Ruixing's Fried Rice

This is my friend Ruixing's recipe. She made it for me and Bridget one day at her house. It's simple but really delicious.

5-6 stalks celery, finely diced
3 eggs
2 cups brown rice
vegetable oil
low-sodium soy sauce

Cook the brown rice according to the package directions. Set aside.

Heat a few tablespoons of oil in a wok. Beat the eggs with about a teaspoon of water and throw them in the wok when it's hot. Make scrambled eggs in the wok, and when they are mostly cooked, add the celery (you can remove the eggs from the wok before adding the celery so they don't get overcooked, but I don't bother). Stir fry the celery, adding more oil if necessary, until it's becoming translucent. Add in the cooked rice, a bit more oil, and some soy sauce. Stir fry until it's fried rice (a few minutes) and add the egg back in if you took it out.

I go easy on the soy sauce, tasting as I go toward the end. She doesn't use a lot when she makes it.

You could add in other ingredients, but it's best as it is here. I've tried adding mushrooms and green onions before, and it took away from the celery.

Sesame Noodles

We found this recipe in a children's book about Chinese and Japanese cooking. Ben wanted to try it, so we made it tonight with a few minor changes, and it was so good.

Here's how we made it:

Ingredients:

one box angel hair pasta (12-16 oz.)
1/2 cup water
1/3 cup low sodium soy sauce
1/4 cup sesame oil
2 Tbsp. brown sugar
2 Tbsp. rice vinegar
4 cloves garlic, minced
some ground black pepper
4 scallions (green onions), sliced thinly
1 red pepper, diced

Cook pasta in salted water according to box directions. Angel hair pasta cooks quickly! Meanwhile, in a medium bowl whisk together the water, soy sauce, sesame oil, brown sugar, rice vinegar, minced garlic, and ground black pepper. Heat up your wok or large saute pan. Drain the pasta. Stir fry the red pepper in the soy sauce mixture for about one or two minutes, then add in the pasta and scallions. Stir fry for about two more minutes and serve.

An optional add-in from the recipe book was some toasted sesame seeds as a garnish.

Savoy Cabbage, Asian-style

I made this Sunday for the first time. I got two savoy cabbages from our farm share, so I went at it. As mentioned earlier, I think everything is tasty with sesame oil on it. I made this in a wok, which I think is really the best way to go. Feel to adjust the seasonings, add some ginger and/or soy sauce.

2 heads of savoy cabbage, halved, cored, and sliced into strips
2-3 tablespoons of oil
4 cloves garlic, chopped
3 scallions, sliced, reserve dark green use raw for garnish
red pepper flakes
sesame seeds, lightly toasted (optional)
sesame oil (optional)

Heat the wok, on high, with the oil garlic, scallions, red pepper flakes in it. Once hot, add the cabbage and toss to coat. Mix around until the cabbage is cooked - about ten minutes. Transfer to a serving dish. Drizzle with sesame oil and sprinkle with sesame seeds.

You don't want the cabbage to be completely wilted but it will get a little translucent and some of it will brown. Don't let it get soggy, it should have a bit to it.

Colin suggests skipping the sesame oil and just amping up the other flavors - the garlic, the spiciness, etc.

Soba Noodles

I had something like this at a potluck and it was so delicious that I made it tonight when the Eagers came over for dinner. Soba noodles are buckwheat and oh so tasty. Whole wheat pasta kind of tastes...wheaty, but these dark brown buckwheat noodles are soft and delicious and sure to please even picky eaters. Watch out where you buy them - the coop by us was charging over $6/lb but they were $2/lb at Wegmans. They get much bigger when they cook. A pound would have been plenty for 6 people.

When I first had this, it was just with broccoli and shitaki mushrooms. The noodles are packed with protein (14g) and iron (10%) so you can skip the tofu/meat if you like.

soba noodles
broccoli
tofu/chicken/beef
other veggies (shiitaki mushrooms, cabbage, cauliflower, whatever floats your boat)
soy sauce/hoisin sauce/teriyaki sauce/whatever you like

Steam the broccoli and brown your protein of choice in a pan/wok. set aside.

Bring water to a boil, add noodles, and cook 3-5 minutes.

Drain the noodles and toss in your other ingredients and the desired amount of sauce. You don't need much because the noodles have tons of flavor, though not at all overpowering.

I served it with bean sprouts and the green of some green onions on top.

The noodles stick together like crazy. It doesn't bother me and I don't know if it's avoidable (without oiling them down heavily).

I used hoisin sauce tonight. When I first had it, the person who made it used garlic and Soy Vei!

Stir-Fry

This isn't so much a recipe as a technique. I've become obsessed with this. All you need is veggies, protein, soy sauce, cooking spray, and sesame oil. It's delicious! The sesame oil makes it so yummy and fancy tasting. I've tried cooking with it and it seems to weaken its flavor. So, I just drizzle it on veggies with soy sauce. If you're Colin, you'll skip the extra soy sauce and sesame oil and just drown the whole thing with Sriracha.

Ingredients
1 lb tofu, frozen in its package, and then thawed in the fridge
1 pkg Bird's Eye asparagus stir-fry mix, or any veggies you want
1 cup frozen french-cut green beans, used to stretch the more expensive asparagus pkg
1 cup rice, cooked according to instructions
cooking spray
soy sauce
sesame oil

Directions
Spray wok or pan with cooking spray. Let get hot, high or medium high heat. Add tofu and brown on both sides. Splash with soy sauce, to taste.

Add frozen veggies. Stir around until cooked through. Splash with more soy sauce. Stir.

Serve stir-fry mixture over rice. Drizzle lightly with sesame oil. Add soy sauce to taste. Enjoy!!!