Column: Great Date Plates; Fake Asian food that’s real good
Just to let you know, this is not real Asian food. However, this makes sense because I am not a real Asian person. Well, that may be arguable, depending on whom you ask. At any rate, I learned how to make fried rice last year from someone and the next day, I decided to tweak it a bit to fit my tastes. The stir fry I’ve known how to make since I was in high school is quick, easy and very tasty. It’s also considerably cheaper than buying those frozen meal packages.
Chicken Fried Rice
Ingredients:
Jasmine rice
Vegetable oil
Soy sauce (don’t use any brand besides Kikkoman and trust me on that)
Chopped carrots
Peas
Chopped onion (you can buy this frozen and that makes your life much easier)
Cooked chicken, broken into small pieces
Scrambled eggs *Cooking tip: you don’t need much egg – maybe one egg per person. So scramble them in a bowl, pour them into the pan and scramble them ’til they’re kind of dry and broken up into small pieces.*
Directions:
If you have a rice cooker then you’re golden – just pop the rice in. Otherwise, you can cook it on the stovetop and follow the directions on the package. Once the rice is done, pour some vegetable oil in your largest frying pan (if you have a wok that’s perfect). Start with a smaller amount – once you pour the rice in (as much as you want for the meal) you can add more, but you certainly don’t want your fried rice to be dripping with oil. Fry the rice up a bit and add the remaining ingredients. You shouldn’t need any salt because soy sauce is naturally salty, but check to make sure it fits your tastes.
Stir Fry
Ingredients:
Chicken, cooked and cubed
Teriyaki sauce (don’t buy a marinade – that’s got a little bit of a different consistency and flavor than you want)
Stir fry veggies (Mann’s bagged vegetables makes specifically “California Stir-Fry” veggies, but if you want to buy your own, I recommend sugar snap peas, carrots, celery, broccoli, etc.)
Bamboo shoots (these can be bought in the Asian foods aisle and come in a small can)
Water chestnuts (just like the bamboo shoots – I prefer sliced)
Directions:
Fry up your veggies in a little bit of oil (use as little as possible), add the chicken and pour your teriyaki sauce over it all. Cover the pan and let it simmer for a little bit (make sure you don’t over cook the veggies or they’ll get limp and mushy). Buy some fake chopsticks and fake fortune cookies and you’ve got yourself one fabulous, authentically fake Chinese meal.
Mary Carman is a senior in American studies and would love your recipes.
E-mail her at
mkimbercarma@cc.usu.edu.