Ingredients
1 cup brown rice, boiled with 1 star anise
2 stalks lemongrass, finely chopped
1 leek, finely chopped
2 spring onions, finely chopped
1 red bell pepper
1 cup sugar snap peas
1 1/2 cups bean sprouts
5 shiitake mushrooms (soaked according to package instructions)
soy and Sriracha sauce to taste
No, the Life is good kitchen has not converted to being a specialty food blog about Asian cuisine (I wish!). However, as my latest culinary excursion into the world of Vietnamese Pho noodle soup had included a trip to an Asian supermarket and left me with all kinds of exotic perishables in my fridge that needed to be used up quickly. For the sakes of economy and ecology, it would have broken my heart to throw it all away, but what to do with the lemongrass, the beansprouts, the sugar snap peas and the shiitake mushrooms?
There's been quite some media coverage lately regarding the waste and throwing away of food, and in my opinion, thinking about how to reduce the amount of wasted food is also part of the concept of mindfulness. Once sensitized to this topic, I noticed that my mom's old cookbooks from the 60s and 70s featured whole chapters with suggestions on how to turn leftovers into whole new dishes - a consideration that is, sadly, completely missing today.
But back to my splurge in the Asian supermarket! Luckily, what stew is for the Western cook, using up all the leftovers and transforming them into something delightful by itself, is fried rice in (wanna-be) Asian cuisine. The more the merrier!
The recipe itself was pretty straightforward and a nice break from the long and elaborate recipes I'd tried during lent. First, I boiled the brown rice with a star anise to give it an extra of flavor. In a large pan (see, if this was turning into a food blog about Asian food, I should at least own a wok!), I began with sauteing the finely chopped lemongrass and spring onions in a little bit of oil. One after the other, I then added the leek, bell pepper, sugar snap peas, mushrooms, the bhttp://www.blogger.com/img/blank.gifean sprouts and last but not least the rice. Finally, I seasoned the mix with salt, pepper and the now ubiquitous soy and Sriracha sauce.http://www.blogger.com/img/blank.gif
http://www.blogger.com/img/blank.gif
It may only be tiny baby steps, but enjoying my bowl of fried rice that night is a small contribution to the goal to reduce by half the amount food thrown away in Germany and my personal goal of being more mindful. And if you're a fellow blogger, consider linking to Love_Food_Hate_Waste.
Life is good!
