(Photo: Carlos Sarmiento)
In my last posting I featured a delicious steak recipe. it turned out that I ended up making a lot more steak than I intended which ended in leftovers. I also had some rice from another dinner I made. So, what to do with leftover rice and steak? Simple, fried rice!
The earliest record of fried rice is in the Sui dynasty (589–618 AD) in China. Fried rice is believed to have started as a way of reusing leftover rice due to Chinese taboos against wasting food.
(Photo: Yiyun Ge)
As such, all fried rice dishes can trace their origins to Chinese fried rice.
Today’s recipe features some traditional oriental ingredients for the basic fried rice structure, only adding a slight Latin American twist by including fresh cilantro and pairing it with a delightful wine from Chile.
Let‘s get cooking!
Menu: Steak-cilantro fried rice.
Wine pairing: 2018 Montes Alpha Syrah
D.O. (Valle de Colchagua, Chile)
Serves 2
Ingredients
2 cups of cooked white rice
1 cup of cooked steak, thinly sliced
1 small yellow onion, finely chopped
1 medium shallot, finely minced
1/4 cup fresh cilantro, chopped
4 eggs
3 tablespoons of oil (canola or grape seed)
Stirring sauce:
1 garlic clove
1/2 teaspoon roasted chili paste
2 tablespoons of soy sauce
1/2 teaspoon rice vinegar
1 teaspoon ginger
1/2 teaspoon pepper
1 tablespoon sesame oil
2 teaspoons of sugar
1 tablespoon of water
Garnish: extra fresh cilantro leaves.
Directions
Steak:
*If you don’t have any leftover steak to thinly slice in bite size, here’s a quick recipe.
8 ounces of skirt steak
1 tablespoon of soy sauce
2 teaspoons of sesame oil
2 garlic clove, finely minced
1/2 teaspoon of ground ginger
1/2 teaspoon of salt and pepper
Combine soy sauce, sesame oil, ginger, garlic, salt and pepper into a mixing bowl. Stir well. Add mixture into a large ziplock bag and place steak into bag. Let marinade in refrigerator for at least 30 minutes.
Remove steak from bag. Discard bag and marinade and flash fry on hot lightly oiled pan for 3-4 minutes on each side. Remove from pan and let steak rest on cutting board for 10 minutes. Slice steak into thin bite sizes. Set aside for fried rice preparation.
Fried rice
Stirring sauce preparation:
mix all sauce ingredient in a small bowl and set aside.
Eggs:
Beat eggs together until smooth.
Heat a non-stick skillet with 1 tablespoon of oil over medium-high heat. Once the pan is hot, add the beaten eggs and scramble them for about a minute or two. Transfer the eggs to a dish. Set dish aside.
Rice:
On a large deep frying pan (or wok), heat 2 tablespoons of oil on medium high heat.
Add yellow onion and shallots and cook for about 3-4 minutes. Stirring well.
Add cooked rice and stir well. Fry for about 2 minutes. Add stirring sauce and stir well.
Reduce heat to medium. Add steak and stir fry for 4 minutes.
Add eggs and mix. Cook for additional 2 minutes. Remove from heat.
Add a few cilantro leaves into the rice and stir well.
Serve it up!
Serve roce in individual deep bowls. Garnish with extra fresh cilantro leaves on top.
Bon appetit! Enjoy!
(Photo: Carlos Sarmiento)
(Photo: Carlos Sarmiento)
(Photo: Carlos Sarmiento)
About the wine…
Montes Alpha Syrah was made with selected grapes from vineyards in the Colchagua Valley irrigated according to the Water Saving Winegrowing system that Aurelio Montes and his team developed over the course of years of research.
This system allows Montes to determine the precise amount of water it need to add to the vineyards after the winter rains, especially in particularly dry years when irrigation is indispensible.
This has enabled Montes to reduce irrigation water by 65% while simultaneously improving the quality of the fruit.
2018 Montes Alpha Syrah
D.O. (Valle de Colchagua, Chile)
(Photo: Carlos Sarmiento)
Tasting notes: Deep cherry-red in color, nuanced with violet. The nose is intense and complex, with ripe black fruit, fig, and spicy black pepper, intermingling with tobacco and meatiness, delicate notes of dark chocolate and a subtle touch of toast.
The palate is well-balanced and broad, with incredibly smooth tannins lending structure and weight on the mid-palate, leading to a long and elegant finish.
Grapes: 100% Syrah
Food pairing: Highly recommended with red meats, stir-fried beef, pork chops, spaghetti with Bolognese sauce, and lamb chops.
Accolades:
91 Points
Wine Enthusiast
91 Points
For more information, visit:
Special thanks to my friends at Kobrand Wine and Spirits for this outstanding wine pairing collaboration.
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(Photo: Leon Liu)