Christine Ilich's Apple Autumn Borscht

One of the great things about volunteering at L’Academie (besides the great recipes and hands-on learning) is meeting the chefs. It’s great to be exposed to the different kinds of styles, to hear their story on how they became who they are today and to just pick their brains. Every chef reached their dream in a different way and a few of them realized their dream wasn’t what they first thought it was.

Whole Lotta Beets

Christine Ilich is a formally trained chef that I’ve mentioned briefly before after volunteering for one of her classes. She runs her own business, Heirloom Kitchen, in Front Royal making homemade soups, breads and sweets. I can tell you that her bread baking classes are immensely popular, but it was her soups that hooked me. We made three; a bisque, minestrone and a chowder. All very different, all amazing and all flexible with the recipe (cooking is an art!). I was a fan. During the class we somehow got on the discussion of other soup and she mentioned today’s recipe: Apple Autumn Borscht.

Preparing Apple Autumn Borscht

I had never worked with beets before, never mind made a borscht, so this was a great experience to broaden my horizons. While the ingredient list for this dish isn’t particularly long, its flavor is deceivingly complex. I dare say most would not be able to identify the ingredients from taste. I strongly recommend you try this recipe and if you have any questions for Christine, send her an e-mail.

Apple Autumn Borscht

Apple Autumn Borscht
Chop the vegetables into large pieces since everything will be pureed in the end.

3 tablespoons butter
3 carrots, peeled and chopped
3 apples, peeled and chopped
1 onion, chopped
1 3-inch piece of fresh ginger, peeled and sliced
6 medium sized beets, peeled and chopped
2 large or 3 medium sized sweet potatoes, peeled and chopped
1 tsp cinnamon
1/2 tsp nutmeg
juice of 1 lemon
1-2 cups heavy cream
Salt & pepper
Sour cream

Place butter, carrots, apples, onion and ginger in heavy bottomed soup pot. Sauté until vegetables are softened, but not browned (a little color is ok). Add beets and cover with water. Bring to a boil, season with salt and pepper and reduce to simmer. Cook for about 10 minutes, or until beets are starting to soften. Add sweet potatoes (and more water if needed, to just cover the potatoes) and cook until all veggies are very soft. Add spices and lemon juice. Puree the mixture in blender with the cream. Taste and re-season if necessary, with spices, lemon juice, salt and pepper. Serve hot with a dollop of sour cream.

Thai Red Curry Soup with Vegetables

Have you ever set out to prepare something only to find out you’re missing a crucial ingredient? I hate when that happens, and happen it did this Sunday morning. I was all set to make a delicious German oven pancake when I realized I was out of milk. It doesn’t get much more crucial than milk and embarking on a grocery store adventure was not conducive to my lazy Sunday plans. A substitution of coconut milk came to my rescue which unfortunately left me with quite a bit leftover to tend with.

Eggplants with Curry

I hate to waste food. It’s just so…. wasteful (I look forward to my excellence in writing award later this year). Enter today’s recipe. As you probably already know I’m quite fond of soups and on top of that, this recipe uses a few vegetables that don’t fall under my “staple” category. The original recipe was a chicken dish so I vegetarian-ified it, throwing in some lentils for protein. I’m not much of a thai cook, but I was satisfied with the results.

Thai Curry Soup

Thai Curry Soup with Vegetables
adapted from Epicurious

2 tablespoons oil
1 1/2 tablespoons red curry paste
1 red bell pepper; diced
2 chinese eggplant; chopped
4 oz green beans; chopped into 1 inch pieces
8 ounces cauliflower; cut into small pieces
2 cups red lentils; rinsed
3 cups coconut milk
4 cups stock
1 tablespoon fish sauce

Steam the cauliflower for 8 minutes and immediately dunk in cold water to stop the cooking.

In a large pot, cook the oil, curry paste and red bell pepper under medium heat for two minutes. Add the eggplant and green beans and cook for another 2 minutes, stirring to ensure everything is coated with curry. Add the milk, stock, fish sauce, cauliflower and lentils, bringing everything to a boil. Let simmer for 15 minutes. Add salt to taste. Enjoy.

Creamy Orecchiette Pasta with Broccoli and Vermont Cheddar

If you caught the cover of the February/March 2009 Food Network Magazine, then you saw a gorgeous Orecchiette Pasta with Broccoli Rabe Pesto. I couldn’t wait to make it.

pistachios

Except I didn’t know much about broccoli rabe – which turns out to be nothing at all like broccoli. So I decided to go with what I know and see if this recipe works with regular broccoli. I also replaced the parmigiano-reggiano cheese with a sharper, more pungent cheese to give it a bit of zip.

broccoli mixture

Without the bright green contrasting colors this dish may not look as lovely the Food Network Magazine cover, but I really enjoyed it. The orecchiette pasta is a lot like shells, hiding little salty pistashio nuggets in every other bite. It’s like a grown-up macaroni and cheese, with broccoli and pistachio being the more dominant tastes than the cheese.

