon of fish sauce
• 1 tablespoon of tamari sauce (or good soy sauce)
• 1 dessertspoon of ginger paste or finely grated fresh ginger
• 2 – 4 Teaspoons of Sambal Oelek (to taste)
• 2 Tablespoons of finely chopped parsley
• 1 large clove of garlic finely chopped
• 1 rasher of bacon finely chopped
• 1 handful of chopped cold meat (meatballs, chicken, roast beef, whatever is handy)
• 2 cups of cabbage finely chopped
• 1 medium brown onion finely chopped
• 1 smallish leek finely chopped
• 1 cup of chopped fresh broccoli chopped small
• 1 medium carrot finely chopped
• 1 medium stalk of celery finely chopped

Method

Garlic and Parsley Thin Omelette

1. Begin by making a thin omelette from the first set of ingredients. Beat the eggs with a little water or milk (perhaps a tablespoon) and the salt and pepper. Very finely chop the garlic and the parsley and add them to the eggs. Heat the oil in a large frypan and add the egg mixture, covering the base of the pan evenly. You’re looking for an omelette which is very thin. You may need to spread your parsley around a bit.
2. Once the omelette is cooked through, take it out of the pan and chop it into strips roughly 4cm long by 2cm wide, and put them aside.
3. Now chop all your other ingredients. The secret to this dish is to chop everything very finely. They cook quicker but also mix with rice better and the mixture of flavours is more readily appreciated.

Rice

1. Wash the rice and put it on high to boil with enough water to cover it by just less than the first joint of your index finger. Once it boils, turn the heat down immediately to low, stir the bottom of the pot with a fork to make sure the rice hasn’t stuck to the bottom, and put a lid on it. Let it cook on low while you prepare the rest of the meal.

 

Cooking Fried Rice Special Vegetables and Meat

1. Return the pan to the heat unless you have a wok. A wok is best for this kind of cooking but a frying pan will be just fine. Heat the oil, sesame oil, ginger, fish sauce, and tamari sauce. Toss in your bacon, onion, and celery, and cook on medium to 3/4 heat until the mixture becomes fragrant. Keep the heat as high as you can with out burning or having the food stick.
2. Now add your chopped second meat and let it begin to develop colour before adding garlic, carrots, then leeks and broccoli, then cabbage. Turn the heat down enough that your food doesn’t burn but can begin to wilt a little bit. Keep tossing the mixture to get it evenly cooked and to stop it from sticking.
3. By now (around 15-20 minutes), the rice will be cooked and vegetables starting to be softened. If the rice is too soggy it will not work well. Sometimes letting it steam off will help, but you’re really looking for rice which is dryish and will seperate easily when fluffed with a fork.
4. Add the sambal oelek, and remaining two tablespoons of parsley to the meat and vegetables and then toss in the rice and turn the heat up. Keep tossing the rice mixture to stop it from sticking. Once it is evenly coloured and dried out enough, add the omelette strips and mix them in.

Serve Fried Rice Speical – Asian style

Serve immediately and offer soy sauce, sweet chilli sauce, extra sambal oelek, or even a good peanut sauce, with it.

©Theresa Sjoquist