Food::Jewelry::Treasures – House of Hsiao

Tag: quick and easy

  • Impromptu Fried Rice

    Fried rice is one of the most amazingly simple dishes to make.

    Believe it or not, it’s better to make fried rice out of leftover rice than freshly cooked rice (but fresh cooked is fine too). In fact, fried rice is a great way to use leftovers. Last night I tossed rice with some leftover tofu, broccoli from the night before, a few more veggies and some eggs for a delicious, quick dinner.

    Fried rice doesn’t need a lot of soy sauce. When I first started making fried rice, it didn’t quite taste right so I asked my Mom about it and she told me I was putting too much soy sauce in it. Less soy sauce = much better.

    You can get very authentic and start with stir frying some garlic and ginger in oil first, but it’s not necessary if you’re in a hurry.

    I usually make this with whatever protein (tofu, chicken, etc.) and veggies (any fresh or leftover, or frozen corn,  peas, shelled edamame, etc.) I have on hand. The addition of toasted sesame oil adds a really nice flavor to the rice and I highly recommend adding it if you have it!

     Fried Rice
    4-6 servings

    2 eggs
    1 teaspoon vegetable oil
    2 cloves garlic, peeled and smashed with the flat side of a knife (optional)
    4 slices fresh ginger (optional)
    1 tablespoon vegetable oil
    1/2 tablespoon toasted sesame oil (optional)
    1 cup vegetables, can be any combination of fresh or leftover, diced
    4 cups cold cooked rice
    1 cup tofu or cooked leftover meat
    2 teaspoons soy sauce
    1-2 chopped green onion
    Salt to taste

    1. Combine and lightly beat eggs together in a bowl.

    2. Heat 1 teaspoon vegetable oil in wok or frying pan over medium high heat. Add eggs when hot and scramble in pan until done. Remove from pan and reserve.

    3. Heat remaining oils in a wok or frying pan. If using, add garlic and ginger and stir fry for 4 minutes to infuse the oil with flavor. Remove garlic and ginger from the hot oil.

    4. If using, add fresh vegetables to the oil and stir fry for a couple of minutes.

    5. Add rice to the vegetables/oil and stir to break up chunks. Stir fry for a few minutes, then add the frozen vegetables if using.

    6. Add the tofu or meat, and the soy sauce to the rice. Stir fry until heated through.

    7. Add salt to taste, if using, and sprinkle with chopped green onion before serving.

  • Sausage and Spinach Soup aka Meatball Soup

    The chill of fall is in the air and it’s the perfect time of year to cozy up with a piping hot bowl of delicious soup. This is a hearty soup; the perfect dinner to make on a weeknight. Super quick and easy.

    At home we call this Meatball Soup but it doesn’t really have meatballs in it. What it does have is fresh pork sausage fried with onions and then it’s combined with stock, pasta and spinach. I started making this because my kids loved the canned Italian wedding soup. I was looking for a cheaper and more plentiful version of it to make at home – one can of soup looks very small when you’re trying to feed a family of hungry boys 🙂

    The pasta I use is called Acini di Pepe by Ronzoni. They are very tiny pieces of pasta and it cooks into little pasta balls. It looks like this before it’s cooked:

    The tiny pieces of pasta actually look quite large in this photo!

    In Portland, you can find this pasta at Freddie’s or Winco. If you can’t find it, any small pasta will do. I serve the soup with bread (the boys love to dip bread into the soup and eat it) and fruit or salad for a fast weeknight dinner.

    Sausage and Spinach Soup
    serves 4 hungry people plus plenty of leftovers for the next day (it tastes even better!)
    adapted from the recipe on the back of Ronzoni’s Acini di Pepe box

    1/2 pound bulk sausage
    1/2 cup chopped onion
    1 tablespoon olive oil, if needed
    2-32 oz. cartons of chicken broth
    1 cup Acini di Pepe pasta (or any small pasta)
    10-12 oz. frozen chopped spinach

    1. In a large pot, cook the sausage over medium high heat, breaking it up into small pieces. When browned and cooked, lift the sausage out of the pot.

    2. Add the chopped onion to the pot and cook for 5-10 minutes until soft. Add the olive oil to the pot if there’s not enough oil from the sausage in the pot to fry the onions.

    3. Add the chicken broth and bring to a boil.

    4. Once boiling, add the pasta to the broth and cook for 10 minutes until the pasta is done. If you used larger sized pasta you may have to cook for a little longer.

    5. Add the frozen chopped spinach to the soup along with the reserved sausage.

    6. Bring soup back to a simmer and serve.