Curried Rice

Curried Rice

This is a side dish I like to fix when I make Coconut Chicken, but I also make it with many other main dishes. Curry goes with so many things and it is eaten in many cuisines such as Thai, Chinese, Indian and African dishes. I learned to love curry chicken when I was a little girl in the Philippines where my parents were missionaries. In fact, I have the  recipe for Chicken, Curry and Rice my mom fixed HERE.

Curried Rice

Ingredients
1 cup white rice (or brown)
6 Tb butter (or coconut oil)
1 cup onions, chopped
1 cup celery, chopped
1-2 tsp yellow curry powder (I like it best with 2 tsps)
1 cup water
1 cup coconut milk
Salt and pepper to taste
Optional- golden raisins, ¼ cup sweet coconut flakes
Note: if you don't have coconut milk you can use 2 cups chicken broth or 2 cups water, instead of 1 cup coconut milk and 1 cup water, as in the recipe. I like the taste of the coconut milk, but have used all chicken broth many times. It kind of depends what main dish you're fixing with it.

Instructions
Saute onions and celery in butter (or coconut oil) in large frying pan or large sauce pan (this makes about 6 cups rice when it's finished so make sure your pan is large enough).
Cook onions and celery till onions are translucent. Add rice and curry powder to the onion mixture and stir all together for about 2 minutes to coat rice. Add water and coconut milk. When it boils, cover pan and reduce heat to low.  Simmer until rice is tender and rice is absorbed, about 18-20 minutes. Add salt and pepper to taste, and coconut if desired.
Note: If using brown rice, you'll need to cook it longer than that and probably add more liquid.

I hope you enjoy this!

This Curried Rice goes
 great with Coconut Chicken.
The recipe I use is
HERE

Best Authentic Fried Rice

Mary Jane's Authentic Chicken

Fried Rice Before Green Onions are Added

The reason I say "authentic" fried rice is because even though I'm American, born in the US, my family lived in the Orient for 3 years when I was a child. We lived in Zamboanga City, Philippines where we ate Chinese Fried Rice along with other dishes at a Chinese restaurant every Sunday after church. The restaurant, at a Hotel on the edge of the water, sat overlooking the Pacific ocean. Such a beautiful, peaceful scene engraved in my memory, is hard to describe. And OH, the smell of that Chinese food is something I've rarely experienced in the US and I can always tell by the smell, if its going to be authentic or not! . 

A very poor, sweet, little old lady insisted on paying for our family (of 6) to eat there at her expense. "Auntie" was so special and thoughtful to do that for us. We learned to love Chinese food there but we also got to visit Hong Kong and Japan. The Filipinos had their style of fried rice too (usually with shredded cabbage, garlic and bok choy) so we got to experience different types and flavors. 
It's really difficult, though, in my opinion to find what I call  that "authentic" Chinese taste. I've had 100's of different versions of fried rice over the years, whether it be at a restaurant, in cookbooks or the web. I was never satisfied with the taste til I decided "toasted" sesame oil was the ingredient that made Chinese food taste authentic to me. Some people don't use as much in their recipes as I do, but I use a lot of it, even more than what I wrote down for this recipe. So add more if you want! You won't normally see water chestnuts in fried rice, but I love it for the crunch. The onions and garlic, though,  are always in authentic fried rice. You can cook your plain white rice the day before (rinsed 2-3 times first) or you can cook the rice the same day you make the Fried Rice. It's perfectly ok to cook the plain white rice the same day as long as you separate it and maybe dry it out in the oven on a cookie sheet first or some people put the cookie sheet in the fridge. It turns out just as good when I don't rinse the rice or cook it the day before, but rinsing it first takes some of the starches out, which helps it not stick together.

