Ground Beef Fried Rice

The past two days has been an emotional roller coaster...it is that time of the year so it should be understandable...

I cooked some fried rice with ground beef, corn, and peas. It is a simple recipe which was even made simpler because I used ingredients that are already cooked. I cooked the ground beef, corn, and peas the night before. It is actually a complete dish which I just added to the fried rice. The result is a complete, easy to make, one-bowl dish that taste really good.

Fried rice is actually an easy dish to make because there is no limit to what one can add to the dish. It can be served as a side dish or a main course depending on the ingredients that has been added into the dish. The seasoning can vary as well. It can just be seasoned with salt or whatever seasoning that you prefer. I prefer to add soy sauce on mine because that is what I have been accustomed to :) The most important thing with fried rice, in my opinion, is using day old steamed rice or rice that was cooked the day before. It is a little drier than freshly steamed rice which makes it perfect for the recipe.


Ingredients

1 cup Sauteed Beef with Corn and Peas (recipe here; just substitute ground beef for ground pork)
3 cups (day old) steamed rice
2 tsp soy sauce
1 shallot, finely chopped
3 cloves garlic, finely chopped
salt and pepper, to taste
1 Tbsp oil

1. Heat pan over medium heat. Add oil then saute shallot and garlic until translucent and fragrant.
2. Add rice and stir fry until warmed through.
3. Add prepared sauteed beef with corn and peas. Mix well and continue to cook. Make sure you stir the rice frequently to prevent burning the bottom.
4. Add soy sauce and mix well. Season with salt and pepper according to taste.
5. Cook for another 4-5 minutes then remove from heat and serve warm.

Sauteed Pork with Corn and Peas

Ughhh... I woke up with pain on my right shoulder this morning which means my old injury is acting up again. It is strange though because the weather is neither cold nor is it raining which are two of the reasons to cause my old injury to act up. This time though it seem really bad because I cannot move my neck towards any side of my shoulder. Arghh! I am no stranger to pain as I have had chronic pain for several years now as a result of work related injuries which I have undergone surgery for but I really hate it when my old injuries act up because it is usually worse than the last one. I had to take pain medicine for the pain which is not really a narcotic but it usually puts me to sleep. The problem is that it could not even make me go to sleep as the pain shoots up every single time I move in bed. I ended up sleeping on the floor which puts some pressure on the back thus keeping the pain level lower.

I was hungry though when I woke up this morning so I had to cook something before I went back to sleep again. it was a good thing that I ad ground pork defrosted in the refrigerator so I quickly sauteed it and added frozen peas and corn then season it some soy sauce, freshly ground pepper, and salt. The result was really good which made even tastier with a few drops of knorr liquid seasoning (commonly sold in Filipino stores). Here is the recipe of the dish I made today...

Ingredients:

1 lb ground pork (or ground beef, if you like)
3/4 cup frozen peas
3/4 cup frozen corn
3 cloves garlic, finely chopped
1 shallot, finely chopped
sea salt and freshly ground pepper, to taste
1 Tbsp soy sauce (you may use less if you prefer)
2 Tbsp oil for sauteing
Knorr liquid seasoning (optional)


1. Heat pan over medium heat then add oil and heat.
2. Add shallot and garlic and saute until fragrant and translucent.
3. Add ground pork and saute. Make sure you break up large piece.
4. Cook until brown and cooked well. Note: I did not add any water as the pork will produce its own liquid when sauteed which is usually enough to make it tender but feel free to dd water if it is not tender enough.
5. Cook until all of the liquid has been absorbed then add frozen peas and corn.
6. Cook until peas and corn has been heated through and defrosted then add soy sauce.
7. Season with salt and pepper according to taste.
8. Continue to saute until meat, peas, and corn is cooked well ( about 5 to 10 minutes.
9. Remove from heat and transfer to a serving platter. Serve warm.
10. Optional: may serve with knorr liquid seasoning by sprinkling a few drops according to taste.

Easy Arroz Valenciana

Arroz valenciana is one of the many dishes that is popular in the Philippines, particularly in Negros Occidental where my family is from. It is almost always present in gatherings. The dish uses glutinous or sweet rice, turmeric powder, pork, pork liver, chicken, peas, raisins, and bell pepper.


