#2 Dad! What's for lunch?

My children and I love home-cooked foods made by my wife. She is an expert who can cook multicultural foods, such as Filipino and a few Korean, Indian, Vietnamese, and Mexican cuisines. We were all dependent on her when it came to meals. 

That situation changed when she started working out of state, and my daughter left for college. I've never learned from my wife how to cook. Now that she is not with us during weekdays, I must prepare meals for my teenage son and myself to survive.

Thanks to video calls, the internet, and my fear of starvation, I learned to cook fried rice. Not a typical one because I can change the flavor by adding a different key ingredient. I can also enhance its nutritive value by adding more and different vegetables and spices. In this blog, I will share the recipe for salmon-veggie fried rice.

Ingredients

3 tablespoons butter, divided

3 cloves garlic, minced

1 medium-sized white or red onion, sliced

salt and black pepper

garlic powder

1 teaspoon sesame oil

1/2 cup carrot chips, sliced

1/2 cup broccoli, sliced

1/2 cup frozen corn kernel (or green peas)

1 cup cooked and chilled white (or brown) rice

1 cup cooked and chilled quinoa

2-3 slices of cooked salmon, chunked 

1 egg 

Instructions

1. Heat 1 tablespoon of butter in a large non-stick pan over medium-high heat until melted.

2. Add garlic and onion, frozen corn kernel, and sliced carrot chips. Season with a generous pinch of salt and pepper. Saute until corn kernel and carrots are soft, then add the cooked salmon.

3. Immediately add the rice and quinoa and another 1 tablespoon of butter. Stir until melted. Add sesame oil, garlic powder, and additional salt or pepper, as desired.

4. Add the broccoli and continue sauteing for additional 5 minutes to fry the rice, stirring occasionally.

5. Add the remaining butter on the side of the pan to scramble the egg, then mixed it with the rest of the ingredients. Serve immediately or refrigerate in a tight container for another meal.

Variations. Instead of salmon, you can modify the flavor of your fried rice by using cooked chicken, beef, Italian sausage, shrimp, crab cake, or kimchi. Whenever I have a leftover of these dishes, I use it as a key ingredient for the fried rice. You can also top the fried rice with chopped green onions or sliced cucumber.

Nutritional benefits. Salmon is very low in saturated fat and a good source of protein. Quinoa is also rich in protein and very high in fiber. In addition, carrots, broccoli, garlic, and onions have cancer-fighting properties.

When my teenage son asks, "Dad! What's for lunch (or dinner)?" I reply, "What do you want? Chicken-veggie fried rice, seafood-veggie fried rice, kimchi-veggie fried rice, or sausage-veggie fried rice?" The case is solved.