Delicious pak choi. Photo from www.sxc.hu

Continuing our occasional series on quick and easy midweek dinners, here’s one for the Asian storecupboard.

A healthy fallback, a quick and delicious dinner, and a good way of using what you have: stir-fries to the rescue. Lately I’ve been experimenting with some very simple variations, and I’ve hit on a few winners.

Egg Fried Rice with Spinach and Pak Choi

Serves four

Pak choi, surprisingly, grows extremely well in Irish weather and is so delicious in any Chinese-style dish. You could vary this recipe in many ways – perhaps omitting the spinach or adding beanspouts and  asparagus – but I’d definitely recommend keeping the egg.

Rice can be tricky to cook, so I follow as much of Delia’s fool-proof instructions as possible. Stirring the rice, it seems, is the path to destruction: this will make it starchy and sticky.

Do you have an amazing stir-fry recipe?

Ingredients

• About 250g basmati or non-stick rice, covered with 500ml salted water
• 1 pak choi, chopped
• 1 onion, chopped
• 1 clove of garlic, chopped
• 1 inch ginger, finely chopped
• 1 red chilli (optional), chopped
• 2 eggs, beaten with a dash of water and a dash of milk
• A handful of frozen peas
• 150g spinach, washed
• Soy sauce, to taste
• A tablespoon of mirin or rice wine vinegar (or white wine vinegar as a substitute)
• Sesame or sunflower oil

Method

• Boil the rice according to the packet instructions, or use old leftover rice. Separate the grains using your fingers or a fork, this will prevent the rice sticking.
• Make an omelette from the beaten egg: pour some sesame oil or sunflower oil in a pan, heat, and add the egg. It will cook in about a minute. Remove from the pan and chop roughly.
• Add the onions to the pan and fry in sesame/ sunflower oil for 2 minutes, stirring.
• Add the garlic, ginger and chilli, and stir for another minute
• Add the spinach. When it is beginning to wilt, add the pak choi, peas, soy sauce and mirin, and cook for a minute.
• Tip the drained rice into the pan and stir well for another 2-3 minutes.
• Serve: there, a foolproof stir fry using fridge and (mostly) store cupboard ingredients

Related posts:

1. Wednesday Wind-Down: Simple Stir Fry
2. Wednesday Wind-down: Green Omelette/ Frittata
3. Wednesday Wind Down: Salmon Ramen