Whatever Rice: Rice and Whatever Else I Have in the Fridge

I am a woman of very little willpower, so it is a testament to how important this project is to me that when I was craving chicken fried rice I did not go to the Chinese restaurant around the corner, but made do with what I had in my kitchen—even though what I had in my kitchen did not include soy sauce or chicken. Or instant rice (hey, I was really hungry).

A quick inventory of my pantry and fridge let me know I had, at the very least, the basics: Basmati rice (the kind that took forever to cook), onion, garlic, frozen sweet peas (Cascadian Farm!) and cooking oil. I also had a little bit of sausage left from my CSA and some CSA cabbage I’d roasted earlier. Still, I was lacking that “Chinese flavor.” At this point, I was almost ready to go around the corner. Fifty minutes for the rice? No soy sauce? I considered just grabbing a few packets from the Peking House—that wouldn’t cost me anything. But I thought better of it after remembering that the woman at this particular restaurant snips at everyone, even paying customers. Plus, what kind of cook would I be if I couldn’t throw together some simple fried rice without soy sauce? So, I decided to stick to my plan of making my own, only using ingredients I already had on hand.

While the rice boiled I scoured my cabinets for anything even remotely “Asian.” Not much. I decided on chili powder, cumin and crushed red pepper. I went through the motions, doing exactly what I would have done if I’d had the proper ingredients. Substitution! Innovation! Desperation? Whatever it was, it worked. Sure, it was no PF Chang’s but it was—for the most part—free. Even better, it was surprisingly delicious.

“Recipe” for Whatever Rice after the jump.

Ingredients
1 cup of uncooked rice (If you have cooked rice, even better, just skip the first step).
3-5 tablespoons of oil (canola, olive, whatever)
1/2 large white onion, chopped
1-2 cloves of garlic, minced
1/2-1 teaspoon chili powder
1/2 teaspoon cumin
1/2-1 teaspoon crushed red pepper
1/2-1 cup uncooked sausage (or whatever meat you have)
1/2-1 cup frozen sweet peas
Salt
Pepper
Optional: 1 cup roasted cabbage

Directions
In a medium pot or sauce pan, cook 1 cup of rice according to directions.

Once you remove the rice from the heat, saute the onion in the oil in a pan over medium heat until the onion becomes translucent. When the onions are translucent, add the garlic and whatever meat you have (I had uncooked sausage). When the sausage is cooked, add chili powder, cumin and crushed red pepper to taste. Saute until it is all cooked through, then add the rice and more oil as needed. When the rice is properly coated with oil and the peas (they can and should go in frozen) and the cabbage. Cook, over medium heat, stirring frequently until, well, it all looks about done. Salt and pepper to taste.