At a young age of 12, I watched my Mom how she turned the "day before leftover rice" we called in the dialect Bahaw into a delish food. "Bahaw" is a Visayan term meaning not fresh and from "the day before cooked-rice". She always had a way to turn it into something spectacular. She would make a soup out of it, stuffed bell peppers or add rest of vegetables and stir-fried all before buying new stuff in the fresh market for the days that followed.
I am the only girl in the family of five brothers and therefore there was not much time for me to play outside. I had to be in the kitchen to help her prepare the food. But in the course of it all, I learned one thing and that is the value of endurance. My Mom with her perseverance, insisted that I should learn to cook and make the house a home. Therefore, once I knew the basic of cooking, I applied what I learned from her. I copied her cooking style that included recycling food leftovers and enhancing them to make scrumptious food. And so, below are steps on how I reprocessed old rice that was cooked the day before.
Stir-Fried Rice Enhanced with Vegetables (Easy-Peasy)
Ingredients: ( serves 2 portions)
about 4 cups of old rice (or newly cooked)
1 red onion , sliced
about 5-6 cherry tomatoes
2 cloves crushed garlic
1/2 each green and red bell pepper, diced
1 carrot, cut into bite size
1 celery stalk, diced
1 medium Zucchini, diced
2 tablespoons dried cranberries (optional)
salt
pepper
soy sauce
bit of vegetable stock or water
olive oil
Preparations:
1... Prepare all the necessary ingredients... now the basic thing here is that you could add the veggies you like and should at least be equal in proportion to the rice. They should be all cut before you start cooking.
2... In a hot pan with 2 tablespoons olive oil, fry the garlic until brown in color, add the onions and the cherry tomatoes... Turn heat to medium stirring most of the time until all are slightly soft.
3... Add the rest of the vegetables and the dried cranberries if you like a bit sweeter in taste (optional), sprinkle 1 tablespoon soy sauce. Stir until soy sauce is well blended with the veggies. Add 2 tablespoon vegetable stock or water and continue stirring until all veggies become soft. The liquid will evaporate in a short time.
4... Add the rice to the pan and mix until well blended with the veggies. Add 2 teaspoons soy sauce to give rice some color and continue stirring. Add salt and pepper according to your taste preference.
Serve hot.... can also be served as main dish (without meat!)
Happy Cooking!
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