Mary Jane's Authentic
Chinese Fried Rice

Another secret is to use a good rice and my favorite with any dish is Basmati, long grain rice used in Indian cooking that has a nutty taste. It costs more but believe me when I say it is totally worth it! Most Chinese restaurants use a combination of long grain and Jasmine rice. And lastly, I want to say I use this Chicken Fried Rice as a main dish. Please don't put a totally different Chinese dish on top of this. It should stand alone! All the other Chinese dishes such as Cashew Chicken, Kung Pao Chicken, Sweet and Sour Pork, Moo Goo Gai Pan, Almond Chicken, General Tso, Szechuan or Mala Beef and Green Beans, Orange Chicken and other dishes need to be put over steamed rice or what many people call white rice. There are just too many flavors in fried rice that will compete with these other Chinese dishes. They have their own unique flavor. Steamed rice allows you to taste the flavors of the dish you put on top of it. I'm real touchy about this subject! I think  Asian people would agree!

* Whatever you do, do not leave out the TOASTED sesame oil. It might have the word REAL or ROASTED on the bottle *

Ingredients - feeds 6 

Very Important - chop your vegetables up first and place in separate bowls. Then mix the sauce in a bowl and the seasonings in a different bowl and set aside.

Peanut or any neutral oil
Butter

1 cup onion, chopped
3-4 cloves garlic, chopped

2 tsps ginger, chopped
4-5 cups cooked cold rice 
2-3 cups fresh chicken breast, cut in          small pieces & set aside in a bowl so        you can tenderize it for 15-30 minutes.    See my note below of how I                        tenderize/marinate it. This step is            optional, but it will be much more             tender and is totally worth it!

FOR A QUICKER VERSION use already cooked frozen chicken, chopped

4 eggs, scrambled
1 can water chestnuts, sliced into strips
¾ cup frozen corn and also 1½ cups           frozen peas and carrots, thawed 

1 cup fresh bean sprouts (it's not easy to find these fresh but an Asian grocery store will have them)

SAUCE - (mix together in separate bowl and set aside). See NOTE about soy sauce bellow.

1½ tsp brown sugar, 4-6 tsp lite soy sauce (or coconut aminos), 1½ tsp dark soy sauce (less salty), 4 tsp TOASTED Sesame oil

SPICE / SEASONING MIXTURE - (mix   in separate bowl and set aside)

2 tsp salt, ¼ tsp ground white pepper, 1 tsp MSG (unless you need it to be GF) 

For Garnish
1-2 Tb toasted sesame seeds
6-8 green onions (raw), chopped 

 (for top after fried rice is cooked. Some    Chinese chefs put the white part of the    green onion with the rice as it's frying    and sprinkle only the green part on         top at the end)

OPTIONAL: after fried rice is done, taste it and add any of the following if you want more flavor)
Oyster sauce, Hoisen sauce and/or Chinese Shaosing cooking wine (most Chinese use this in their fried rice), chili garlic sauce, dash of garlic powder, onion powder, ½-1 tsp fresh grated ginger (I don't like ginger but sometimes use powdered ginger or in the tube), fish sauce. The Chinese use white pepper a lot in their cooking, which gives it a distinct, spicy flavor.
Note: sometimes I use chopped pork, ham, bacon or shrimp, but my favorite is chicken. A combination of pork, chicken and pork is great! To make it even more authentic, marinate pork in Chinese BBQ sauce before frying

NOTE : ABOUT SOY SAUCE

Do not use Kikkoman soy sauce in this fried rice because it's a Japanese soy sauce and has a different flavor profile than Chinese soy sauces and not suited for Chinese style cooking. Lite soy sauce is saltier than dark soy sauce, which is slightly sweeter.

NOTE- TO TENDERIZE MEAT
I used an Asian tenderizing technique called "velveting", which is totally worth it. That's how meats in Chinese dishes are so tender. You just cut up the meat in small pieces (against the grain) and soak it in the following for 15-30 minutes: 3 tsps cornstarch OR baking soda, instead of cornstarch, I could taste the baking soda (after being cooked) and rinsed it off the next time I tenderized the meat. Actually, it's ok not to use baking soda at all, because the cornstarch and other ingredients tenderize the meat just fine.

