FRIED RICE
09 feb 2006

so here's the thing: i realized at work today that i absolutely had to do this week's recipe today, as tomorrow is brian's CD release & saturday i'll be in kirksville with him for another show, & then it's NEXT WEEK already, & come on, man, i've got a schedule to stick to! sheesh.

other dishes up for consideration, mostly found while browsing allrecipes.com during my half-hour lunch break, included: some kind of yellow curry & broccoli, sweet potato cornbread, frittatas, macaroni & cheese, some kind of pasta (oh wait but yesterday!), cheesecake. but then i got home & flipped through my Moosewood Restaurant Cooks at Home & saw i'd dog-eared a fried rice page, & daniel said that he'd been craving some kind of rice dish ANYWAY, so we were off to schnucks to get a bunch of overpriced oils & some vegetables. thank god for last minute choices!

INGREDIENTS
1 tablespoon grated fresh ginger root
4 garlic cloves, minced or pressed
1/4 cup soy sauce
2 tablespoons rice vinegar or cider vinegar
2 teaspoons molasses or brown sugar
2 tablespoons dark sesame oil
1/2 teaspoon chili paste, or splash of chili oil (optional)
1 cake tofu (about 3/4 pound)
3 tablespoons peanut oil or vegetable oil
2 medium red or green bell peppers, cut into thin strips
6 ounces snow peas, stemmed (about 2 cups)
1/4 cup water
4 cups cooked brown rice
2/3 cup chopped scallions
chopped toasted almonds (optional)

METHOD
in a shallow nonreactive bowl, mix together the marinade ingredients [everything through chili oil]. cut the tofu into strips 1 inch long, 1/2 inch wide, & about 1/2 inch thick. add the tofu strips to the marinade & stir gently, using a rubber spatula to avoid breaking the tofu. marinate for about 10 minutes.

prepare all of the remaining ingredients & have them at hand before starting to stir-fry.

heat a wok or large skillet. swirl the oil around the wok, add the peppers, & stir-fry for 3 to 5 minutes on medium-high heat. add the snow peas & water & continue to stir-fry, uncovered, until the water evaporates & the snow peas are crisp & begining to puff up. using a slotted spoon, remove the tofu from the marinade & add it to the wok. stir for a moment, hten add the rice & heat thoroughly. pour on the marinade, add the scallions, & stir.

serve immediately, garnished with chopped almonds if you like.

DEVIATIONS & OBSERVATIONS

have you noticed how often i start this section with "i hate X" or "i hate Y" ..? well as a big old DUH, i'm picky! christ. let it go.

so i bought some speciality medium-grain sticky rice b/c, as i discovered during last week's chana masala fiasco, good rice really does make a difference (the basmati rice was delicious). & i will tell you this: eff your uncle ben's minute rice shit, b/c this is where it's at.

other things i did differently: added broccoli, halved the snow peas, 86ed the green bell pepper, used way less tofu (daniel doesn't like it), oh, & i scrambled an egg on the side of the wok after i'd cooked the vegetables b/c doesn't fried rice usually have egg in it? the hell?

but holy COW, this was a good marinade. & i almost always mess up tofu when i make it, but i just got extra-firm & crossed my fingers & it didn't fall apart! & it tasted really really good! & it was made even better by the fact that i didn't have to chop any of the vegetables b/c daniel did it all while i did the tofu & the rice.

anyway, i believe we finally have our first OMGSNAX! success story. & imagine this, i owe it all to moosewood!

"Fried Rice" from Moosewood Restaurant Cooks at Home: Fast and Easy Recipes for Any Day by The Moosewood Collective, © 1994.