Spiced Fried Rice

Maybe it's the Korean in me, but something I always have in my pantry is rice.  I have multiple kinds of rice at any given time, as a matter of fact.  Sometimes, when I am really lazy, I will eat a bowl of rice with soy sauce and be completely satisfied.  This is one of the few eating habits my toddler has inherited from me.  It doesn't matter what kind of rice it is, or how it has been prepared, he will eat it.  Even through this toddler-picky-eating phase, I can always count on him to eat rice. 

When Oberon is sick, his picky-eating goes into an all out hunger strike.  I'm lucky if he will eat a bit of fruit and crackers and suck down some juice.  So when he's sick, like he was these past couple of days, I make a large pot of rice for him to eat.  Sometimes he eats it plain, sometimes with some soy sauce, and sometimes I make something delicious with it.  This was one of those times.

I hate giving my kids medicine, and would rather support their bodies in healing themselves when they are sick by giving them food packed with antioxidants and phytonutrients.  For the most part, Oberon really doesn't like herbal teas and oils so I have to be creative with how I incorporate them into his diet.  Thank goodness that herbs and spices are like concentrated vegetables in a sense that they have more phytonutrients and antioxidants ounce for ounce.

I used the rest of our leftover brown rice to whip up a delicious, anti-inflammatory fried rice dish with an array of spices.  I, of course, added onions and garlic to it and seasoned it with soy sauce rather than salt.  Since Oberon survived off of grapes and orange juice for the two days while he was sick, I loaded the rice up with protein by adding peas and veggie protein crumbles. The result was a fragrant rice dish packed full of healing spices, protein, and fiber to help Oberon's tiny body heal and re-nourish itself.  He loved it so much that he scarfed down three bowls of it for lunch.  Even Aurora, my little baby girl, ate two bowls of it.  There wasn't a grain of rice left after lunch was over, so I'd say it was a successful new recipe. 

Recipe

Ingredients:

2 - 3 cups cooked rice (I used brown rice)

1/2 medium onion diced

4 cloves minced garlic

*1/2 tsp each: turmeric, cumin, coriander, curry powder, and cardamom

*1/4 tsp each: cinnamon, allspice, mustard, ginger, black pepper

1 Tbsp olive oil (or whatever oil you normally cook with)

2 Tbsp water (give or take)

soy sauce to taste, around 1 Tbsp ( I actually didn't measure)

1 cup frozen peas

1/2 cup veggie crumbles (optional) 

*you can use 1 Tbsp garam masala spice mix in place of all the spices like this one here

Directions:

Heat a non-stick frying pan on medium-high heat.  Add oil to the pan with onions and garlic.  Saute for a few minutes until the onions are translucent.  Throw in your spices and soy sauce and cook out your spices until they are fragrant, about 2 minutes or so.  

Add the rice, peas, veggie crumbles, and water. Cook until everything is heated through, about 5 minutes, stirring occasionally and adding water as needed to keep it from sticking.  You can garnish it with sliced red chilis and cliantro as shown, or just pig out on it as it like my kids did.  

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