Pineapple Fried Rice

Recently when dinner time draws near, I've had a hard time to come up with an exciting meal idea. Yesterday afternoon after I went back and forth a couple times with my family on what was for dinner, fried rice was finally decided. It was almost 6 o'clock, so I removed myself from the couch and set to start dinner. Good thing I have instant brown rice in the fridge to cut down the cooking time.

1/2 cup unprepared instant brown rice

This is probably one serving worth.

Olive oil
1 teaspoon chopped garlic
1/3 cup chopped onions
1 medium carrot, sliced
1 green onion, chopped
2 tablespoons cilantro, chopped
4 eggs, beaten
1/3 cup roasted lightly salted cashews
2/3 cup diced red bell pepper
2/3 cup diced yellow bell pepper
12 pineapple chunks
2 tablespoons raisins
Tamari sauce or salt and pepper to taste

Prepare the instant brown rice in the microwave according to the package instructions. At the same time, chop the other ingredients and beat the eggs. Heat a large skillet or wok with olive oil in, put garlic, onions, carrots and white parts of the green onion in until the onions are translucent. Then put the green parts of the green onions and cilantro in. I don't like the green parts of the vegetables get overcooked. Dump the rice then stir in the eggs. Season with either Tamari sauce or salt and pepper to your taste. I put about 1 heaping tablespoon of Tamari sauce. When the eggs set in, add the cashews, bell peppers, pineapple pieces and the raisins. Mix everything well to serve.

Some fresh basil would be an excellent ingredient for this too. But I didn't have it on hand, so I used cilantro instead.

I used Uncle Ben instant brown rice. I like the texture of it, not as chewy like the regular brown rice, or as mushy like the instant white rice. I just bought some store brand kind but haven't tried it yet. We shall see how it'll turn out when I try it next. Don't forget to store the brown rice in the fridge after the package is opened.

Bon Appetit!

Quinoa Burger Patties

It was a Sunday afternoon. I was trying to figure out what to make for dinner. My family was not much of help, one said "French Toast" as usual, another said "Soup" (didn't sound too good on a warm day)... So once again, I turned to the good old internet for answer. I had quinoa in mind and was wondering what else I could do with it beside the usual cooking method. Inspired by the quinoa burger patties recipe on epicurious.com, I decided to make my own version. It's a simple one. Here is how I did it.

The first batch of the patties.

Makes about 8 patties

1/2 cup uncooked quinoa
2 to 3 tablespoons cilantro, chopped
1 to 2 skinny stalks green onion, chopped
1 egg + 1 tablespoon egg white or water
1 cup bread crumbs (about a slice of bread)
roughly 1/2 cup shredded cheese*
2 tablespoons Tamari sauce*
2 teaspoons Italian salad dressing*
Black pepper to taste

* I used Organic Valley Mild Cheddar cheese. This cheese is pretty mild, so it doesn't overpower the flavors of the other ingredients, but you can use a stronger kind if you prefer some cheesy taste. On the dressing, I used Newman's Own Lite Italian Dressing. The tamari sauce was the low sodium kind. You may substitute it with soy sauce.

Cook quinoa with liquid ratio of 2:1 (2 liquid and 1 quinoa that is). I used 1/2 cup of water and 1/2 cup of vegetable broth as my liquid combo. Bring the quinoa to a rapid boil then turn down the heat and simmer for about 10 to 15 minutes or until all the liquid is absorbed. When done, the grain appears soft and translucent and the germ ring will be visible along the outside edge of the grain. Sorry I didn't measure how much 1/2 cup uncooked quinoa made after it was cooked.

Put the cooked quinoa into a mixing bowl to cool a bit. Meanwhile, chop up the cilantro and green onion; tear up some bread. Mix them in the quinoa, then add the cheese and the egg. I added extra egg white to make the mixture give more moisture and adhesiveness for the patties. You can add water instead if you don't have egg white readily on hand to use. Or you can just dump another whole egg in it. I happened to have a small carton of egg white in the fridge. Personally I don't like to crack an extra egg just to use the white or yolk. You'll need some extra moisture for the cooking process, otherwise the patties will be too dry. You can adjust the amount of bread crumbs and egg white or water whichever you choose as you go along.

Add the remaining ingredients and mix them well. Form patties about 2 to 2 1/2 inches diameter and 1/2 inch thick. The mixture make about 8 patties. Heat up the skillet with some olive oil and put the patties in over medium-low heat, cook about 6 minutes or until the bottom sides are sturdy enough to be flipped over. By the time the patties are flippable, the bottoms are probably browned adequately. Then cook the other side until golden brown as well.

When I cook any kind of patties, balls or whatnot that contain raw eggs or meat in the mixture, I'm always afraid that they aren't cooked all the way through enough, so I tend to cook them with the lid on at a low cooking temperature for a little while and check to make sure it's not burned or overcooked. Sometimes I also add a tiny bit of water. That way the bottoms won't get burned easily and the whole thing get cooked through.

The flavor of the patties turned out to be surprisingly delicious. It was savory but light. Hubby usually is not a big fan of quinoa but he loved the patties. The kids liked them too. We had avocado slices and zucchini fries with it in a bun. Quite a burger, wouldn't you say? Yum yum!

The latest quinoa burger meal, with corn.

On a side note, you could make the patties in different shapes with cookie cutters; just to make it more interesting to eat for kids.