Rice Makeovers-Quick Shrimp Fried Rice & Asparagus Rice

Asparagus flavored rice

Rice makeovers are one way to whip up a meal in a jiffy. That is, when you have leftover cooked rice in the refrigerator. In fact, for any kind of fried rice, refrigerated rice is recommended in order for the grains to stay separated. Freshly cooked rice may get mushy when you stir it with other ingredients to make the fried rice. So when you have leftover rice in the fridge, it is the best time for a rice makeover. Options are many, including the good ol' curd rice, lemon rice, tamarind rice etc.

Quick Shrimp Fried Rice

For quick shrimp fried rice, you will need

Cooked rice – 1 cups

Large Shrimps – 15, peeled and de-veined

Since we are on express cooking, you can use the ready to use kind of shrimps that is already peeled and de-veined. You can also try the salad shrimps which is already cooked! To me, it wouldn’t take that long to peel and de-vein 15 jumbo shrimps.

Oil – 2-3 tbsp

Crushed garlic and ginger – 1 tsp each(optional)

Frozen mixed vegetables – ¾ cup

Egg – 1

Soy Sauce – 1 tsp

Worcestershire Sauce - 1/2 tsp(optional)

Lemon juice – 1 tsp

Green onions/Scallions - 1/4 cup, chopped

Salt – to taste

Start out by heating oil in a wok(preferably a cast iron wok). Add crushed garlic and ginger. Cook for a minute without burning.

Then add the shrimps and vegetables. Cook on high heat for 5-8 minutes or until the shrimps are cooked well and all the water from the frozen veggies are evaporated.

While it is cooking, you can scramble the egg in another pan, and keep aside.

Add salt, soy sauce, worcestershire sauce, and lemon juice to the shrimp-veg mix. Continue cooking a couple of minutes. Add rice, chopped scallions, and scrambled eggs. Mix well until all the rice is well-coated. Turn off the stove.

Serve with pickles, raita, salad, or papad.

The rice picture you see on the right sidebar is a vegetarian fried rice made in a similar way.

For the asparagus rice,

Oil – 1-2 tbsp

Mustard seeds – 1 tsp

Curry leaves – a few

Shallots/Onions – 1 tbsp

Green chillies - 2, slit

Ginger – 1 tsp, minced

Turmeric powder – a pinch

Asparagus – ½ a bunch, chopped

Fresh coconut – ¼ cup, grated (optional)

Lemon juice – 1 tsp

Salt – to taste

Cooked rice – 1 cup

Heat up oil, add mustard seeds, curry leaves, then onion and ginger. After a minute, add chopped asparagus, turmeric powder, and salt. Cook until the asparagus are done, about 3 minutes. Add coconut and lemon juice. Cook for a minute. Now add the rice and mix well.

If you have cooked dry beans of any kind, you can mix it with the rice.

Serve with raita/yogurt, pickles and papad.

What do I do when I don’t have leftover anything in the refrigerator? How do I deal with it? Here are a few of my express cooking options

1. Mini bagel or English muffin pizzas
2. Quesadillas with bell peppers, olives, and lots of cheese.
3. Spaghetti with a ground meat sauce. Ground meat is appropriate for quick cooking.
4. Rice, tuna fry and seasoned yogurt. Seasoned yogurt is a 3 minute preparation. To the hot oil, add mustard seeds, curry leaves, onion, garlic, whole chillies, then when the onions are brown, add turmeric powder, yogurt and salt. If you have leftover mezhukkupuratti, you can add it to the seasoned yogurt to make a brand new curry. I have tried bittergourd and plantain mezhukkupurattis so far and they turned out great.
5. And if I am in no mood to cook, I will just log on to pizzahut.com ;)

This is my contribution to Mallugirl’s Summer Express Cooking Event as well as for this month’s JFI which is hosted by Sharmi of Neivedyam.