Fried rice is one of my favourite things. Not wasting leftovers is another of my favourite things. Christmas is a time when we tend to over cater in my household, and coming up with new ways of using the leftovers is a fun post Christmas game. This fried rice is super tasty, full of veg and can use up a tonne of left over bits and pieces in your fridge.
Well maybe not an actual tonne. But, you can use leftover glazed ham if you had a leg of it as part of your Christmas spread, you can also use leftover salad vegetables or even chop up cooked carrots and add leftover peas as the vegetables. obviously if you’re using peas there’s no need to dice! You can also use any leftover rice or perhaps even quinoa?
The ‘salad’ topping this is super simple and lends a nice crisp freshness to the rice. If you don’t have leftover ham, or are a vegetarian, just use a teaspoon or two of olive oil instead and leave it out entirely. The great thing about fried rice is that it’s an excellent vehicle for both flavour and vegetables, by upping the vegetable content you can also make a small amount of meat and rice go quite far.
Serves 4
Ingredients
2 cups cooked brown rice
2 cups finely diced vegetables (I like a mix of cabbage, mushrooms, and carrots)
200g ham, diced
2 eggs
1/2 cup spring onion
1 Tbs finely diced coriander stem or root
1 birds eye chilli finely diced
1 tsp fish sauce
1 tsp soy sauce
few drops sesame oil
1/2 cup coriander
1 lebanese cucumber, quartered lengthways then sliced into 1.5cm chunks
1 lime, quartered
Directions
Lightly beat eggs with 1/2 the fish sauce. Put a pan on hight heat, once hot add the ham, chilli, 1/2 the spring onion and the coriander stems. Cook, stirring frequently until the ham starts to caramelise, if using a leg of ham you won’t need oil as it will have some fat on it, if using a leaner cut you may need to add oil if it is sticking.
After 2 minutes add the rice, cook stirring until it begins to colour, then push the rice, ham and spring onion to one side of your pan. Add the egg to the now bare half and leave to just set, then break up and mix with the rice and ham. Add the finely diced vegetables, tamari, sesame oil and remaining fish sauce. Continue to cook until the rice starts to get a little crispy.
Serve in bowls, topped with the remaining spring onion, the coriander and a wedge of lime.
HH. x
