Veggie Fried Rice.

Veggies! Rice!

Growing up, we visited my grandparents every weekend and, every weekend, we returned home with containers filled with assorted food. During my middle teenage years, my grandfather became somewhat obsessed with making the perfect vegetable fried rice. Every weekend, a big bowl of his most recent experiment was sent home with an accompanying demand for feedback and suggestions. Once he perfected it, he stopped making it.

And, of course, he didn’t write down the recipe anywhere.

So I was happy to find this recipe on Budget Bytes. It’s not quite what my grandfather made but, with a bit of tweaking, I’m pretty sure I can make it closely resemble his recipe. (Hint number one: sauteed onions!) Also, it’s easy. And delicious.  We had to double the recipe to feed our family (with one single, lonely serving leftover!)

Here’s how I made it:

Veggie Fried Rice

Ingredients:

6 cups cooked rice (leftover would be ideal)

• 4 Tbsp peanut oil
  2 large carrots
  6 cloves garlic (pre-minced in jar)
  2 inch fresh ginger
  2 cups frozen peas
  2 medium bell pepper
  1 bunch green onions
  2 large eggs
  1/2 cup soy sauce (low sodium)
  2 tsp sesame oil

Directions:

1. Make rice if you don’t have any leftover rice kicking around.
2. Dice the carrots and the peppers. Peel and grate the ginger.
3. Add the peanut oil to a large non-stick skillet/wok and heat over medium/high heat until the oil is very hot. Add the garlic, ginger, and diced carrots. Stir and cook for about 5 minutes (until carrots are slightly tender).
4. Add the peppers and frozen peas and cook for another 2-3 minutes. Dump all the veggies into a large bowl.
5. Add the rice into the empty wok and stir fry for a few minutes. Make a well in the middle of the rice and add the eggs. Slightly scramble the eggs as they cook. Try to cook the eggs in large chunks.
6. Once the egg has fully cooked, add the rice and the cooked vegetables. Stir in the green onions. Add the soy sauce and sesame oil gradually, tasting as you go to make sure it’s not too strongly flavouring the rice. Cook until heated. Eat.

Creme Eggs.

Sweet and tasty!

I am 38 years old and I still love Cadbury Easter Creme Eggs. I am also a huge life-long fan of Laura Secord Easter Eggs. This recipe is basically a combination of the two.

I found the recipe here.

For my own records, here’s how I adapted it slightly (and, below, some notes on what I’d do differently next time).

Creme Eggs

Makes about 15 eggs.

1/2 cup Lyle’s golden syrup
6 tablespoons butter, softened
½ teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon vanilla bean paste
1 teaspoon vanilla
3 cups powdered sugar
small blob of yellow gel food colouring
6 ounces semi-sweet chocolate chips
6 ounces milk chocolate chips

Directions:

1. Cream together butter, golden syrup, salt, vanilla bean paste, and vanilla extract in stand mixer.
2. Mix on medium and make sure to scrape down the sides repeatedly.
3. Turn the mixer to low and slowly add the powdered sugar. Mix until completely smooth, scraping down the sides of the bowl as necessary.
4. Place 1/4 of the mixture into a small bowl and add enough yellow food coloring gel to obtain your desired color. Cover both bowls with plastic wrap and put into the freezer for at least 15 minutes; your mixture must be very cold while you work with it.
5. When the sugar mixture is thoroughly chilled, remove from the freezer.  Make small balls out of the yellow mixture. Place them on a bit of parchment paper, on a cookie tray, and put them in the freezer.
6. Scoop out blobs of your “whites” and roll them into balls.
7. Remove the yolks from the freezer. Place a white in the palm of your hand and gently flatten it a bit. Press a yolk into the centre and carefully mush the white around to hide the yolk.
8. Continue this process until all your eggs are complete. Return them to the freezer.
9. Microwave the chocolate chips in a large bowl  in 30 second intervals, stirring very well in between.
10. Remove eggs from the freezer and dunk them in the melted chocolate. Place them on parchment paper on a cookie sheet. When they’re all finished, put the tray into the fridge for about 10 minutes to allow the chocolate to set.

 

Notes:
I adjusted this recipe for ease of use – no toothpicks! my eggs are sorta’ round! If I were making this as a gift for someone, I’d probably try harder to make them look like actual eggs.
Next time, I’ll make them much smaller. I think you could easily make 30 eggs out of this recipe.
Next time, I’ll try using homemade icing sugar (better flavour)
Put the mixtures in the freezer for a few minutes any time it gets a bit soft – it’s much easier to work with when it’s harder.
Lyle’s Golden Syrup is available in my grocery store and at the Bulk Barn.