Fried rice is a great dish to highlight your favorite fresh ingredients or even simply use up whatever deliciousness happens to be hiding in the vegetable drawer of your refrigerator. Today’s special contains a little of both: baby broccoli, snow peas, and home-grown tomatoes.
Traditionally, a large round-bottomed wok with a ring, and very high heat is used in making fried rice. I’ve adapted the process for easy home use with a 12-inch nonstick pan on medium heat. It’s still a quick dish to make, just a little more relaxed. If I have other tasks to do in the kitchen, I often work on them in the several minutes in between adding each ingredient to the pan.
One advantage of this non-traditional cooking method is that you can leave the minced garlic in the finished dish without fear of it burning. You’ll get a softer flavor from cooking the garlic at a lower temperature, plus many of the garlic’s nutrients will still be retained. If you want a more pungent garlic flavor and higher nutritional value, add the garlic closer to the end of the cooking process.
I like to have fresh Thai chili peppers on hand (Prik Chee Fah). These flavorful peppers are about 2-4 inches long (not the tiny, extremely hot bird’e eye chilies, also referred to as Thai chili). They add a bit of heat and a vibrant dose of color to any dish. If you don’t want the heat, remove the membranes and seeds before chopping. Look for Thai chili peppers in Asian grocery stores. You can also substitute Serrano chili.
Ingredients
- 1 small onion
- 3 fresh red Thai chilies (prik chee fah)
- 4 garlic cloves
- 5 stems baby broccoli
- 1 handful snow peas
- 1 medium tomato
- 1-1/3 c leftover brown rice
- coconut oil or other cooking oil
- 1 teaspoon raw coconut aminos (or gluten-free tamari)
- Thai basil (for garnishing)
Instructions
- Chop the onion and set aside.
- Finely mince the chilies and set aside. If you'd like it less spicy you can remove the membranes and seeds before mincing.
- Finely mince the garlic and set aside.
- Chop the baby broccoli into 2-3 inch long pieces and separate the stems from the florets.
- Remove the strings from the snow peas and set aside.
- Chop the tomato and set aside.
- Julienne the Thai basil and set aside.
- Heat a frying pan or wok to medium and melt a little coconut oil in it. Add the chopped onion and stir fry for several minutes.
- Add the minced chili and stir fry for a minute or two.
- Add the minced garlic and stir fry for a minute or two.
- Add the baby broccoli stems and stir fry for a couple minutes. Add the baby broccoli florets and stir fry for a couple minutes.
- Add the snow peas and stir fry for a couple minutes.
- Add the leftover brown rice and stir to combine. Add a teaspoon of coconut aminos and a little more oil if necessary. Stir fry for a couple minutes.
- Add the chopped tomato and gently stir fry for a minute or two until the tomatoes are warmed. Check the seasoning and add a little more coconut aminos if necessary.
- Garnish with the julienned Thai basil.
- Enjoy!
Feel free to adjust this recipe to fit your tastes and what’s in your refrigerator on any given day. You may want a bit more rice than I used. I was surprised to find that 1-1/3 cups of cooked rice was all I had on hand today. Two cups would make a more usual proportion of rice to vegetables and would serve more people as well. Of course, you would then also need to adjust the seasonings. I enjoyed the generous proportion of vegetables to rice, so I decided to share it with you exactly how I made it. Cooking, unedited.
(This recipe was shared at: Gluten Free Friday)
