The Food Site

Why, you fry it, of course!

Fried rice is as common as it is everywhere when you eat outside and you can do it at home too. Don’t need to fork our RM3.50 for a measly plate of rice outside with little ingredients and sometimes, lousy taste.

Here’s what I do when I felt like adding some jazz to our plain steamed rice with whatever ingredients I could rustle up in the kitchen.

Healthy Fried Rice

It is a complete meal by itself so it is easy and no need to cook anything else. It is one of Mr Picky’s (that’s the three-foot tall male at home) favourite, although I change the recipe for fried rice all the time.

Okay, so here’s the recipe for:

Simple Fried Rice with Vegetables

Ingredients

Cooked brown rice (about 3 cups..I think…enough to serve two adults and a child)

4 tbsp green peas

2 sausages, sliced

1 ham, sliced

4 fresh shiitake mushrooms, chopped

3 onions, chopped

half clove garlic, diced

1 cup - 2 cups green leafy vegetables (whichever type you have lying around), chopped

1 egg

3 tbsp oyster sauce

2 tbsp light soy sauce

1 tbsp dark soy sauce

Instructions

1. Prepare your ingredients.

Have your rice cooked and ready

All your ingredients cut and chopped

2. Heat up some cooking oil (I use olive oil) in a wok and sautee the garlic till fragrant.

3. Then add in the mushrooms, onions and peas

4. Stir fry for a few minutes over low to medium heat before adding the sausages and ham

5. Add in the green leafy vegetables and stir fry some more

6. Then, in goes the rice. Remember to stir and mix it well

7. Add in the sauces (which you have earlier mixed in a bowl) and stir to make sure all of the rice is coated with the sauce.

8. Make a space on the side of the wok.

9. Break an egg directly into the side of the wok and let it cook for a few minutes

10. Once the egg is almost cooked, just stir and mixed it all together with the rice.

11. Stir fry it for a few minutes and then remove from heat.

12. Here's the simple fried rice ready to serve hot!

And…

Here's a closer look of the fried rice with sausages, ham, egg and vegetables

Enjoy!

This recipe is pretty simple and is quite versatile as you could substitute the ham and sausages with strips of chicken breast meat or any other meat you fancy.

Otherwise, if you are vegetarian, just leave out the meat and substitute it with some mixed beans. Just remember to soak and blanch the beans first before stir frying it in Step 3 or else it won’t cook so easily.

If you prefer some spiciness to it, just add some chili flakes while stir frying in Step 3 and you’ll have yourself some spicy fried rice!

Oh, by the way, most of these ingredients are ‘estimated’ amount. I forgot to take the exact measurements so…heheh…you’ll have to try it out and gauge how much you need.

Why is this healthy? Well, it contained lots of greens and it’s fried in oilve oil. Furthermore it is brown rice! It is as healthy as it could get.

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My son simply must have his rice everyday, at least, for one meal and other meals, it could be noodles, porridge or potatoes.

So, instead of cooking the usual plain white rice to go with dishes, I’d sometimes cook an all-in-one rice like my mixed beans rice or burdock root rice or easy claypot chicken rice. Yep, when it comes to rice, I do try to do more things with it!

Here’s my latest ‘creation’ where I toss in some bottled organic black bean chili sauce to give it a slightly spicy flavour:

Chicken and Beans Rice Recipe

Chicken and Lentils Rice

Ingredients

300g brown rice, washed and drained (you can use white rice if you want)

400ml water

4 tbsp mixed beans, soaked to soften and drained

2 tbsp dried wolfberries, soaked and drained

1 tbsp dried shrimps, cleaned and drained

1 piece chicken breastmeat (about palm size), sliced into strips

2 - 5 tbsp Light Soy Sauce

1 - 3 tbsp Dark Soy Sauce

1 - 3 tbsp Oyster Sauce

3 tbsp black bean chili sauce (or you could also use Black Bean Sauce

half clove garlic, diced

Instructions

1. Get the ingredients ready:

Mixed beans soaked to soften and drained

Dried wolfberries and dried shrimps, soaked and drained.

Organic black bean chili sauce

This is what the organic black bean chili sauce looks like

2. Season the chicken like this:

Season the chicken strips with 1 tbsp soya sauce, 1 tbsp dark soya sauce and 1 tbsp oyster sauce for at least an hour

3. In a wok, heat up some cooking oil.

4. Add in the garlic and…

Sautee the garlic till fragrant

5. Add in the wolfberries and shrimp

Continue to stirfry the wolfberries and shrimps over medium heat

6. Then, in goes the chicken…

Stir fry the chicken till it is half cooked but NOT cooked through

7. Add in the mixed beans and stir fry it for a few seconds. Add in the black bean chili sauce.

8. Then it is time to stir in the uncooked rice

Stir fry the rice with the ingredients for a few minutes

9. Now comes to adding the sauces. You can add 2 tbsp soy sauce, 1 tbsp dark soy sauce and 1 tbsp oyster sauce or you can add about 1/2 tbsp more each if you want your rice with more taste but not too much or else it’d end up too salty!

10. After adding the sauces and mixing it well, you have the option to add the water straight to the wok, cover and then let the rice cook in it over medium heat or transfer the contents into a rice cooker to cook. If you let it cook on the wok, do remember to check on it often and stir occasionally.

11. If you transferred it to a rice cooker, you can just let it cook as usual. When done, you should have this…

A potful of chicken and beans rice

To add some greens to this dish, I blanched some green leafy vegetables and serve it together with the rice.

Wallah! Here's a complete wholesome healthy meal with protein, vegetables, carbs and fibre all in one.

If you can’t get the black bean chili sauce, it is alright to leave it out of the ingredients. You can substitute with additional spoonful of sauces.

The chicken and bean rice recipe may sound complicated but it only takes about 30 minutes to prepare and cook (minus the seasoning time).

Try it out and tell me how it turned out. But if you are too lazy to cook this, you can order it from me and I’ll just charge you for it but no home delivery, you’ll have to come and pick it up. ;-p

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