Leftovers in the fridge. No problem at all, these days everything is used up, repurposed and reinvented in creative ways! In a way, we are going back to the way we were. My mom used to cook lovely meals and when I think back now, most of them were zero waste. There are so many examples I can give. She would buy dudhi (bottle gourd), one meal would be a curry or a dessert made with the gourd and another meal would have a stir fry with the skin of the gourd and potatoes beautifully cut like matchsticks and seasoned to perfection. Or she would buy plantains to make chips for our large family. The day after, she would make a tasty preparation with the skins. Anyway, back to my menu for tonight. Both my husband and I enjoy Asian food, but since we are in self isolation mode (due to COVID19), going out to eat is out of question. Have been seeing a lot of posts of Asian food, so I decided to make it too. Tonight I made a spicy tangy cauliflower Manchurian and a Chicken fried rice. I had some left over Tandoori chicken lying in the fridge so I decided why not just use that in the fried rice. So leftover Tandoori met leftover rice and got stir fried in the wok with fresh veggies that I got yesterday. In went some seasonings, sauces and wow, I must say it turned out pretty darn good!!
Recipe
Ingredients:
2 - 3 tbsp gluten free baking flour Bob's Red Mill Natural Foods
2 tbsp arrowroot starch
4 cups cauliflower florets (I added florets from one whole medium sized cauliflower)
oil for frying
2 tbsp tomato ketchup
1 tbsp Sriracha (more of you like it spicier)
1/2 small red onion diced
some diced red and green peppers
1 tsp ginger garlic paste
1/2 tsp red chili powder (or more if you like )
1 Tbsp soya sauce
hoisin sauce (optional)
salt and pepper
Steps:
Mix the flour and starch with some salt and pepper and Chilli pd and add water to make a thick batter.
Coat the florets in the batter.
Heat the oil and add the florets.
Fry until they are slightly golden brown and mildly crispy.
Take them out and drain them on a paper towel.
In a separate pan, heat 2 tsp oil.
Add ginger garlic paste and onion and fry till onion turns translucent.
Add the Bell pepper and stir fry.
Add the sauce and ketchup, some salt to taste and red chili powder.
Add a Tbsp of soya sauce. I also added a little Hoisin sauce.
Mix well until the sauce starts to thicken.
Add the fried florets and coat them well.
Sauté for a couple mins.
Turn off the heat and garnish with coriander. Serve hot.
Accompaniment to meal:
Chicken fried rice
As I mentioned it is Asian inspired. I didn’t have soy sauce, I remembered I had some small soy sauce and hot sauce packets from some previous takeouts, and used them. (I have added it to my next Instacart order) The recipe just organically fell in place. Here’s how I made it.
Steps:
In a wok, heated little oil, added some garlic, and next sliced onions and sautéed till translucent.
Next I added broccoli, stir fried and next in went some diced red and green bell peppers and green onions.
Next I added in soy sauce, sriracha, and some hoisin sauce and also mixed in shredded cabbage.
Stir fry some more till the cabbage cooks to your satisfaction, I like it crunchy, but cooked, next the tandoori chicken is added and heated through. ( this is not the normal recipe I use. I just used ingredients I had on hand)
Lastly, I added in the cooked rice, salt and pepper and mixed it and adjusted the flavors. You can taste and add per your palate.
There you go, Chicken fried rice is ready to eat
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