The process of cooking arroz valenciana can be intricate and laborious if you take the long way since you have to make sure that the rice is cooked well. This meant stirring it constantly to make sure that it is evenly cooked and to prevent the bottom from getting burned. That is just too much work for me so I used to stay away from making this dish. When I first came to the States (which was ages ago), I stayed with my aunt in New Jersey and that's where I learned how to make arroz valenciana the easy way. The first secret is cooking the rice in a rice cooker. The second is using chicken broth instead of water to cook the rice which eliminates having to season or making sure that the dish is evenly seasoned. The third is to boil the meat separate then slicing it. The last one can be done ahead of time and can be kept in the refrigerator until needed.


Ingredients:

3-4 cups glutinous (sweet) rice
chicken broth (enough to cook the rice and then some for cooking the rest of the ingredients)
1/4 lb pork, sliced
1/2 chicken breast, boiled and hand shredded
1/4 lb pork liver, sliced
1/4 lb shrimp, deveined and shelled
1/2 cup frozen peas
1/4 cup raisins
1 small onion, chopped
3 cloves garlic, chopped
1 small bell pepper, sliced thinly
sea salt and pepper, to taste
1 - 2 Tbsp oil for sauteeing
2 tsp turmeric powder
2 hard bolied eggs, sliced into wedges (optional)


1. Place rice and turmeric powder in a rice cooker. Add enough chicken broth to cook the rice. Stir half way through the cooking process to make sure that turmeric is incorporated into the rice evenly.
2. Boil chicken breast, pork, pork liver in a pan until tender. Let it cool and then slice/ shred.
3. Heat oil in a large pan. Addonion and garlic and cook until fragrant and translucent.
4. Add shrimp and saute until it turns orange. Add sliced/shredded meat and saute until heated through.
5. Add about 1 cup of chicken broth, peas, and raisin. Simmer until raisins has plumped up and peas is heated through. Don't worry if there is a little too much liquid because the rice will soak it up.
6. Add bell pepper and cooked rice mixture. Mix well.
7. Adjust seasoning as needed and according to taste.
8. Transfer to a serving platter and decorate with shrimps and/or hard boiled egg wedges. Serve warm.

NOTE: You can leave the shrimp shells on if you like. If you leave out the liver if you want.

Blackened Salmon Topped with Orange-Tomato Salsa and a side of Buttered Corn and Peas

I cannot believe that this dish is my very first real meal of the day and it isalready 1145 pm. I have been very busy doing my research on a project for my current class that I have only been snacking on raosted almond roll (leftover from two days ago) in between research. Whew and I am not even done yet. I still have one more topic to go but couldn't seem to find the right information and organize my thoughts. Oh well, that will have to wait until tomorrow. Anyway, it is not due until Monday at 1159 pm so I have plenty of time.

This is such a nice and easy dish. And the best part? it only took me less than 30 minutes to prepapre from start to finish. That is including the salsa and side of corn and peas. The blackened salmon looked and tasted really good as well as the rest of the food. The salmon though came out really well because it blackened to perfection. The only thing's that is missing is desser. I totally forgot to make any...Oh well... I think I ate too much anyway because now I am feeling lazy. Ughhh... I cannot even rest and enjoy my favorite Korean show because I have to do the dishes after this...hehehe...the good news is I think I only washed 2 loads of dishes because I have not had time to do my usual recipe experiments :)



Orange-Tomato Salsa:

Ingredients:

1 orange, peeled and pith removed; sliced and segmented
1 vine-riped tomato, cubed
1 shallot, thinly sliced
3 Thai chili pepper
1 - 2 Tbsp freshly squeezed lemon juice
sea salt and pepper, to taste
small bunch of parsley, de-stemmed then roughly chopped
small bunch of cilantro, de-stemmed and roughly chopped

Coombine all ingredients then set aside.



Blackened Salmon

Ingredients:
Salmon fillets
1 Tbsp (or more) jerk seasoning
extra virgin olive oil

1. Preheat oven to 325F
2. Wash salmon fillet and then dry using a paper towel
3. Apply extra virgin olive oil all over the salmon.
4. Coat Salmon with jerk seasoning
5. Heat a heavy cast iron pan over medium heat.
6. Pour a little olive oil then fry salmon skin side down for about 4-5 minutes
7. Turn salmon over and cook for another 3 minutes.
8. Transfer pan with salmon to the oven and bake for about 5 minutes.
9. Remove from oven, transfer to a platter, top with orange-mango salsa then serve.



Buttered Corn and Peas

Ingredients:

1 cup frozen corn
1 cup frozen peas
2 Tbsp butter
salt and pepper, to taste

1. Melt butter over low medium heat.
2. Add corn and peas and sautee until warm and water has evaporated.