Hi everyone! This past week was a big cooking week for me. The first dish that I dared to tackle was fried rice. When I think of a typical fried rice, not only do I think of a classic, salty, savory flavor, but also I think of how oily and fatty it tastes. Since this is some of my friend’s favorite food (also one of mine), I was compelled to try and make it healthier.
I started off by changing the type of rice used. Instead of white rice, I decided to use brown rice. White rice can increase the chances of getting breast cancer, and also does not contain the nutrients that brown rice contains. For example, brown rice has more than double the fiber of white rice, as well as a higher level of protein. Although brown rice is a little more caloric, the other nutrients more than make up for the few extra calories.
To the brown rice, I added some chopped scallions, white onion, a small amount of low-fat soy sauce, sea salt, pepper, and baked chicken. I cooked the onions in sesame oil and fresh lemon juice. After combining all the ingredients together, I placed the fried rice in an aluminum pan, and baked it in the oven. This helped to give the rice a bit of a crunch – imitating the small bits of crunch in regular fried rice.
When I brought my rice to school, people were a little bit surprised. I think that people will sometimes forget that I also cook, because I am usually just baking. Many people tried my rice, and their responses were priceless. Everyone thought that it was delicious! They thought that the flavor imitated normal fried rice very closely, with some even saying that my “fried” rice had a better flavor than normal fried rice. My favorite reaction was when two of my friends actually took the pan away from me, and ate the rice directly from the pan. They were practically licking the pan.
I also tasted my rice, and I thought that the flavor was also great! I could not really tell a difference from Chinese takeout fried rice, and I would absolutely make this recipe again. I would certainly call this recipe transformation a success.
Picture Citation: Ford, Molly. “An Excuse to Order Delivery Tonight and More.” Community Table , 16 May 2014, communitytable.parade.com/294131/mollyford/an-excuse-to-order-delivery-tonight-and-more/.
Recipe:
1 cup cooked brown rice
4 tbsp. chopped scallions
1 onion
2 tsp. Pepper
2 tsp. Salt
3/4 cup baked chicken
2 eggs, scrambled
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