LOW GI FRIED RICE WITH OMELETTE

I had an extremely glutinous weekend, food wise. I won't go into details about the pizza and McDonalds I ate on Saturday night/ Sunday morning, except to say that I woke up feeling disgusting and in desperate need of vegetables.

 I purchased a Women's Weekly Cookbook titled 'Super Diet' in Noosa early this year. To be completely honest, I glanced through this cookbook many moons ago and thought that it was a little too limiting for me. I am all for 'diet' and 'healthy' cookbooks, but 'super diet' as a title seemed a bit excessive. So I hadn't taken a second glance at the book after purchasing it and having a fleeting browse. Well, this Sunday I knew that I needed 'super diet' food to kick my body back into gear. So I flipped through this cookbook and gave it a second chance. And through this activity I learnt to never judge a book by its cover, or in this case, its title. It baffles me that I learn so many important life lessons through the art of cooking. 

This dish is the BEST fried rice I have ever tasted. And I recently went to Bali on what I can only describe as a 'food' holiday. Give it a try! The vegetables can easily be substituted for whatever you have on hand. 

Ingredients 

• 2 cups doongara 'clever' rice 
• I highly recommend this rice- it has very low GI and is Australian grown.  
• 4 cups water 
• 1 tablespoon peanut oil
• 3 eggs, lightly beaten 
• 2 cloves garlic, crushed 
• 3cm piece fresh ginger (15g), grated 
• 1/4 teaspoon chilli flakes 
• 1 medium red capsicum (200-250g), cut into 1cm pieces
• 200-300g green beans, trimmed and cut into 1cm pieces 
• 1 bunch broccolini, trimmed and stalks cut 
• 1/3 cup light soy sauce 
• 3 tablespoons rice vinegar
• 4 green onions, sliced thinly 

NB- other ideas for vegetables include mushrooms, baby corn and bean sprouts. 

- I used a very generous portion of rice (2 cups) in this recipe. If you would prefer a more even balance between vegetables and rice, use between 1 - 1 1/3 cups of rice and 2 1/2- 3 cups of water, respectively. 

Cooking 

1. Place rice in a medium saucepan, cover with 4 cups of water and bring to the boil. Reduce heat and simmer, covered, for around 10-15 minutes or until water is absorbed and rice is tender. 

2. Heat half of the peanut oil in the wok. Pour in half the egg and tilt the wok to coat with egg. Cook until omelette is set. Remove omelette and repeat with remaining egg. Slice omelette thinly. 

3. Heat remaining oil in wok and stir-fry garlic, ginger and chilli flakes until fragrant. Add vegetables and stir-fry until tender. 

4. Add rice, soy sauce, rice vinegar and stir-fry until hot. Stir in half the green onions. 

5. Serve rice topped with remaining onion and omelette strips. 

x E