Tonight's Fried Rice

After a two-day hiatus, I decided to close out the work week with another Mr. Bento and get rid of some leftovers. Recipe's vague and of course proportions and ingredients can be not just tweaked but turned topsy-turvy. Love how the scapes add green bean texture and a subtle, garlicky tang to it.

• 3 tbsp. neutral oil (peanut this time)
• 1/2 large onion, diced
• 1 small carrot, peeled and diced
• 4 garlic scapes, bulbs and ends removed, chopped
• 3-4 cups old, cold rice, de-clumpified with a fork or your hands
• 1 tbsp. soy sauce, plus more to taste

Put a skillet or wok on medium-high heat; add the oil and wait till it makes things sizzle.

Add onion; cook, stirring, till beginning to turn translucent, about 1-2 min.

Add carrot and scapes; cook, stirring, till they begin to soften, about 3-5 minutes.

Add rice. Cook, stirring, till it's heated through. Add soy sauce and stir to mix.

Adjust seasonings, remove from heat and serve (or pack for lunch).

Today's Lunch - Fried Rice and Sardines

 Had a full pic of last night's dinner, which was the same thing plus some salad greens, but they didn't pass even my lax standards. This shot, taken from lunch today, fared a bit better.

Basically I followed the Bittman basic fried rice recipe with the dried-out remains of my mushroom broth and stewed garlic rice, not including the egg, adding a diced carrot and increasing the ginger, garlic and scallion proportions. Turned out wonderfully - also went well with a handful of baby spinach and a couple of sardines.

• 3 tbsp. peanut oil
• 1-1/2 tbsp. ginger, minced
• 1-1/2 tsp. garlic, minced
• 2 heaping tbsp. scallions, minced
• 1 medium carrot, diced
• 4 or so cups old rice
• 2 tbsp. soy sauce
• more minced scallions for garnish

Heat oil over medium-high heat in a large pan or wok. When hot, add ginger, garlic and scallions. Cook for 1-2 minutes, stirring constantly to avoid burning. Add carrots and cook for a few minutes, till they just begin to soften.

Add rice and cook, stirring often, till hot. Add soy sauce, mixing it thoroughly into the rice. Taste and adjust seasoning. Garnish with scallions and enjoy.

Today's Bento

Between doing laundry and watching the Phillies dismantle the Dodgers last night, I managed to put together a good little lunch:

• boiled sausage (with spicy suka - Filipino cane vinegar infused with garlic and chiles - on the side, of course!)
  
• double garlic fried rice (about 2 cups of leftover garlic steamed rice fried in peanut oil with another tbsp. or so of chopped garlic, 3 chopped scallions and soy sauce to taste)
  
• sauteed spinach (cook a heaping tbsp of chopped garlic and 1/4 tsp. red pepper flakes over medium-high heat for a couple of minutes. Add a 10-oz. bag of spinach, roughly chopped, and cook, stirring often, till greens are wilted. Season with salt and pepper to taste, then drizzle with lemon juice just before nomming)
• an orange, a bit of Laughing Cow cheese and some garlic-flavored cracker nuts for snacks

Even hours after everything was packed away, the apartment smelled like the paradise where all good garlic cloves go when they die - a rich, warming aroma for a cold autumn weekend. Though I'm getting home late tonight, I'll hopefully have the energy and inclination to cook the leftover leeks and pickle the cute little cukes I got at EM yesterday.

Fried Rice with Saffron, Ginger and Tomatoes

Have never cooked with saffron before, and so couldn't resist adding this recipe (from Serious Eats) to the fried rice chronicles. It turned out a tad too brassy from the healthy dollops of salt and pepper (mistakenly heavy in the case of the latter), but still flavorful and good served cold the next day. Will definitely try it again with a couple of modifications (in parentheses); may also adopt this method of cooking the egg for fried rice.

• small pinch of saffron (used two)
• 1 egg
• 1/4 cup olive oil, divided
• 1/2 cup tomatoes, pureed
• 1-1/2 tsp. ginger, minced (used 2-1/2 tsp.)
• 1/2 cup onion, chopped
• 1/2 cup frozen peas (used about 2/3 cup)
• 1-1/4 tsp. salt (will halve this next time)
• 1/4 tsp. pepper (will actually use this next time - ended up with about 1 tsp.)
• 3 cups cooked rice, crumbled
• 1/4 tsp. oyster sauce
• 1/3 cup scallions, chopped
• soy sauce to taste (skipped this)

Put saffron in a small bowl with 1 tbsp. water. Stir gently, then set aside.
Put 1 tbsp. oil in a large skillet over medium-high heat. Crack egg into a bowl and whisk in 1 tbsp. water. When skillet's hot, pour in the egg, tilting the pan to spread it so it coats the bottom (like an omelet). Once the egg has set, which should take somewhere between 2-4 minutes, scrape the egg into a bowl and break up into bite-sized pieces.
Pour the rest of the oil into the skillet and turn the heat to high. When it's hot, add the ginger; cook for about 15-30 seconds, stirring often.

Add the saffron water and tomato puree. Cook, stirring often, till most of the water evaporates - about 3-5 minutes.

Add the sliced onions. Cook for one minute.

Add the rice, salt, pepper and oyster sauce. Cook for 2 more minutes, stirring to homogenize the mixture.

Add the peas and cooked egg. Stir for another minute.

Add soy sauce to taste and garnish with scallions.

