Recipes for broke, exhausted writers: Week #3
The simplest recipe in the series thus far.
The past week has been rough in my household. Both my son and I have a terrible cold that’s kept us awake most nights in spite of all the cough medicines, humidifier mist, and copious amounts of tea with honey. (Bonus mini recipe: chop up or grate a couple inches of fresh ginger. Pour boiling water over it and let it sit for 5-10 minutes, strain, add lots of honey and some fresh lemon. Best thing ever when you’ve got a cough).
We had to cancel lots of things, including my son’s field-trip to a local nature center and Chuck Wendig’s signing in Denver, which was disappointing.
But on the plus side I still managed to get my most critical work done and to at least think about the novel while drinking tea and otherwise taking it easy. And my son and I got to cuddle on the couch and watch lots of Teen Titans Go! together (that last bit is not entirely a bonus as I’ve now seen enough Teen Titans Go! to last several lifetimes, but spending lots of time with my son was still nice).
Planning meals when you’re sick on top of being busy is extra challenging, but this week’s recipe is one that’s easy to throw together at the last minute, and also uses up any leftovers in the fridge that are at risk of becoming sentient and staging a coup.
Just like chili and lentil soup, Fried Rice has endless variations, and it can be as simple or complex as you want to make it.
This extremely simple version is the one I make when I have leftover rice to use up and I’m too tired to follow a recipe. It’s also budget friendly and works as a side dish or a main dish, depending on what you add to it.
This is more of a series of steps than a recipe – and as always, add or change as you see fit. Ideally, this will at least give you some inspiration for what you’ll feed yourself and/or your dependents this evening.
Fried Rice
Ingredients to gather:
First you’ll need some leftover rice. I like white Basmati rice best, but literally any rice will do – about ½ to 1 cup cooked rice per serving (depending on whether you’re feeding small finicky children or big ravenous adults). It does need to be leftover from the night before, or at least have had some time to sit in the fridge and dry out a bit, otherwise it will be too sticky when you add it to the pan. This is the one drawback to fried rice – planning ahead. If you are reading this at lunchtime and think you might want fried rice tonight, go make some rice now and stick it in the fridge so it has time to cool off before dinnertime.
Next you’ll need some butter (or olive oil, or another fat, but I think butter tastes best), some frozen chopped mixed vegetables or leftover cooked vegetables (any kind you like), soy sauce or tamari, and an egg (unless you’re vegan or cooking for one – the recipe is still good without it). Those are the basics.
You can also add garlic and onions, leftover meat or tofu, etc. This recipe is one of the ways I use up leftover rotisserie chicken, and beans are good in it too.
Heat up a cast iron skillet or not-stick frying pan to medium/low. It should be hot enough to melt and sizzle the butter, but not hot enough to turn it dark brown and burn it.
Once the pan is hot and the butter is sizzling, add your leftover rice. Smush it down in the pan a bit so as much rice as possible has contact with the hot surface. Give it about 3-5-ish minutes then kick it around a little. Add your veggies and give it another minute or so. If you’re using leftover meat, tofu, or beans, add it now.
You want most of the rice to get a little sizzly, but not too brown or burned or it will be too dry. You want the veggies, etc. to warm through but not get overcooked.
Once the rice and veggies are heated throughout (no more than about 8 mins), add a few splashes of soy sauce or tamari and scrape up anything that is stuck to the pan.
If you’re using an egg, make a little circle-shaped well in the middle of your rice. Add a small pat of butter to the well and crack your egg into it. Scramble the egg and cook it inside the well. I like to add one extra dash of tamari to the egg as it’s cooking. Once it’s mostly solid, mix the egg into the rest of the rice, and your rice is ready to serve.