The key to fried rice is using leftover rice. To make leftover fried rice (because you don't actually have leftover anything) cook the rice, let it cool in a large shallow dish and stick it in the freezer. Ha!
Yes - okay, that sounded kinda dumb. But really, leftover rice works for fried rice because it is dried out a bit. Day-old rice is crunchy and doesn't stick together the way fresh rice does. Try to fry freshly cooked rice and you will end up with mushy rice and a mess in your pan. The freezer speeds up the "day-old" process and helps take some of the stick out of the rice making it easier to fry. Plus having it in the freezer means that if something changes and you can't make fried rice when you thought you would, the rice will still be good to go when you get around to it. Because plans change and its always best to be prepared but flexible.
And guess what? It works with other grains too!
I'll throw some grains in my rice cooker while I'm putting away groceries, cleaning vegetables or even cleaning the kitchen, just to put it in the freezer for later. It takes minutes to set the rice cooker up and stashing some cooked grains in the freezer means I will absolutely have a quick meal later in the next week or two. It's like insurance - always there when you need. PS - You don't have to just cook rice in a rice cooker.
This fried quinoa and rice is loaded. I wanted to boost the nutrition. I wanted green. I wanted hearty. Instead of white rice I used a sprouted quinoa and brown rice blend from Tru Roots. Love this stuff, I find it at Costco.
I loaded this version with mushrooms, broccoli, edamame and greens. This is not your typical take-out and certainly not authentic. But I'm okay with that. For flavour, I kept things simple. I used soy sauce, oyster sauce, garlic and ginger.
Oyster sauce is a sweet salty sauce that you will find in just about any well stocked grocery store. If you haven't had it before, the taste will immediately remind you of Chinese take-out. This is the stuff. Go out and find it if you can. If you don't have it you could sub in either a sweet soy sauce, or a tablespoon of regular soy sauce and some honey or other sweetener.
Mushroom Fried Quinoa and Brown Rice with Greens
Ingredients
- 2 tablespoons soy sauce
- 1 tablespoons oyster sauce
- 2 tablespoons water
- 2 teaspoons coconut oil
- 2 cups sliced button mushrooms
- 1 celery rib sliced
- 1 cup broccoli cut into small florets
- 1 cup frozen edamame beans thawed
- 2 large eggs scrambled
- 4 cups day-old cooked quinoa and brown rice blend or just quinoa
- 2 cloves garlic
- 1 tablespoon freshly grated ginger
- 2 large handfuls of greens chopped (baby spinach, baby kale, perhaps some cilantro) about 3 packed cups in total
- ½ cup toasted cashews
- 2 green onions finely sliced
- 1 teaspoon sesame oil
Instructions
- In a small bowl mix together soy sauce, oyster sauce and water. Set aside.
- Heat coconut oil in a large skillet or wok on medium-high heat.Add mushrooms and celery and cook until mushrooms start to wilt- about 3 minutes. Adjust heat if mushrooms begin to stick and burn.
- Add broccoli, stir fry for a minute or two until broccoli turns bright green.
- Push vegetables to the side of the wok then add eggs, stirring constantly until egg is scrambled. Breaking the egg up with your spoon or spatula. Stir in garlic and ginger.
- Add rice, edamame, soy sauce mixture and stir well to combine. Cook until all ingredients are heated through, stirring frequently, coating all ingredients with the sauce about 3-4 minutes.
- Add greens and mix into the rice for a minute or two until the greens begin to wilt. Remove from the heat and top with sliced green onions, cashews and sesame oil. Serve with extra soy sauce and sesame oil on the side.
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