Fried rice is super easy, yummy, and, shockingly, not necessarily too bad for you. Although our version has the word fried in the name, we use cooking spray instead of oil to reduce the calories, and you can also add a little fiber by using brown rice instead of white. See? Actually good for you! Rice is really cheap, and the vegetables in this recipe aren’t too expensive either, so this a staple of my diet.
Recipe information
Yield
serves 4
Ingredients
Preparation
Step 1
Place the water and rice in a small saucepan and bring to a boil over high heat. Cover and simmer over medium-low heat for 20 minutes, or until most of the water has been absorbed. Remove from the heat and let stand for 5 minutes.
Step 2
Trim the green onions, discarding the ends, and cut the white and about 1 inch of the green part into thin slices. Cut the snow pea pods into thirds. Peel and finely chop the garlic or pass it through a garlic press.
Step 3
Coat a large skillet with cooking spray and place over medium heat. Beat the eggs slightly and pour into the pan. Cook, stirring frequently, for 2 to 3 minutes, or until scrambled. Remove the eggs from the pan and set them aside.
Step 4
Remove the pan from the heat and wipe out the pan with wadded-up paper towels. Recoat with cooking spray, and place over medium-high heat. Add the snow peas and bean sprouts to the pan. Cook, stirring frequently, for 3 to 4 minutes, or until the bean sprouts just begin to wilt. Add the green onions, garlic, and frozen peas to the pan and cook, stirring frequently, for 2 minutes. Stir in the cooked rice, eggs, and soy sauce and cook for 3 to 4 minutes, or until heated through. Serve immediately.
cooking 101
Step 5
Fried rice is one of the original thrifty leftover dishes. Leftover cooked rice gets a little dried out in the fridge, so it’s not too pleasant to reheat and eat. But when you cook it up with some eggs and veggies, it gets a whole new life. And fried rice makes a good leftover itself: even if you’re just making it for yourself, make the whole batch and refrigerate the rest to eat later or take with you for lunch.
