Fried Rice and Cheese Wontons

     After weeks of procrastination over making fried rice each week for dinner, I finally made it and a ton of it because I was feeding three guests. As a side dish I made cheese wontons for the first time. I made the rice the night before because it stops the rice from becoming mushy when cooked a second time. I use jasmine rice which is long grain Thai rice but basmati rice is also a good rice to use when making fried rice. So to make this dish, the first step is to cook the rice as directed on the package the night before. Once it is done cooking, allow it to cool in a large bowl and then put it in the refrigerator, covered. I use the recipe on the back of the Kikkoman fried rice seasoning packet. Since I made two batches of rice, I double everything in the recipe including a second packet of seasoning. Here is what you need for a single batch:

3 cups cold cooked rice

1 egg

2 strips thick cut bacon (Substitute other meats if you choose)

3 scallions (green onion) chopped

1 packet Kikkoman fried rice seasoning

2 tablespoons water

Soy sauce for seasoning

     Since the directions are on the back of one of the ingredients, I’m not going to go into how to make the rice but I will tell you how it came out later in this post. Now to the cheese wontons, usually there is crab meat mixed into these but I omitted it. Here is what you will need for my recipe for cheese wontons:

8oz softened cream cheese

3 scallions (green onion) chopped

½ teaspoon ground black pepper

½ teaspoon paprika

1 package wonton wrappers

Egg whites from one large egg

Oil for frying (Don’t Use Vegetable)

Sweet and sour sauce for dipping

     Before you do anything, put the oil in a deep pan or pot and turn the heat on. You are looking to get the oil to about 350 to 400 degrees. Mix the first four ingredients in a bowl until thoroughly combined. Take a teaspoon of the mixture and place it in the center of a wonton wrapper. Take two fingers, dip them in the egg white, and spread them along the edges of the wrapper. Fold over one corner across the top of the mixture top the opposite corner. Pull the other two corners up to meet the already combined corners and then you’ll have one done. Repeat this process until the cream cheese mixture is gone. I place the wontons on a paper towel until I’m done. Christine’s cousin, sister, and sister’s boyfriend came over during the tedious process of making these homemade cheese wontons so they had to wait a little while before we ate. Once the oil is up to temperature, begin placing these in the oil a few at a time until golden brown. Let them drain on some paper towels and serve them with sweet and sour sauce to dip in.

     The rice was good but not the best that I have made. I chalk it up to making a double batch all at once. The stars of the meal, at least in my eyes, were the cheese wontons. They cooked pretty evenly for not being able to use my new deep fryer. They were crunchy and didn’t taste greasy like they sometimes do when ordered out. Christine commented that they were cream cheesier than from an actual Chinese restaurant which she enjoyed. For a first try, they came out well and I will definitely be making them again. Overall a good meal that I mill make in the future.

Rating: Yummy - I can't wait to perfect these dishes.

Chicken Stir Fry 2.0

     Getting home by 6pm at the absolute earliest really puts a strain on what I can make for dinner if I want to be done eating before 7pm. Stir fry is a quick and easy dinner idea that I have made before so a lot of this post will repeat my prior attempt. I made a few changes that I had hoped would be for the better but not all of them ended up not turning out the way I wanted them to. I began as I did before by boiling some jasmine rice and dropped the heat to a simmer while the chicken and vegetables cooked. I only seasoned the chicken with salt and pepper this time and left out the five spice.

     I let the chicken sit a while, while I started on the vegetables. I tried a different mix of frozen stir fry vegetables this time and liked this one better. Asian stir fry is the name of the mix and it contains water chestnuts, baby corn, snap peas, red peppers, and mushrooms. I sautéed the vegetables in a tablespoon of olive oil until they were heated through. Next, I added the chicken in with the vegetables and cooked it until it was no longer pink. I also bought a different sauce to go with the chicken and vegetables since I know Christine doesn’t really care for the traditional stir fry sauce. We agreed upon a Caribbean style sweet and tangy sauce which sounded good. Upon opening the bottle, it seemed a bit watery and not as syrupy as the previous sauce. I added it to the chicken-vegetable mixture and allowed the sauce to reduce to see if I could get a better consistency.

     The sauce never tightened up and I didn’t want to over cook the chicken so I had to go with what I had. Like before I laid some rice on each plate as a base and placed the chicken and vegetables on top. The chicken, vegetables, and rice were all cooked fine but the taste just wasn’t there. Leaving out the five spice took away the ginger flavor that was masked by the stir fry sauce last time. I still think the chicken needs something more but haven’t found what that is yet. The sauce that we went with was kind of bland and not saucy enough for my taste. I guess I’m used to the heavy sauces often found in Chinese cooking.

Rating: Fair – Some changes worked but others didn't.

Chicken Stir Fry

     Not being able to get out of work on time doesn't allow me much time too cook if I want to eat at a reasonable time. This was the story tonight but I had planned ahead by picking out something I knew I could make quickly. I love Chinese food but it is very bad for you so I made this healthier Chinese dish. As soon as I got home I put some jasmine rice in a one and one half cups of water and brought that to a soft boil. While that began to heat up, I cut up a large chicken breast and seasoned it with salt, pepper, and five spice. In a large skillet I began to heat up stir fry oil on a medium heat.
    Once the rice began to boil, I covered it and dropped the heat to low. After about five minutes I added the seasoned chicken to the oil and stirred frequently until cooked through. Wegmans has a variety of frozen vegetable mixes used for stir frying. I went with the Hong Kong mix which contains broccoli, water chestnuts, mushrooms, and snap peas. Add these to the pan with the chicken along with about one third cup stir fry sauce. The Asian section of the grocery store has a pretty good selection of sauces that you can use depending on your taste. I lowered the heat down to keep everything warm while I waited for the rice to be done.
    When the has absorbed all the water, turn the heat off and let rest for about five minutes and then fluff with a fork. I spooned some out to make a base on the plate and then poured some of the stir fry mixture on top. I bought some soy sauce to go on the rice because the sauce doesn't saturate the rice very well.
Rating: Yummy - With so many choices of sauces, meats, and vegetables you can let your imagination run wild.