My sons came back from having tea at their pal’s the other evening and raved about the meal they’d had. ‘It was the best tea ever, Dad,’ they exaggerated. ‘Can you cook it for us here?’ Well, that was some claim, given the lengths I go to to keep them nutritionally-inspired, so I called the mum and she knocked me for six by telling me her dish was taken from Nick Coffer’s fantastic ‘My Daddy Cooks’ cookbook – a book I own, and have used many times.
Still, I can’t believe I missed this one. The recipe is for Leftover Chicken Fried Rice, but I didn’t have any leftover chicken and so cooked the rice instead. It was fantastic enough for me to use it as an accompaniment for another dish I cooked for my wife and I.
Serves 3-4
2 garlic cloves, finely chopped
1 onion, finely chopped
1-2 eggs, beaten
1 tsp caster sugar
1 tsp curry powder
Squirt of tomato puree
Handful of frozen peas
450g cooked rice
Soy sauce
Vegetable oil
1. Heat a frying pan on a medium heat. Tip in the garlic, stir for a few seconds, then add the onion and fry for a couple of minutes.
2. Pour in the eggs, let them set a little, and then continue to stir so they scramble and mix in with the onion and garlic.
3. Add the sugar, curry powder and tomato puree. Mix it all together well.
4. Add the peas and a little water and leave to cook for 3 mins, stirring as you go.
5. Mix in the cooked rice and a few good dashes of soy sauce. Make sure everything is piping hot and then serve immediately.
• If you want to make this dish with leftover chicken, lamb or beef, simply shred the meat and add it to the dish at stage 3.
