Garden fried rice

After making lots of rice for two previous dinners, I had a lot of leftover rice. Hurrah! That means fried rice for dinner.

The problem is that we are very low on produce. There was only part of a red bell pepper in the fridge. No garlic, onions, or fresh veg. I had frozen peas, a can of pineapple, and some faux ham tube.

That's when the garden came to my rescue. I went outside to forage and found onions, broccoli and poblano peppers. The beauty of fried rice is that you can clean out the fridge, the pantry and/or the garden-- just use what you have! Since I wasn't able to use fresh garlic, I added fried garlic-- a Thai/ Vietnamese product-- as a garnish. It adds a mellow garlic flavor and nice, crunchy texture.

Note: Make sure to use a big wok, huge stirfry pan, or a really big pot. This dish is extra big because the rice is a part of it in cooking, and the ingredients need to move around.

Garden fried rice

vegan, gluten-free

serves 4

Ingredients

• 2 tbsp peanut oil
• 2 shallots, chopped small
• 2 cloves garlic, pressed or diced (I didn't have garlic, but I would use it if I did!)
• 1 1/2 C faux meat if desired. Ham tube is the best in this dish, if you can find a wheat/gluten-free one.
• Veggies! I used broccoli, poblanos, red pepper and peas. Comfort food veggies like peas, carrots and broccoli are my favorite for this dish.
• 4 C cooked, at least day-old rice
• 15 oz can diced pineapple (or chunks)
• 1/4 C wheat-free tamari
• 1/4 C mirin (sweet cooking sake)
• 1 tsp sesame oil
• 1/4 tsp coriander
• 1/4 tsp Chinese five spice powder

Directions

• Add oil to pan and stirfry onion over medium heat til just golden. Add garlic and stirfry for 1 minute.
• Add faux meat and brown.
• Turn up the heat and add veggies in order of what needs the most time to cook first. Should take no longer than 5-7 minutes.
• Add the rice, stirring thoroughly and breaking up any sticky chunks. Turn up heat a little if the bottom isn't sizzling. Stirfry for about 5 minutes.
• Add the rest of the ingredients one at a time, mixing in thoroughly. The rice should be very separated, and all of the liquid absorbed. Give it another 3-5 minutes stirfrying on high heat. Serve with sriracha!