Simple Rice & Veg Stir-Fry

You know those days when it gets to dinner time, look through your cupboards and your fridge, and you've got loads of bits but nothing that really amounts to a meal? And most of it is leftovers from previous meals, stuff which you either forgot to include, or couldn't use the whole of at the time?

Yeah. Today was one of those days.

The sad fact is that I'm all to often inclined to eat one of those bits and call it 'a light meal'... So, today, not only to buck that trend, but to try something quick and theoretically simple as a cooked meal, I decided to combine some of the pieces into a more substantial dish. To wit:

Ingredients:

• Uncle Ben's Express Egg Fried Rice
• Waitrose Ready to Microsteam Garden Peas, Leeks and Spinach
• Onion (either one small or half a large one - I used the red onion left over from my gravy)
• Garlic Butter (I used Lurpak)
• Teriyaki Sauce

Preparation Time: Approx 5-10 Minutes

Tools Required:

• Knife
• Frying Pan
• Stirring Implement (a spatula would do)

Process:
Fire up the hob, and melt a generous knob of garlic butter in the frying pan. Chop the onion and add to the pan, stirring occasionally to ensure even cooking. Just as it starts to brown, add the contents of the Microsteam vegetable bag and keep stirring. Shortly thereafter, add in the Teriyaki sauce and stir some more. While that's going, put the rice into the microwave and cook according to the instructions on the bag. By the time the rice is done (2 minutes) the stir-fry should be ready. Empty the rice onto a plate, transfer the stir-fry, then serve.

The Results:
Aside from the fact that this turned out to be the equivalent of a small-to-medium sized meal for two, and the fact that I forgot to add the teriyaki sauce at the stir-fry stage, this turned out pretty well... In fact, it's almost tempting to suggest that the teriyaki be added to the rice as it's served, rather than to the stir-fry... but that's just silly.

As long as the stir-fry doesn't go on too long, all the veg should still be nice and crisp and, coupled with the rice and its egg chunks, it makes for a very tasty and incredibly quick meal. It's subtle of flavour, so some palettes might demand further seasoning, but it'd have to be something that doesn't get into conflict with the teriyaki. Must remember this!