Herb fried rice is a cheap dish to make. Cheap food is essential these days. Things are getting real for us. We are on the home stretch of paying off my student loans, a month in a half to be exact. Based on our spreadsheets, I had us being done at the end of September. For months now, we believed we would reach our goal of becoming debt free in September. Well a couple of weeks ago, I noticed I had an extra paycheck in the month of September, which was not correct. Long story short we were short a nice chunk of money to reach our goal when we expected to. It was looking like in October we would be finished.
I immediately felt defeated. I was so upset with myself for not combing through our budget and looking for errors. Then something inside me clicked. I thought how can we still reach our goal in September. I remembered Dave Ramsey saying “Its not what you are willing to do to hit your goals, but what you are willing to give up”. The positive part about finding out when we did was that we still had 2 months to make it happen. I literally took everything that was extra in the budget out. I also cut back our grocery budget. Phil and I also tried to look for any market research studies we could do to earn extra money. Right now, it is looking like our goal of September is still possible. The next month and a half is going to be hard. We literally are going to be eating as cheaply as possible and only buy necessities. That brings me to this recipe…..
You really can eat on a budget and still eat delicious food. This recipe has a little bit of meat, veggies, rice and handful of flavorings to set it apart. All those ingredients make for cheap eats and the herbs add a great flavor, without a big expense. I have learned that good fried rice takes a bit of patience, and takes time to make sure the rice gets a bit crispy. Also, you can totally leave out the ground pork and throw in a couple more eggs to make this even more inexpensive. Feel free to use other veggies if you are not feeling the broccoli slaw. Oh and you really want to use day old rice for this, so plan ahead.
- 6 cups cooked rice, day old (approx 2 cups dried)
- 3 tbsp neutral flavored oil, separated
- 4 large eggs, beaten
- 4 tbsp chopped garlic
- 4 tbsp chopped ginger
- 5 scallions, sliced (green and whites separated)
- ¾ lb ground pork
- 2 large shallots, chopped
- 12 oz package of broccoli slaw
- 1 large handful of cilantro (stems and leaves), barely chopped
- 1 handful of basil leaves, torn
- lime wedges, for serving
- 4 tbsp fish sauce
- 2 tbsp soy sauce
- 4 tsp sugar
- ½ tsp white pepper
- In a small bowl, whisk all the ingredients for the sauce.
- Put the rice in a large bowl and loosen up any clumps with your hands. Set the rice, the sauce, pork and broccoli slaw in separate bowls near the stove.
- Heat 1 tablespoon of the oil in a large wok or large heavy skillet over medium-high heat. Pour the eggs into the skillet and cook. Fold the cooked egg up an over itself until set, but still shiny and tender. About 45 second. Remove to a plate and return the pan to the heat.
- Add the remaining 2 tablespoons of oil to the pan, once hot add the garlic, ginger, and scallion whites. Stir-fry for just 30 seconds, then add the pork and shallots. Break up the pork into small pieces with a wooden spoon. Continue stir-frying until the pork starts to brown, about 4-5 minutes. Turn the heat up to high, and add the broccoli slaw. Stir-fry until the slaw start to get tender and brown, about 4 minutes.
- Dump the rice into the pan and toss well to combine everything. Use a spatula to spread the rice out and maximize the contact with the hot pan. Stir and fold once a minute for 5 minutes or until all of the rice is hot and is charred in spots.
- Pour the sauce over rice and toss to coat. Keep cooking, tossing, spreading and tossing again, until the rice is evenly colored and looks somewhat dry. Remove from the heat. Return the scrambled eggs to the pan, chopping a few times to break it up. Toss in scallion greens, cilantro, and basil. Serve hot with a squeeze of lime.
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