Mary Jane's Authentic Fried Rice

DIRECTIONS:

Make sure your onions, garlic, water chestnuts and chicken are cut up into separate bowls before you start anything. Believe me, prepping ahead of time will make this easier. 

      This is just some of the  ingredients I  use (I will update these ingredients 

as soon as I can)

Cook cut up chicken in oil on medium high heat in frying pan or wok till 90% done. Remove chicken to another bowl and set aside. In same pan, add 1 tb oil and fry onions, ginger and garlic for 1-2 minutes til tender. Remove this and add to chicken. Next, quickly fry the sliced water chestnuts in same pan then remove and add to chicken. Add another Tb oil to wok and fry the peas, carrots and corn to get them warm for 2 mins. Remove from pan and add to chicken. Put a little more oil in the same pan. Put on medium low and scramble the eggs, stirring constantly. Add to chicken and other ingredients. 

Add 1 Tb butter to wok (helps to brown the rice) and turn heat to high. Add half the rice and stir fry til it is separated and heated. This would be a good time to add half of the meat, ½ vegetables, ½ the eggs and ½ other ingredients that are in sane bowl. After mixing and stirring around while frying the rice on hi heat, remove the rice mixture to another bowl. Then add the other half rice, meat, vegetables and eggs. Repeat above. Add first batch of rice already fried to 2nd batch. Now stir in the sauce and the seasonings and add about 1-2 Tbs Chinese cooking wine around outside of the rice to deglaze sauce in hot pan. We are frying in 2 batches because we do not want to crowd the rice. Having too much rice in the pan will cause it not to separate and toast the right way. (Also add Chinese cooking wine and oyster sauce if you think it needs it)

After stiring first batch of rice together with 2nd batch in wok, taste to see if you need more seasonings or sauce ingredients. If you like spicy things, then add more white pepper. Add toasted sesame seeds and stir. Just before serving, toss in the chopped green onions. Serve immediately. You can either purchase sweet and sour sauce or use my recipe, which I will try to add later! It's also good with the Japanese Yum Yum sauce. Enjoy!

UPDATE: (2/6/2019)
Since I fix a lot of Chinese and Thai foods, I received a larger wok for Christmas. I've needed it for years but still have to "season" it before I use it. 

2020 - I finally seasoned my new wok! But it took me practically all day. That thing is heavy so it wore me out, even though I had help!

                         My New Wok!

Another Recipe Idea:

 1. Another great idea would be to Make Steak Fried Rice using this same recipe, but also adding Shitake mushrooms. Get a ribeye steak, freeze for about 30 minutes and then cut it thinly on the grain.

2. If you like cooked cabbage, add cabbage (funny shredded) with the onions and garlic and saute. When I was growing up, my parents almost always added cabbage to their fried rice and back then I did not like cabbage. But I love it now and am going to add that next time I make this. 

Hope you enjoy my recipe! I have done years of research plus trial and error, searching for secrets and tips to the best Chinese fried rice for you. Let me know if you have any questions!

Indian Peanut Chicken over Rice

Indian Peanut Chicken Curry

This dish reminds me of Chicken Korma, an Indian dish, and  Butter Chicken, also an Indian dish. It's a lot like a Thai dish too (because of the PB and coconut milk)

Indian Peanut Chicken over Rice – Mary Jane’s recipe

This will take about 1½ hours to make, which includes cutting up the chicken. I like making this, not only because it's delicious, but also because you make it in one big pot! (Not including the rice - that is separate). Indian bread (called naan) goes great with this. You can buy it ready made at the grocery store or try to make it yourself.

