Tuesday 6 May 2014

Living below the line: three meals and a soup!

Thought I would share before I forget.
It's all rather bits and bobsy  because of being LBTL so please have patience with the muddles.

Meal 1!
Sort of egg fried rice without the egg.
This was inspired by this recipe.  (scroll down to get to Ginger Egg Fried Rice)  However the different ingredients and method mean that I can lay claim to a bit of it myself.

Ingredients:
coconut oil (just a bit and it does make a difference)
a bit of root ginger, finely chopped
a garlic clove
salt
an assortment of vegetables - could be frozen mixed veg  or garden veg or whatever.  I had leeks, parsnips, broccoli (garden), carrot (fresh), peas (1/3 value can).
Chicken stock and bits of chicken.  The latter is optional, I guess, but I had boiled up some free carcasses and this is the stock and the scraped off chicken.  You certainly need stock of some kind.
Salt
100g rice (mine was value because of LBTL)
(I think that was all the ingredients).

Method.
Put the ginger, garlic and a bit of salt in a mortar and grind to a paste with a psetle (OK, so showing off here, you can just flatten it all with the side of a knife, of course).  Set aside.
Wash the rice in a sieve to get rid of some of the starch (if you're using value rice)
Chop the carrot (I used half) and parsnip (mine was from the freezer so was already peeled and cored)) into small dice.
Slice the leek into half rings or smaller
Cut the 'heads' off the broccoli (reserve the stalks for something else, see below)

Heat the oil and gently fry the leek and carrot until starting to soften.  Add the parsnip.  Add the garlic/ginger paste and fry, stirring, until it becomes wonderfully aromatic.
Increase the heat a little and add the rice.  Stir well until rice starts to change colour.  Add the stock and some salt.  Bring to a gentle simmer, no lid, and allow the excess liquid to evaporate away as the rice cooks, adding more water if needed.
When it is nearly cooked, add the broccoli, peas and chicken bits, stir well and continue to simmer until it is how you want it.  Taste and adjust seasoning if needed.

The original recipe involved stirring in some beaten egg to become egg fried rice but I didn't as there's already protein in the stock and the chicken bits.

This made enough for two meals for me, a dinner one night and lunch the following day(reheating the rice until piping hot, of course).  It would have been even nicer with some soy sauce and I shall make it again but with different veg!


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