One of the best dishes to make when you have leftovers and a ridiculous amount of vegetables is a stir fried rice. I happened to have half a pound of frozen cocktail shrimp in my freezer from a previous party…is this a normal thing to have? I’m not sure, but I had it. If you have chicken or beef leftover they can easily replace the shrimp as the protein. Eggs are also a great substitute. But, I digress. Let’s get on with the recipe, shall we?
Ingredients:
- 1/2 lb frozen, cooked shrimp
- 1/2 cup chopped carrot
- 1/2 a medium tomato, chopped
- 1 small onion, chopped
- 1/2 cup frozen bell peppers
- 1 tablespoon oil
- 1 tablespoon minced garlic
- 1 tablespoon soy sauce
- 2 teaspoons sesame oil
- 3 cups of cooked rice, any type
For sauce:
- 2 tablespoons soy sauce
- 1 tablespoon sriracha
- 1 tablespoon chili garlic sauce
- 1 teaspoon all-natural peanut butter
- 1/2 teaspoon apple cider vinegar
Directions:
First step is to prepare the vegetables. Ah, the preparation of vegetables. Fun stuff. Just chop em’ up. I know, not as complicated as you thought it was going to be.
Guess what’s next?! Did you guess?? The answer was cook those vegetables! I hope you guessed right. Drizzle the oil in the pan and let it warm up on a medium heat for a few minutes. At this point you can add in the garlic. Once the garlic softens and becomes translucent, add in the carrots first and cook them. Carrots need the most cooking of all the vegetables so just let them have a few moments alone (approximately 2-3 minutes). Then you can go ahead and add the onions, bell peppers, and tomatoes. At this point add a splash of water (about a 2 tablespoons) and put the lid on so the vegetables have something to steam and cook in.
While the vegetables cook this would be a good time to prepare the shrimp. I mean, you don’t have to do it now…it’s just a recommendation. Maybe you already prepared them. Maybe you are just prepared as a plum. Maybe you already made the shrimp stir fried rice and I’ve been talking for no reason. Maybe, just maybe…
Ahem, to prepare the shrimp just pull the tails off. That was very easy. I don’t even know if it should count as a preparation. Some people like to keep the tails on…which I will never understand, but you may do that if it suits your fancy. After this, the vegetables should be done and you can go ahead and add the shrimp. Mix the shrimp in and on a high heat let them warm through. The high heat will also help the excess water cook out. At this point add in 1 tablespoon of soy sauce and the sesame oil. Mix it thoroughly. Continue stirring everything while the shrimp and vegetables pick up the flavors of sesame oil and soy sauce. While this cooks you can mix all the sauce ingredients into a bowl.
Once everything has been thoroughly cooked and fried you can add in the rice. You can add any rice you like and however much you want. You can use white, brown, short or long rice. We had a lot of leftover white rice so that’s what I used. The exact amount of rice isn’t important, just use what you have. Toss the rice with the vegetables and then add in the sauce. You just want to gently mix all the ingredients together on a medium or medium-low heat. Continue mixing until the sauce coats everything and cooks into the ingredients. Allow to cook for about 5-10 minutes.
Your stir-fry is now done! That wasn’t bad, at all! The fun thing about stir-fry’s are you can customize them to use what you have. You can use whatever rice you happen to have, whatever protein you have, and if you don’t have these vegetables or you have more you can definitely add more or less. The key is to cook them thoroughly. When it comes to the sauce you can definitely use this one, but if you find yourself not having everything just soy sauce and sriracha can add lots of flavor. The natural sweetness of the vegetables will shine through with the saltiness of the soy sauce and a little heat from the sriracha.
Shrimp Fried Rice
Ingredients
- ½ pound frozen, cooked shrimp
- ½ cup chopped carrot
- ½ a medium tomato diced
- 1 small onion diced
- ½ cup frozen bell peppers
- 1 tablespoon minced garlic
- 1 tablespoon soy sauce
- 1 tablespoon cooking oil
- 2 teaspoons sesame oil
- 3 cups cooked rice any type
For sauce:
- 2 tablespoon soy sauce
- 1 tablespoon sriracha
- 1 tablespoon chili garlic sauce
- 1 teaspoon all-natural peanut butter
- ½ teaspoon apple cider vinegar
Instructions
- Chop the carrots, onions, and tomatoes.
- In a pan heat up the oil on medium heat. Add minced garlic and cook until translucent.
- Add carrots into pan and cook for 2 to 3 minutes, then add in onions, bell peppers and tomatoes. Put in a splash of water, about 2 tablespoons.
- Cover with the lid and allow to steam cook on low heat for 5 minutes.
- While vegetables cook, prepare shrimp by removing tails. Prepare sauce by mixing all ingredients in a bowl.
- Once the vegetables cook, take off lid and add in shrimp.
- Add in sesame oil and 1 tablespoon soy sauce and on high heat mix thoroughly to incorporate oil and soy sauce and to cook out excess water. Cook for about 5 minutes, until dry.
- Add in rice, gently toss in vegetable shrimp mixture and then pour in sauce.
- Allow rice to cook on medium or medium-low heat for a few minutes until sauce has thoroughly coated everything and the flavors have been incorporated completely. Now it's done.
- Enjoy!
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