Serves 8 people

Ingredients

• 1 Tb peanut oil or other oil
• 1 cup chopped onion (about 1 medium)
• 2-3 cloves minced garlic
• 2 1/2 lbs boneless chicken breasts, cut into 1-inch pieces
• 3/4 cup chunky peanut butter
• 3-5 tsps yellow curry powder (or to your taste). I like a lot.
• 1 tsp salt (add more later if needed)
• ½ -1 tsp crushed red pepper 
• 1/4 tsp black pepper
• 1 (6-ounce) can tomato paste
• 1 (14-ounce) can chicken broth
• 1 can coconut milk (not lite)
• 4 – 5 tsps brown sugar (or to taste)
• ½ cup Half & Half or plain Greek Yogurt (could use more than ½ cup – I didn’t measure)
• ½ cup (or more) golden raisins
• Optional - Small amounts (1 - 2 dashes each). If you don't have these spices, it's ok because most of these are already in yellow curry powder. Just go by your taste if you think you need more spice. coriander, turmeric, ground cayenne pepper,  cinnamon, & cardamom.
• 8 cups hot cooked white Basmati rice
• Chopped peanuts (or cashews) for garnish. I add this to this dish at the end and stir but put more on top after its on my plate.

Optional : 3 – 6 chopped fresh plum tomatoes 

Indian Peanut Chicken
Curry over Rice

Preparation

Chop chicken and set aside. Heat oil in a Dutch oven over medium heat. Add onion and garlic to pan; cook 2 minutes till tender, stirring frequently. Add chopped chicken; cook 4 minutes or til chicken is done, stirring frequently. Don't cook too long because the chicken will be too tough. If its not all the way done, that's ok because it continues to cook. Stir in peanut butter and next 9 ingredients (through half & half); bring to a boil. Reduce heat (so it won't curdle); add other spices (dashes) and golden raisins; stir and simmer 15 minutes til heated and slightly thickened, stirring occasionally. If you are adding fresh tomatoes add them before you simmer for 15 minutes. Serve chicken mixture over rice; top each serving with chopped peanuts or cashews and more raisins if desired. 

I didn't find a recipe I wanted to make so I came up with this and we all loved it. Reminds me of Chicken Korma. You could substitute cashews for the peanuts to be more like Chicken Korma if you like. 

Filipino Chicken Curry & Rice

Chicken, Curry and Rice

Mary Jane Hall's recipe from Mama (Margie Perry)

When I was 5 years old, my family moved to Zamboanga City, Philippines as missionaries. In fact, my dad helped start a Bible college over there. We learned to love Asian food while in the Philippines and when we came back to the states (when I was 9) my mama fixed this dish. Then after I grew up and had a family of my own, I started making it, and it's always been a favorite of ours too! What prompted me to post this recipe is that my youngest son called and asked me for the recipe, and I thought I might as well share it on my blog. I hope you enjoy it! By the way, I loved living in the Philippines. It's beautiful there, and we had Coconut trees, Pineapple trees, Guava trees, Papaya trees, comonchilis trees snd banana trees in our yard! One of my favorite memories of living in the Philippines was the avocado ice cream! I've made it several times. And I always add avocado to my fruit salads with fresh fruit like they did over there. If you've never put avocado in your fruit salad you won't believe how delicious it is!

I will post a photo of this Chicken, Curry and Rice dish next time I make it!

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Boiled Chicken Pieces
(you can either buy a small whole chicken & cook it on the bone, chicken pieces already cut up or boneless chicken breasts/tenders) - I boil the chicken, let it cool and then take it off the bones. (Boneless chicken is easier!) 

Note: If you want your chicken to be very tender see below how I tenderize it before cooking to do what Chinese recipes say is "velvetizing" it. It's a quick easy step!

Steamed White Rice - plain (i don't even add salt to it, but you can - for you & Ashley just make 3 cups steamed rice, which is 1 cup of UNcooked rice. Unless you want to have left overs, make more rice :-)

Curry Powder - the yellow kind

Condiments - Peanuts, coconut, chopped green onions, golden raisins, chopped green pepper

When I was growing up we always just put peanuts on top, but sometimes now I like adding a little coconut & golden raisins. This goes very well with curry.

Curry Sauce - see below
For the curry sauce, all you do is make a white sauce (from any basic cookbook) and add curry. You can add the curry to taste and depending how much white sauce I make, I may use 2-4 teaspoons of the yellow curry, but if you like a strong curry taste, you can add more. Just add to taste.

