I’m back from the holidays! I know I left without any warning, but I figured everyone would be eating so much anyway that the internet could do without one more food blogger for a month. I’ve been cooking like crazy though, and since I didn’t actually have a proper holiday, I had quite a bit of time on my hands to think up new things to simmer, bake, reduce, fry and chop. I’ll start today with a not-very-holidayesque recipe, but still quite delicious and apt for all those who are sick of having leftovers, as is my case. This mainly because in my house we have a yet to be diagnosed kitchen disorder which prevents us from cooking anything in small, appropriate amounts, leaving us with enough to go around for a week. And so our Christmas turkeys (in Mexican tradition we have turkey for Christmas dinner) become staple diet until sometime in January. Not that I’m complaining, it’s only once a year, and hey, I got to make my own turkey this year (and it was scary. I never thought weight mattered, but when you’re facing a naked empty 23 pound animal all sorts of things can go wrong) which turned out delicious, if I do say so myself.
Enough Christmas rambling, I intended to write a post sans the holiday references, but failed. So I’ll get on to today’s recipe: Fried rice with rib-eye and quail eggs over bok choy leaves. No need for further description, it is every bit as delicious as it sounds. Read more for the recipe. (And make it even though it takes quite a bit of chopping! its worth it!)

Fried rice with rib-eye and quail eggs over bok choy leaves
(Own recipe)

Serves 4-5 as a main dish

2 cups white basmati rice
3/4 cups wild rice
1 scallion
1 zucchini
1 bok choy head
1 cup mushroom (of your choice) in very small cubes
4 thin rib-eye steaks for fajitas, skirt steaks or other cut of your choice, as long as it’s not thick and not too lean.
4 garlic cloves, peeled, crushed and roughly chopped
Ground ginger
Sesame seed oil
Garlic powder
1 tsp Black sesame seeds, if available

For the sauce
2 limes
Soy sauce

Directions

In a medium saucepan, heat two tablespoon sesame oil over med heat. Add the scallion and the rice and coat it well in the oil, using a wooden spoon. Wait 3-5 minutes, until you see a tinge of brown on some of the grains, and add 5 cups of water. As soon as it comes to a boil, reduce the heat to a simmer and cover. (You can let it cook while you do the rest, it’ll take about 15 minutes. The rice is done when there is no more water on the pan and the grains are soft all the way through, but not sticky. You may add a bit more water depending on your cooking conditions). Once done, remove from the heat and set aside.

In a large wok with the heat off place 4 tbsps sesame oil, add the garlic and a pinch of ginger. Let it sit to infuse while you chop your carrots, zucchini and mushrooms into a small brunoise (small cubes of about 3 mm each). Next, separate the bok choy leaves and wash them thoroughly (they usually have dirt in between) and choose 6 of the largest prettiest stems and in a “v” form, cut the stem from the leaf, leaving about an inch of the white part on each one. You’ll use these one for frying and serving. Chop the other leaves and stems into as small cube-like bits as possible. Prepare your steaks by adding salt and garlic powder to each.

In a large frying saucepan, heat two tbsps. sesame oil on med-high. Place the bok choy leaves and fry them for 1 minute on each side, turning only once. Let them rest on a paper towel. In the same pan with high heat, cook the steaks. (depending on their thickness, they’ll take about 2 min. on each side). Set them aside to cool for 5 minutes, and as soon as you can, chop them into small cubes.

Turn the heat on the wok to med-high. As soon as the oil smokes a little bit, add the chopped bok choy, toss it around for a couple minutes, add the carrots, toss, add the zucchini, and toss. Finally add the mushrooms and the black sesame. After another couple minutes, add the rice and the meat. Mix thoroughly, letting the rice fry a bit over the high temperature. Take off the heat and set aside.

In a small frying pan, fry two quail eggs, sunny side up.

Serve by placing a fried bok choy leaf, quite a bit of rice, and top with the fried eggs. Make the sauce to accompany by mixing three tbsp soy sauce with the juice of 2 limes.