Recipe: Rice w/ veggies & soy sauce

The other day I got to cooking again, as I started working again. When I cook meals that I eat after I get home from work, I like to eat quick and simple things. Rice, pastas, lasagnas and quiches are my favorites to make. These dishes are usually pretty quick & easy to make, are versatile and tasty, and you can make a lot of it, which is ideal for me as I chuck everything into my freezer and heat it up in the microwave after work. This not only saves time, but also makes for healthy, homecooked meals and thus saves money on take out. Here is what I made this time round:

This is a very simply rice & veggie stir fry with some soy sauce. It’s very versatile: you can change up the ingredients to your liking or leave things out (the eggs and the sesame seeds for instance). I completely eyeball these kind of dishes, so play around with the quantities. You can add more or less of the ingredients as you like.

Ingredients:

– wild/ whole grain rice

– courgette/ zucchini (1/2)

– corn (fresh on the cob or from a can)

– red bell pepper

– leak (1/2)

– mushrooms (1/2 a pack)

– 2 eggs (optional)

– soy sauce

– some herbs (I used cajun pepper, coriander, sesame seeds, dill. But you can also add some ginger or even cashew nuts to give a different texture to the dish)

Preparation:

– put some water in a pan and boil the rice.

– take a frying pan/ skillet and fry the 2 eggs. Put on a plate and set aside to cool.

– take another frying pan/ skillet and add the veggies in the following order: leak, courgette, red bell pepper, corn, mushrooms.

– Add some herbs & stir.

– Cut the fried eggs into small pieces and add to veggie mixture.

– When your rice is done cooking, drain and add to the veggie mixture.

– Stir well and add some soy sauce. You can add as much as you like. I mainly use this to make the rice look darker and add some more flavor.

Tip #1: Wait a few minutes between each veggie when putting them into the pan, this way everything will be evenly cooked. I like to cut my veggies while cooking and not before I start. Just don’t put the heat on too high and you should prevent yourself from burning your veggies.

Tip #2: Don’t like soy sauce, but you want to darken your rice? Use a tea bag (regular breakfast tea or earl grey will do) and add this to the boiling water. The tea will color your rice, but won’t change the flavor.

Tip #3: To take the corn off the cob you simply take a sharp knife and cut the corn from the center. Just start at the top and firmly cut your way down. It helps to do this in some kind of container as the corn will fly into every direction if you don’t. Also: it’s easier to cut the corn from the cob when the corn is already slightly cooked. You can cook it in the microwave or put them in the frying pan you used to fry the eggs. Just put a lid on it and you should be able to see the corn change to a darker color. That’s when it’s cooked.

Eet smakelijk! (Dutch for enjoy your meal)