Basic White Sauce (I usually make 2 - 3 cups of white sauce, depending on how many people are eating the meal)

For every 1 cup of white sauce, you will need: (this makes 1 cup, so you may want to double or triple it)

2 Tablespoons butter

2 Tablespoons white all purpose flour

1 cup warm milk

For curry flavored sauce - add 1 - 2 teaspoons of curry powder to the flour & butter mixture, before you add the milk.

Melt butter in large flat frying pan on low heat. Add the flour gradually, using a whisk to stir it & keep it from getting too thick. (Note: If you have your heat too high, the flour & butter mixture will get too thick way too fast, then it will have lumps that are hard to smash up) I used to add my curry powder after I add the milk, but I started adding the curry to the flour & butter mixture BEFORE the milk. After the curry is blended with the flour & butter, gradually add the milk & keep stirring on medium heat to let it bubble up & thicken. Keep stirring it with the whisk so it will be smooth) I warm my milk in the microwave first, because if you don't the flour will lump up! Believe me, this is an important step to warm the milk in the microwave. If you want more.

of the curry flavor add more curry powder to the sauce and blend well with whisk. Cook the sauce till it's the desired thickness. If it seems too thick for you, add more milk. If the sauce seems too thin, you'll need to thicken it w/ a little flour in hot water or with a little cornstarch in cold water.

Note: If you don't want to use dairy in this dish, you can substitute coconut milk or chicken broth for the milk, but we have always loved it with the basic white sauce + the curry.

Place rice on a plate, shred some chicken on top of rice, pour curry sauce over that & then add the peanuts, etc.Hope you enjoy this! Let me know if you have any questions.

To Tenderize Chicken: cut chicken pieces (against the grain) into 2" pieces. Place in bowl and toss in about 2 teaspoons baking soda, mixing to coat all the chicken. Let sit 30 minutes to 1 hour. Rinse before cooking. You can either boil this (but not too long) or you can stir fry it. You won't believe how tender it will be. There are other ways to tenderize the chicken (or beef)  too by using cornstarch, vinegar etc. You can find many YouTube videos on how to do this. It's so simple but so worth it! I'll never make another Chinese dish again without "velvetizing"  the chicken. I use this method when I make Moo Goo Gai Pan, Cashew Chicken, Almond Chicken, Kung Pow Chicken or any Chinese, Japanese or Thai dish!

Green Rice Recipe

The recipe is a good way to get your kids to eat spinach. It's delicious, and there aren't many things that cheese can't hide :) It's a good recipe to fix for a pot luck or carry in dinner. If you have one of those casserole dishes that has the heating pack to put in the microwave (to keep the food warm) this is a good recipe for that. My sister, Judy Drewett, from Tx. gave me this recipe years ago.

Note: make sure your rice is not overcooked because it will cook more in the oven.

Green Rice
Recipe from the Gift Horse restaurant in Foley, Alabama

Green Rice Casserole

1 - 10 oz pkg frozen spinach, thawed 
2 cans cream of mushroom soup

(To make this casserole gluten free, use GF soup)
2/3 cup salad oil
2 eggs, beaten
4 cups cooked rice
1 - 5 oz (small) can evaporated milk
1½ cups grated cheddar cheese
2 small cans mushrooms, drained (Note: would be even better if they were fresh and sauteed in butter)
1 large onion, chopped

 (about ¾ - 1 cup)

¼ - ½ more cheese to

sprinkle on top

Put thawed spinach in a colander and press on it to drain & make sure all liquid is gone.

Mix spinach and both cans of the mushroom soup. Add salt and pepper to taste. Combine oil and eggs and add to cooked rice, along with spinach mixture. Then add remaining ingredients (milk, cheese, mushrooms and onion) Turn into greased shallow baking dish and sprinkle more cheese on top. Bake at 350º  for 1 hour. If doubled, this will have to cook longer. Serve immediately.

Enjoy!