Chicken Fried Rice

I am not sure if I mentioned it before but we eat a lot of Asian food in our house and I don't think it is because my Hubby works for Nissan and has gone to Japan a few times. We love it's versatility, ease and not to mention it tastes great.

For years I tried to make "Chinese" food and failed. I knew that I wanted an alternative to the buffets full of fat, MSG and who knows what else, but I just could not pull it off. As time went on Hubby and I discovered Thai and then Japanese and we loved them too. A few years ago Hubby got me a wok for Christmas and then the magic began...well to tell the truth a lot of practice took place and some raised brow, fake smile mmmmmms happened and after some time the flavors started to come together. Today (2 1/2 years later) I can through together some pretty good chow, it may not always be authentic but we can breath while we eat and the wok is nicely seasoned now too.

This time we had a fried rice, not the first fried rice I have tried my hand at, but one of the best and it was made with whatever I happened to have in my refrigerator.

Ingredients:

1/2 large yellow onion, sliced

1/2 green pepper, diced

1 carrot, diced

1 stalk broccoli, stem and tops. Peel the stalk and cut it into rounds and cut the florets into bite size pieces.

2 medium ribs bok choy, chopped

3 or 4 white mushrooms, sliced

1 teaspoon grated fresh ginger

2 to 3 cloves minced garlic

1/4 cup water or stock

1 chicken breast, cut into small chunks

2 cups left over cooked rice

1/3 cup peanuts

1 egg beaten

Sesame oil
vegetable oil
Mushroom flavored soy sauce

Method:

Heat wok on high flame until very hot add 1 tablespoon vegetable oil and 1 tablespoon sesame oil and the chicken. stir once or twice and add a pinch of ginger and garlic stir for another 30 second and add a few dashes of soy sauce stir for another 30 seconds remove from wok and set aside. add beaten egg and stir until soft scrambled and remove from wok and set aside.

add another tablespoon of sesame oil and add in the carrots and broccoli stir a few times and add the water or stock and a few dashed of soy sauce and another pinch of ginger and garlic stir and place a lid over the wok and let steam for about 45 seconds. Add the onion, peppers, mushrooms and bok choy and cook until just short of being done, remove from pan and set aside with the chicken and egg.

add the rice and the rest of the ginger and garlic and stir a for about 20 seconds. return all the ingredients back to the wok and stir them together adding a few more shakes of soy sauce and a few drips of sesame oil peanuts and serve. Top with green onion (I did not have any so I did not add them) and enjoy.

It sounds like it is a lot of work but as long as you have everything ready to go before you even get the wok out it is really fast and it doesn't feel like that much work at all.

Zucchini Boats

2 medium to large Zucchini

1 pound Italian sausage

1 medium onion, chopped

½ red bell pepper, chopped

2 cups cooked brown rice

1 14 oz can whole tomatoes, crushed with your hands

1/3 cup chopped fresh parsley

Salt & pepper to taste

1 T. olive oil

Brown the sausage with the onion. Add the garlic and cook for a minute then add red pepper and tomatoes and cook for about 5 minutes on medium. add the rice and parsley and stir through cooking for a few more minutes adding salt and pepper to taste. Remove from heat and set aside.

Preheat oven to 375. Cut Zucchini in half and scoop out the seeds with a spoon to make a well in the zucchini to put stuffing in. salt, pepper, and brush olive oil on the zucchini. Place the rice sausage stuffing in the well in the zucchini and bake on a cookie sheet for about 30 minutes or until it reaches desired doneness. Serve with plain yogurt.

Serbian Grapevine Dolmas - Stuffed Grape leaves

My Husband is from Serbia so I often try to make dishes that he grew up with or at least something close to what he ate growing up. This week my attempt at Serbian fare is Stuffed Grape leaves. The kids would not even try them but my husband loved them and I thought they were very good as well, this is my first attempt at stuffed grape leaves after all.

30-40 Grape leaves soaked in salted water until soft or one large jar
2 T. oil
1 medium onion
1/2 cup rice
10 oz ground beef
10 oz ground pork
1/2 bunch dill, about 1/4 cup chopped
1 t. Serbian bio nacin, a dried vegetable seasoning with salt or just add salt to taste
pepper
2 eggs
chicken stock

2 T. Butter
1 T. flour
1 t red paprika pepper, I use some from Serbia that has seeds and all but I would think a good quality paprika you find in the US will work
1/2 cup chicken stock or water
1 cup white wine*

1. Heat oil and add finely chopped onion, cook slowly to soften. Then add the meat and cook until browned. Add rice, chopped dill, salt and pepper, mix well and cook together for a few minutes. Remove from heat and cool slightly, add egg and mix well.
2. Put a small spoonful of meat mixture on each grape leaf and roll into dolmas. Arrange them tightly in a pan; pour enough chicken stock (or water) to fill half way up the side of the dolmas. Cover and simmer over low heat for about 45 minutes, checking from time to time to be sure that the stock has not run dry.
3. melt butter in a sauce pan add flour and cook until light brown and nutty, add paprika pepper, and 1/2 cup stock and heat a few moments and add to dolmas, shack pan and add white wine and simmer for another 15 - 20 minutes or until rice is cooked through.

Serve with plain yogurt.

* if you don’t have white wine chicken stock will work well.