Better than a takeaway

On Saturday nights, we like to have a nice easy meal, which we sometimes eat in the lounge watching rubbish TV or a film.
I had a hankering for Chinese as we haven't had any for ages. I made broccoli fried rice with sweet and sour vegetables. It was healthy, low fat and so much nicer than a takeaway. It also provided me with leftovers for a nice lunch the following day. What could be better?

For the broccoli fried rice, I simply cooked some rice as usual, then in a wok, I fried some small broccoli florets with three sliced spring onions. I removed the vegetables once they were tender, then added two beaten eggs and quickly flipped them to make an omelette before adding the cooked rice, vegetables, some salt and pepper and a couple of tablespoons of soy sauce.

For the sweet and sour vegetables, I chopped some potato, carrot, peppers, courgettes and a large dessert Apple. These were cooked in a little vegetable stock for about 10 minutes. Towards the end of the cooking time, I added a can of chopped pineapple and sliced water chestnuts. Meanwhile, in a frying pan, I softened one finely chopped onion and two crushed cloves of garlic. Once soft, I added 2 tbsp white wine vinegar, 2 tbsps White wine (I used chinese cooking wine because I have some), a can of chopped tomatoes, 1 tbsp soy sauce, 1 tbsp sugar (I used brown) 1 tbsp ground ginger (or you could use fresh of course) and 1 tbsp tomato purée. Stir to combine before adding to the cooked veg and stock. Cook for another 5/10 mins and at the last minute add 1 tsp arrowroot mixed to a paste with a little cold water.

If you omitted the egg in the rice, and to be fair I'm not sure you'd really notice, and used tamari sauce instead of soy it would make a great vegan and gluten free recipe.

All the family liked it and have made a request to have it again.