Quick and not from a box

[dar512]

There have been a couple of posts mentioning that they manage to make quick meals from scratch. By way of encouraging others to share, I present a meal that my family likes and I can put together in ~ 20 minutes.

Stir Fry

Start a batch of Really Good Rice (see below). Cut up some chicken, beef or pork into bite sized pieces. Heat a wok to medium. Add a tablespoon or so of oil (I like peanut oil but suite yourself). Add the meat and stir. When the meat has browned add a half bag (or so) of frozen oriental vegetables. Sprinkle on a generous amount of Kikkoman Teriyaki sauce. Continue stirring until the vegetables are heated but still crisp. Serve over the good rice along with soy sauce or more teriyaki if desired.

Really Good Rice

Start with a good quality long-grain rice. If you bought it from your local grocery store, it's probably not very good. I really like Jasmine rice, but Basmati is well thought of, too. Try your local Asian or Indian grocery.

Use a large pot. Add ~ 1.5 cups of water. (You'll have to experiment - fresher rice needs less water - but start with 1.5 cups) Rinse 1 cup of rice. I use a big honkin strainer and swish it around under the tap for bit.

Let the excess water drip off then dump the rice in the pot. Stir the rice to evenly distribute it in the pot. Cover and turn the heat to simmer. In 12-15 minutes you'll have some really good rice. It's done when all the water is absorbed.

Do not stir the rice after covering. Little pockets will form in the rice where the water boils up. You want that to happen and you ruin it if you stir things up. Just leave it alone until it's done.

Once you've done this a couple of times, it takes only 16 or 17 minutes to make good rice.