Tonight's Dinner - The Fried Rice Chronicles, Vol. 3

Leftovers, ho! While, sadly, I ate the green beans before remembering that fried rice was an option, the tuna and a nearly-dead shallot were welcome additions. Skipped the egg this time.

• 2 tbsp. peanut oil
• 1 heaping tsp. garlic, chopped
• 1 heaping tsp. ginger, minced
• 2 heaping tbsp. scallion, chopped, plus some minced scallion for garnish
• 1 tsp. shallot, chopped
• 1-1/2-2 cups day-old rice, mashed and de-clumpified (a fork works well)
• 3 or so oz. leftover seared tuna, chopped
• 1 tbsp. soy sauce
• salt and pepper to taste

Place oil in a skillet or pan, preferably nonstick, then turn the heat to high. Wait a minute or so, then add garlic, ginger, scallions and shallots. Cook, stirring almost constantly, for about a minute.

Turn the heat down to medium-high. Add the rice, de-clumping with your hands if you haven't already. Stir often for 1-2 minutes.

Add the chopped tuna and stir until no longer red. Add the soy sauce and stir till it's incorporated into the rice. Correct seasoning.

Garnish with scallions and serve.

Now that that's all in my belly, let's see if I actually get around to cooking my chicken or succumb to satiation and/or food coma.

The Fried Rice Chronicles, Vol. 2: The Meh Lab [MEH]

Time to clear out the sundries and dispose of excess day-old rice again. The final product turned out...alright, I guess. Lessons learned? More garlic. More anchovies. Frozen peas instead of canned, because khaki is a color that should be worn, not eaten.

Ah well. At least I got the idea for a new tag out of it.

• 3 tbsp. peanut oil
• 1 small onion, chopped
• 1 small carrot (about 1/2 cup), diced
• 4 anchovy fillets, minced
• 3-4 garlic cloves, chopped (about 1 tbsp.)
• 1 cup peas
• 3-4 cups day-old rice, well-crumbled
• salt and freshly-ground pepper to taste
• 3-4 scallions, chopped

Beat the eggs and set them aside (NOTE: The 2nd egg I cracked was my first-ever double yolker!).

Put the oil in the Dutch oven on high heat. When hot, add the onion and carrots. Cook for a minute or two, then add the anchovies. Turn down the heat if necessary and stir relentlessly for a minute or two more, till the anchovies are evenly distributed and at the point of disintegration; the vegetables should be soft, but not brown.

Add peas; stir around till warmed.

Add garlic. Cook, stirring, for 30 seconds or so (as Bittman advised, I wanted to keep the garlic flavor strong).

Add rice, stirring to coat it thoroughly with oil and distribute the vegetables. Cook for a few minutes, till rice is heated through.

Dig a well in the middle of the rice, and pour the egg into it. Belay the stirring and cook for a minute or so, until some of the eggs begin to solidify at the bottom, but the rest is still liquidy (maybe a minute?). Then, rapidly stir the egg into the rice mixture. (Bittman likes to scramble them fairly thoroughly before incorporating them into the rest of the dish, but I like the creamy, faux-risotto-y texture this method produces).

Season with salt and pepper; correct seasonings if necessary. Remove from heat.

Garnish with scallions and serve.

The Fried Rice Chronicles, Vol. 1: Allium Uber Alles

Fried rice is an easy and often delicious way to use up leftovers or near-spoiling sundries. This time, we had a sad little carrot and various softening members of the allium family (the only reason there weren't any leeks was because I never leave any uncooked - witness the previous entry. This was the first time I'd tried making it in my Le Creuset dutch oven (thanks, Tita Tessie!) instead of in the nonstick one (R.I.P., my friend) I was used to (yes, I bought a wok years ago; no, I haven't gotten around to unpacking and seasoning it yet). It turned out well - both taste testers were very complimentary, though John wondered if I should add the egg even later in the cooking process. Anyway....

• 4 cups day-old rice, crumbled
• 3 tbsp. peanut oil
• 1 small onion, chopped
• 1 carrot, diced
• 1 large shallot, chopped
• 4 cloves garlic (about 1 heaping tbsp.), chopped
• 2 eggs
• salt and freshly-ground pepper to taste
• 1-1/2 to 2 tbsp. soy sauce or more, to taste
• 5 scallions, chopped

Beat the eggs and set them aside.

Put the oil in the Dutch oven on high heat. When hot, add the onion and carrots. Cook for a few minutes, turning the heat down if necessary, till vegetables are soft but not browned.

Add shallot. Cook, stirring, for a minute or so more.

Add garlic. Cook, stirring, for 30 seconds or so (as Bittman advised, I wanted to keep the garlic flavor strong).

Add rice, stirring to coat it thoroughly with oil and distribute the vegetables. Cook for a few minutes, till rice is heated through.

Dig a well in the middle of the rice, and pour the egg into it. Belay the stirring and cook for a minute or so, until some of the eggs begin to solidify at the bottom, but the rest is still liquidy (maybe a minute?). Then, rapidly stir the egg into the rice mixture. (Bittman likes to scramble them fairly thoroughly before incorporating them into the rest of the dish, but I like the creamy, faux-risotto-y texture this method produces).

Add soy sauce; mix thoroughly. Add salt and pepper to taste; correct seasonings.

Remove from heat; stir in scallions - or leave them on top as a garnish, if you prefer. I like some of them ever so slightly cooked.