Refrigerator Stir-fry

20120610-150336.jpg It's that time of year when I clean out the fridge and freezer. It's a mixed bag of emotions: disgust, thrill, exhaustion, and triumph. This year I found a few bags of trader joes fried rice, a pork tenderloin, and some carrots on their last leg. Time to stir-fry!

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Ingredients: - 2-3 bags of frozen stir fry rice mix from Trader Joes - 1 grilled pork tenderloin, cubed - 10 baby carrots, chopped - 2 shallots, diced - 2 cloves of garlic, diced - sesame oil - olive oil - 2-3 tbsp of toasted sesame seeds - fresh cilantro & Thai basil, chopped - 1/2 cup of fresh or frozen peas - garlic chili paste/sriracha

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Method: - in a large skillit, heat a couple of tbsp of olive oil and sesame oil. - when it's hot, add your garlic, shallots, carrots, and pork - cook for 10-15 mins over high heat, stirring frequently. Try to get the pork nice and crispy, it adds a great element to the dish. - when the carrots are soft, deglaze the pan with a tbsp of water, then add the rice. Cook together for 10-15 mins then add the sesame seeds, peas, basil & cilantro. Cover for 2-3 mins and then serve it up! - I really love this with a dollop of garlic chili sauce, tuong ot toi works quite nicely.

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That's one of the many refrigerator stir-fry dishes we make, weekly. It's really easy to incorporate fresh veg and herbs from the garden to make this meal a knockout.