Healthy Fried Rice!

Facts:
I feel like I have been living in a perpetual state of unpacking and re-packing my duffel bag.
~~~
Yesterday, I almost dropped my bus pass in the toilet.
~~~
I have not even begun to get ready for moving (this includes hiring movers).
~~~
I had soup and beer for dinner last night.
~~~
I haven't watered my plant in days... even as I sit here, I am looking at its droopy leaves and thinking "poor little guy... I should probably do something about that."
~~~
AND... someone broke a bottle of wine in the front entryway of my building and did not clean it up in a timely fashion. Now the whole stairway smells like wine. Obviously I have my suspicions.
(*cough*doucheymcneighbor*cough*)


Yet, amidst all this chaos (and laziness) there is order - I present to you... healthy fried rice! An oxymoron in terms, yet it exists here before your very eyes. I know I say this about...almost every recipe I post...but this is one of my favorites. If you're looking to wow your friends, beguile your enemies and impress important people with minimal effort and investment, look no further! It's amazing how a combination of such simple ingredients, thrown together in less than 30 minutes can produce such a delicious result.


This dish is based on a recipe from Ellie Krieger's So Easy cookbook (which is fantastic, by the way) for sesame ginger shrimp. My version contains asparagus and tofu but is otherwise basically the same as Ellie's recipe. The asparagus and tofu were what I had on hand, but you could really use any veggie/protein combo (or meat, or just veggies) as long as the volume is similar. This version of the recipe is vegan!


RECIPE: HEALTHY FRIED RICE WITH CABBAGE

Ingredients:

- 1 Canola Oil
- 1/2 t red pepper flakes
- 1/2 lb extra firm tofu, cut into 1/2ish inch pieces
- 1/2 lb asparagus, cut into 1.5ish inch sections
- 4 Scallions (green and white parts) thinly sliced
- 1 T grated peeled or minced fresh ginger
- 5 Cups thinly sliced green cabbage (cut crosswise into 3 inch pieces)
- 1 T toasted sesame oil
- 4 Cups cold cooked brown rice
- 3 tablespoons soy sauce
- 2 T toasted sesame seeds (you can buy them already toasted, or toast them yourself).

Heat the vegetable oil in a large nonstick skillet/wok over high heat. Add asparagus, tofu, scallions, red pepper flakes and ginger and cook--stirring frequently until the asparagus is almost cooked and the tofu is starting to brown a little.

Add cabbage and continue cooking, stirring occasionally, until it softens but is still a little crisp. Then add soy sauce and cook for another minute or so. Add the rice and sesme oil and cook, stirring until it's heated through (about 3 minutes). Add/stir in the sesame seeds and voila!

Ideally this should be made with rice that is already cold and probably a day or two old. You can make the rice at the same time as everything else, but if you make it this way don't add the rice to the rest of the dish while it is still in the skillet - add the sesame oil and sesame seeds to the cabbage mixture and serve that over the rice. Then, when you store it in the fridge mix everything together - you can re-heat it in a skillet and it will still be just like fried rice :)