This Sriracha fried rice is vegetarian, but you can easily make it meaty by adding fresh or leftover chicken, pork, or shrimp.
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Right now asparagus stalks are looking mighty fine at the Greenmarket, so this is my fried rice du jour.
Read MoreRemember my Thai Basil Sangria post from a couple months ago, in which I became excited by the prospect of being able to grow herbs indoors during the winter? Well, that excitement might have been premature.
In early November sun was still streaming in through the windows for 8+ hours a day. It was still warm enough that I was able to crack open the window to let in fresh air. Not anymore, on both accounts. And my window plants, consequently, have been fading, even with religious watering.
All my herbs, including the Thai basil plant that was so lively before, are nearing the end. So for lunch one day, I decided to use up as much of it as possible while it was still somewhat healthy. I didn't want to trek to the store to pick up curry paste, so this Thai basil chicken fried rice was the answer. And it made me wonder why I didn't make fried rice with Thai basil more often. I used up not only most of the basil but also some leftover chicken in the fridge. Best of all, I spent only 5 minutes in front of the stove for a very tasty lunch.
Read MoreWell! How about that Halloween snow storm! I'm pretty disappointed in how fast autumn just flew by this year, especially since my hectic schedule these past couple of months with my book and trip to China left little time to fully enjoy my favorite season. There was no apple picking this year. No pumpkin carving. No lazy weekend days of making pies and breads and pandowdies.
Fortunately, then, for the Manhattan and Brooklyn farmer's markets. They may be much more crowded and expensive than, say, a roadside farmer's stand off a country road, but they still offer a whiff of all the niceness fall has to offer. Plus, the markets are outdoors year-round, which leads me to acknowledge that if the vendors can work outdoors for 8 to 10 hours straight, I too can get through these long months of cold weather (i.e. I'd be a total wimp to not venture outside to pick up onions, or my dry-cleaning.)
I meant to post this before Halloween but didn't get a chance to until now. I had picked up a sugar pumpkin from the Grand Army Plaza Greenmarket a few weeks ago and wanted to do something other than make soup. I had some leftover rice in the fridge and scallions that needed to be used up, so I decided to throw together a pumpkin fried rice.
Read MoreRemember my last post, when I talked about fried eggs with oyster sauce over rice, the best umami-laden breakfast that takes almost no time to make? Well, I forgot to mention an even quicker one - a fried egg topped with furikake. Or for that matter, plain rice topped with furikake.
Furikake, if you're not familiar with it, is an amazing Japanese seasoning that's made up of dried seaweed flakes, sesame seeds, sugar, and salt. Sometimes there's also bonito flakes, chili flakes, dried salmon, miso powder, or egg powder, depending on the brand and its varieties. It's like having all the flavors of the sea (and then some) in one convenient little glass jar.
So it goes without saying that furikake is also great over fried rice. Yesterday, to take a break from all the recipes I've been fine-tuning for my cookbook, I made a variation of my standard fried rice with edamame instead of green peas. Doing so made me wonder why I don't always make fried rice with edamame. Don't get me wrong. Regular ol' peas are great, but edamame somehow felt more substantial, and I didn't feel the need to add anything else for flavoring except scallions, eggs, and salt and pepper.
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