Vegetable Fried Rice and Paprika Chicken (LazyChef Christmas)
About This Recipe
Growing up, if there was any traditional meal that featured once a year and during Christmas, it was my mother’s fried rice. We almost always started chopping the veggies early in the morning and by late afternoon Christmas food was ready.
For the life of me, I will never understand why cooking in Nigeria took forever while I was younger.
My mother always made her special fried rice with the trimmings. And every year mommy’s fried rice came with different trimmings.
This year, I’ll be making mom’s special Kidney bean fried rice which has now become my vegetable fried rice.
For me, the kidney beans played the role as the protein and meat. (see what I did there?)
Let me tell you guys something. I made this fried rice for my friend and until today, she keeps saying…”please make me that your fried rice, There’s this taste that I cannot explain and it keeps me wanting for more.” And I kept saying “it’s just cloves…” lol(I think cloves is known as Kanafuru in Nigeria).
During the holiday season, it’s quite easy to pack on the pounds and this rice recipe with the crunchy veggies goes a long way for me as I try to eat meat a lot less. Trust me, it’s a lesson learned.
And for those who enjoy their meat, you could pair it with some paprika chicken(recipe included). You could also eye ball the ingredients for the chicken and use it for a whole roaster chicken or a small turkey. Trust me, you cannot go wrong with this recipe.
For the Paprika chicken, I got the original recipe from jocooks.com; then I tweaked it to fit my pantry 🙂
With this recipe, you can never go wrong! Not only is it easy, but it will turn you to an instant Chef. Because your family and guests won’t stop asking what that sweet taste was… 😉
Ingredients
Instructions
for chicken
Preheat oven to 350-425 degrees(depending on how hot your oven gets)
wash and pat the drumsticks dry. Season with salt and black pepper
In a pot, heat the olive oil. Add the garlic, paprika, pepper flakes and thyme. Cook for about one minute; then pour over the drumsticks. Make sure the mixture coats each drumstick; then roast in the oven until the juices run clear…
for rice
Wash rice and completely drain
Heat a cooking pot with 2 tbsps oil
Add the bay leaf, cloves and bouillon if using. Stir fry for a few seconds to release the flavor in the herbs. Add the rice and stir fry until it begins to brown a little. Pour in the water, check for seasonings, cover with a tight lid and cook until rice is aldente.
Meanwhile, heat 2tbsps oil along with the butter. Add the thyme leaves, black pepper and curry. Stir fry for a few seconds to release flavors. Add the onions and garlic and stir fry until the garlic is fragrant. Add the veggies and chili flakes(except the cabbage) and stir fry for about 3 minutes. You want the veggies to retain it’s crunch. Add the kidney beans and the cabbage and stir fry for another minute. At this point you can do one of two things.
a…Pour the fried veggies over the rice and toss or add the rice in little increments into the stir fried veggies. Check for seasonings and serve with the chicken 🙂
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