Fried rice (x2)
Fried rice is great because it’s incredibly versatile. The ingredients are (1) rice, (2) eggs, (3) whatever seasoning you want, and (4) whatever the heck else you want. Random vegetables in the fridge? Leftover Chinese takeout? Yeah, sure, go for it. You could probably even throw in noodles and have a carbfest. Stir-fried noodles with eggs are good.
As such, it’s a stretch to call either of these meals “experimental,” but it’s a reminder to make random fried rices more often.
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10/26: Beef fried rice: Bought thin-cut bottom round steak on a whim. Turns out they gave me the soonest-expiring batch of steak in the store, so I had to use the whole thing in a hurry. I sliced it into small pieces (about the usual size in a beef-and-broccoli dish), seasoned it with salt, pepper, and Memphis rub, sauteed it, set it aside, then fried the rice in the beef juice.
It was kinda barebones—no onion or green onion, and the meat was under-flavored. I should’ve marinaded the meat ahead of time. In retrospect I think an A1/ketchup sauce would’ve been good.
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11/11: Mushroom fried rice: Once again, I needed to use up food—this time a large package of mushrooms that had been in the fridge for a while. I fried the rice with mushrooms + green onions and served it alongside dumplings with ABC sweet soy.