We recently have gotten a Fresh Market grocery in our town, and man have I fallen in love! They have high quality produce, a great meat/seafood department, and pretty much always have those hard to find ingredients, or allergy free alternatives. Since the husband doesn't do dairy, and I don't do bread and avoid gluten, a trip to the fresh market happens about once a week. Every week, they offer a $20 meal deal. It's basically a meal idea with several options to feed four people for just $20. It's called Thursday Little Big Meal. (click link for more details.) Any who- they give you options to put together your own meal. Now, mind you- my thrifty shopping, I could have probably put together a very similar meal for less than the $20, but for the convenience factor of having everything already chopped, cut, packaged etc- it was worth the $20. This week it was Chinese stir fry! And if you know me, I love Chinese food, and love cooking it even more. The flavors and fun combinations of meats and vegetables never leaves me bored. So in a nut shell, for my $20 I got: Bag of white rice, 1 lb peeled and de-veined large shrimp, pre-assembled veggie pack (broccoli, asparagus, snow peas, onions, peppers, cabbage....), package of Saffron Road simmer Sauce ( I chose the Korean Stir fry), and a dessert- Peach Pie!!! As an add-on I had planned on making my own vegetable egg rolls, however that plan was severely thwarted when the store I stopped by was out of stock of the egg roll wrappers (WHAT!?!? I KNOW!!!) and I didn't have time to run across town to another store- poor planning on my part, but it was a last minute idea. So forgive me... the eggs rolls were Chung's Vegetable Egg Rolls. I also wanted to make sure the stir fry was protein packed, so in addition to the shrimp, I threw in some sauteed chicken. Well, enough talk- lets cook!!!
*** NOTE: You don't have to have the fancy little big meal kit to make this! I'm going to break it down ingredient by ingredient ****
Ingredient list:
1 lb shrimp- peeled before cooking
1 large chicken breast cut into strips or several tenders (you will cut into smaller bites after cooking)
1 cup chopped broccoli/florets
1/2 sliced onion (what ever sized pieces you want)
1 cup snow peas
asparagus spears (cut into 2 inch pieces- you really could omit this)
1 cup chopped cabbage- I left mine in larger pieces b/c it will wilt/shrink when you cook it)
1 sliced/chopped pepper (red, green, orange- doesn't matter)
** other options: bamboo shoots, water chestnuts, thinly sliced carrot, tofu, thinly sliced potato, Bean sprouts etc...**
sesame oil- you will use approx 2 tbsp for each saute session (or vegetable oil if you wish)
1 package Saffron road simmer sauce (or any teriyaki/soy/ginger sauce or glaze)
1 lb package of white rice
3 eggs
package of Chung's Egg Rolls or use this Vegetable Egg Roll Recipe
First- consult your rice packaging and see how long it says it takes the rice to cook. I don't know how many times I've messed up and cooked everything first, then had to wait around for the rice to be done. My rice took 30 minutes- so make sure to plan accordingly.
Second- consult the egg roll package/ recipe and determine how long it will take you to assemble/cook your egg rolls. If they are cooked in the oven, you can do this while other things are cooking. If you choose the homemade route- I suggest making and frying those first and placing the the oven/microwave to keep warm.
Now don't be overwhelmed- It looks like a lot, but really it's just a bunch of sauteing.
- Saute the chicken first. Add sesame or vegetable oil to large skillet or wok and cook chicken strips until internal temp of 165 is reached. I added no additional seasoning at this point. Cut into bite sized pieces and set aside (keep warm).
- Peel/de-vein/cut tails off shrimp. Add sesame or vegetable oil to wok and cook until bright orange/pink in color. Again- no additional seasoning was added at this point. Remove from skillet/wok and set aside)
- Add sesame or vegetable oil to skillet/wok for a third time. Dump in all vegetables and stir until they are mixed well. Continue to cook and stir often until all vegetables are cooked. (you may place a cover on the skillet/wok if you like to "steam" the vegetables).
- When the vegetables are cooked, add in your shrimp and chicken. Mix thoroughly.
- Now add sauce. Again mix until all ingredients are covered with sauce. Be gentle when mixing. I used a soft spatula, and used more of a "folding" or "turning" technique rather than a "stir" or "mix". (I hope that makes sense- basically, you just don't want to create vegetable mash!).
- When the sauce begins to bubble you are done with your stir fry! (cover and set aside)
Now, I've gotten pretty good at multi-cooking- meaning cooking two things at once so that everything is ready at the same time. So while the stir fry was doin' it's thing, I began working on the rice.
- Once the rice has steamed, add some oil or butter- your choice- to a large skillet, and when melted/warm add the rice.
- Make a hole in the middle of the rice and crack the eggs straight into the skillet. Let eggs cook for a bit and then begin to fold/turn the rice in the skillet, mixing the egg throughout the rice.
- Continue to turn/cut/flip the rice until the egg is cooked.
- Add any garlic, soy sauce, shrimp sauce etc you would like to season the rice with and continue to cook. When the seasonings are thoroughly mixed and the egg is cooked your rice is done.
It seems like a lot- but I trust you can manage! It's all about proper preparation and time management. Plan out the order in which you want to cook each part of your dish and then attack! Multi-cooking can be quite fun! When everything is ready, plate and serve. Enjoy!
No comments:
Post a Comment