One of my blogging/Facebook friends graciously agreed to share the following recipe with you, my dear readers. Nicola lives in Glasgow so be sure to read this in a Scottish accent. Oh? You don’t do that sort of thing? Well, never mind.
Curried Vegetable Fried Rice With Poached Egg
By Nicola Page
I don’t really have a snazzy cool name for this meal. I usually call it “delicious meal of awesomeness” but I figured I’d go with something boring and descriptive. I could eat this loads. And loads.
Ingredients:
- 1 cup white rice
- 6 closed cup mushrooms, sliced
- 1 med. red onion, finely chopped
- 1 green pepper, cut in long strips
- broccoli (5-6 florets), chopped into small “trees”
- cauliflower (5-6 florets), chopped like the broccoli
- 4 leaves savoy cabbage, roughly chopped
- 2 carrots, cut in long, thin strips
- 1 heaping teaspoon garlic paste
- 1 1/2 tablespoons madras paste (or any curry paste based on your taste)
- 1/2 teaspoon Chinese 5 spice
- 1/2 teaspoon celery salt
- pinch of salt
- vegetable oil
- eggs, 1-2 per person
In a pot, boil up your rice. The technique we use is a cup and a half of water to every cup of rice, season with a little salt, and bring to the boil, lidded. Do not remove the lid, just reduce the heat and let simmer for 10 minutes or until the water is absorbed. Take off the heat and leave to sit lidded for an additional 10 minutes to steam. Always resist the urge to lift the lid; your rice will thank you.
While you are waiting, chop up the vegetables if you haven’t already, then throw the mushrooms into the stir fry with some vegetable oil, a teaspoon of madras paste and some salt. Cook until most of the moisture is out of the mushrooms (which are great as a starter on their own!) and set aside.
Add more oil and the garlic to pan, bringing back up to heat and throw in the rest of the vegetables. Stir in the Chinese 5 spice, the celery salt and an extra pinch of salt and stir fry until vegetables are soft but still have a little bite. Feel free to steam the cabbage first if you like it softer though. Add mushrooms back in and heat through. Take all the stir fried vegetables out and set aside in a covered bowl. Adding a little more oil, add the remaining madras paste, bring to heat and add the finished boiled rice. Stir fry until the rice is evenly coated. At this point check your flavours and add more seasoning or curry paste to your tastes. Throw the vegetables back in, stir fry evenly and leave to simmer, stirring occasionally while you focus on the eggs.
Crack a (fresh!) egg into hot, not boiling unsalted water. If your eggs aren’t exactly fresh place the unbroken egg into the hot water for a few seconds before cracking to start the binding process and enable the egg to hold its shape. Also, if the egg starts to “strand” in the water start swirling around it with a wooden spoon until it holds together. If you’re confident in your poached egg making abilities, do up to 3 at one time. Bring the egg(s) out after the white has gone opaque but while the yolk is still soft.
Serve up the rice and place the poached egg on top. Now devour.
The quantities of vegetables can be adjusted or changed to suit your tastes. Maybe less cabbage, or add roasted pine nuts? The beauty of this dish is the adaptability. It may seem like a lot of faffing about but it is very much instinctive as meals go. We eat meat quite often in this house but I for one don’t miss it with this, making it a great alternative to the usual meat and two veg. However, I can also see this doing well alongside a pork chop or even tossing in a few king prawns. For me, the creaminess of the egg really brings it up, but it’s moist enough to eat anyway if eggs ain’t your thing, potentially making it vegan too! It’s a great way to finish off your leftover vegetables and I even enjoy it cold (for the record, Dear Love doesn’t. Meh!)
Have fun experimenting and show me what you do!
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Nicola blogs at Delicious Tacky. Be sure to check out her blog and leave her a comment. Oh, and share this post, please.
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