Leftover rice for stir fry

The dilemma of what to do with a huge amount of leftover rice was the catalyst behind this stir fry recipe.

(It’s a long story that has to do with a miscommunication of how much rice several folks were bringing to an International Food dinner at our house. Suffice it to say that I had about eight cups of that fluffy stuff in my refrigerator. After one chicken/rice casserole, my hubby was ready for something different.)

I googled and looked at a ton of recipes, then came up with my own. Well, it might not have been a ton of recipes, but I scrolled for a very long time. I’m happy to say this recipe was a keeper.

My husband says he could eat this once a week.

All righty then!

Let me see if I can remember what I did for this recipe. Hmmmmm . . . .

I know one thing I did! I’ve found an easy one-dish meal that will satisfy his need for plenty of protein and starch plus allows vegetables to find their way into his body as well. There is so little clean-up, which, of course, is an added plus.

Ingredients for stir fry

So get your ingredients together, chop or dice or slice them, and you’re ready to go. You can use pork or chicken for this recipe. The first time I made it, I used my canned chicken. The second time, I cooked pork loin chops in the microwave and chopped them up with my kitchen scissors.

In addition to your cooked, cold rice and choice of meat, you will need water chestnuts, carrots, peas or sugar snap peas (or both), bok choy, onions, bean sprouts, mushrooms, garlic, oil (I use olive), and soy sauce. You can mix or match your choice of vegetables.

A hint on the bok choy: it cooks down a lot, so it is hardly noticeable in this dish. don’t think my specified amount is too much. If anything, it’s not enough.

A hint on the oil for stir-frying: if you use sesame oil for flavor, don’t use it for cooking, or it will burn. You can use olive oil or vegetable oil.

A wok would be great to do this in, but you can just use a regular large skillet.

I’m blessed with a cook-n-dine, so that’s what I use, and that’s what you’ll see in my photos.

Get your ingredients together,

and then turn on your skillet and get ready for some Easy Chinese Stir Fry!

carrots, onions, water chestnuts, mushrooms, garlic, bok choy, and pork, for starters.

Stir-fry your vegetables first. If your meat is not cooked, you can do that first and then add your vegetables. You can add some Soy Sauce now or wait until later. Remember that Soy Sauce is high in sodium, so be sure to taste before you season too heavily with salt. I use the Light Soy Sauce for that reason, but you can use regular if you’d like.

Then add your cooked meat and rice.

Finally, be sure to season with salt and pepper and more soy sauce, if desired.