Thai Fried Rice

Now that I look at my excuses for not posting, they don't sound quite as good as I thought they did. Today we finally had some decent weather. Up until last weekend we were still getting tons of snow but today it is up into the 50s. It was so nice out that we had to get outside as soon as we got home. Immediately after dinner Kay and I went for a walk and it seemed that everyone was outside. Finally we were able to talk to our neighbors after not seeing anyone for months. So why is it with this nice weather, I'm finding time to post but for the past month when we've been snowed in, I couldn't be bothered? I have no idea!

Here is the recipe that I mentioned that we all loved. This is not what we had tonight. Tonight's meal was really good too, in my opinion. Kay wasn't too thrilled with it. I might take a picture of it and sneak it on here anyway because it was really good and. even though she said she didn't like it, she didn't complain too much. That always makes me think that she just doesn't want to admit that it was good! So you may be seeing that in the next few days.

Anyway, back to this recipe. It takes some pre-planning because you need cold cooked rice. But as long as you have that in the fridge, you can pull this together really quickly. Also, I feel I need to point out that this is not a vegetarian recipe because it has fish sauce in it. I know that this will get me shunned out of the vegetarian community but I just can't find anything that gives that same flavor. So kill me.

Thai Fried Rice

4 cups cook rice, chilled

1/2 brick tofu, cut into 8 strips and dusted in flour

1 cup broccoli flowerettes, fresh or frozen

8 cloves garlic

1 tablespoon fresh cilantro

1/4 cup fish sauce

1/8 cup soy sauce

1 T brown sugar

1 teaspoon ground pepper

1 cup diced carrots

1 cup diced onion

3 egg whites

2 T canola oil

1/4 cup chopped green onions

Spray a small skillet with oil. Cook the tofu dusted with flour for a few minutes on each side until browned.

Remove the tofu from the pan. Spray it again and cook the broccoli until brown.

Chop the garlic in a small processor (or just put it through a press) and then blend in the cilantro.

Combine the fish sauce, soy sauce, brown sugar and ground pepper in a small bowl.

Heat the oil in a wok over high heat. Swirl to cover the wok surface. Add the carrots, onion, and cilantro/garlic mixture. Stir fry 2-3 minutes until the onion starts to soften. Add the tofu and cook 2-3 minutes.

Make a well in the bottom of the wok. Add the egg whites and scramble them. Once they start to set, stir them into the vegetables.

Add the rice. Stir well then press down into the pan. Let set 1-2 minutes. Stir, press down, and let sit for a few minutes more.

Pour the marinade into the wok and mix.

Stir in the broccoli and green onions and heat through.

To each serving, add a spritz of lime juice. (Don't skip this. It really adds a lot.)

Kay: This was pretty good. I like tofu, rice and broccoli so I liked this. There was a taste in there that reminds me of 5 Star (a local Thai restaurant my grandparent's friends own).

Mom (Dana): I know the recipe looks a little overwhelming but it really isn't very hard. It takes longer to explain it than it does to actually make it!