If you’re in the mood for something a little different, this is for you!

orecchiette pasta

Orecchiette with Broccoli and Vermont Cheddar
Adapted from Food Network

2 1/2 cups broccoli, chopped
1/2 cup pistachios, toasted
1 cup Vermont Cheddar, shredded
1/2 cup part-skim ricotta cheese
1/2 pound orecchiette pasta

Cook pasta according to package instructions. Meanwhile, puree broccoli in bowl of a food processor. Add toasted pistachios, followed by Vermont Cheddar. Finally add ricotta and pulse until smooth. Add salt and pepper to taste.

Add broccoli mixture to a large skillet and add 1 cup of the pasta water. When pasta is cooked, drain and add to the skillet with the broccoli mixture. Stir vigorously to combine and cook until the sauce is creamy and hot. Add more salt and pepper to taste. Garnish with shredded Vermont Cheddar.

Curry Couscous with Chickpeas

So I recently came to the conclusion that I’m not getting enough whole grains in my diet. This, to be quite honest, is an understatement. I don’t normally partake in the breads and pastas of the world. Not because I don’t like them (LOVE bread), but simply because I like to snack, and snacking on fruit just strikes me as a healthier course of action.

One Cup Couscous

Enter couscous. You may remember that Heather recently wrote about spicy shrimp and couscous, talking briefly about healthy eating. Couscous definitely fits the bill. This stuff will fill you up without weighing you (or your scale) down. When you cook this stuff it balloons in size. A quarter cup uncooked yields three quarters of a cup cooked! And less than 200 calories! I think I found a new best friend.

Stir-Frying It Up

This recipe comes from a cook book I’ve recently begun playing with: A Taste of Heaven and Earth. So far I’ve enjoyed cooking from it. It strives for simple dishes with sophisticated flavor and its ingredients are relatively common; obtainable at your average grocery store. Can’t find fault in that.

Curry Couscous with Chickpeas

As usual, I’ve upped the vegetable count significantly. Having tried this, I strongly recommend adding cauliflower; which I’ll be sure to do next time. And of course the usual spice disclaimer applies. I used four tablespoons of hot curry and it was a bit much.

Curry Cousous with Chick-Peas
adapted from A Taste of Heaven and Earth

1 cup whole wheat couscous
1 cup stock (or water if you must)
2 tablespoons oil
1 red onion; chopped
1 carrot; peeled and diced
1 celery stalk; diced
1 green bell pepper; diced
1 red bell pepper; diced
3 garlic cloves; minced
3-4 teaspoons curry powder; depending on your heat sensitivity and type of curry
1 cup cooked chickpeas
1 1/2 cups peas; fresh or thawed and drained
ground pepper to taste
tamari to taste (soy sauce in a pinch)

Bring the stock to a boil in a small sauce pan, add the couscous, cover with a tight fitting lid, remove from the heat and let sit for five minutes.

With the oil, saute the onion, carrot and celery in a large pan (or wok) under medium-high heat until the onion is translucent; approximately 3-4 minutes. Add the bell peppers, garlic, chickpeas and curry, sauteing for an additional 2-3 minutes. Be sure to stir constantly so the curry mixes and to prevent the garlic from burning.

Reduce the heat to medium-low, add the chickpeas, peas and couscous and stir together for a two to three minutes. Remove from heat and serve with tamari and ground pepper. Enjoy.

Simple Pad Thai, a Quick Fix for Luxuriously Lazy Nights

So, I had been saving an empty boxed Pad Thai kit that I used to make dinner the other night, but it seems as though my husband does not value saving empty food boxes in the same way that I do, and he threw it away! Hopefully we’ll be able to make do here anyway.

Pad Thai spice

We picked up the pad thai box in the international section of the grocery store a few weeks ago. Back when the two of us were lazier, these little kits were an excellent choice for quick dinners and a welcome change from spaghetti.

Well, we were feeling lazy again last Friday, and we had half a rotisserie chicken left from when I made Sante Fe Soup earlier in the week. But as I was cooking the noodles and about to open the spice packet, I turned over the box to read the ingredients –

(Peanuts, Pure Cane Sugar, Salt, Corn Starch, Spices [Chili, Cinnamon, Pepper, Cumin, Clove], Hydrolyzed Soy Protein, Yeast Extract, Green Onions, Citric Acid, Peanut Oil, Sesame Oil, Silicon Dioxide [To Prevent Caking])

I already had on hand chili powder, cinnamon, pepper, cumin and cloves, so I thought I could do without this processed version. I picked out a few of the peanuts from the spice packet (woops, that was one thing I didn’t have), threw the rest in the trash and embarked on a journey to recreate it.

pad thai noodles

I knew this wouldn’t be an authentic pad thai – though I have taken a Thai cooking course, this just wasn’t the night to break out the tamarind and fish sauce. I still have nightmares about working with fish sauce; in my Thai cooking course the instructor told us that it’s made by packing a barrel with fish and then collecting the water and liquid that runs off them… voila, fish sauce (shudder).

My attempt at recreating the boxed pad thai was pretty good, but I think I went a little wild with the level of spice. It’s possible that Edwin’s self-proclaimed “spicy wussiness” is making me overcompensate, and noodles are pretty good at retaining spice. I toned things down a little bit in the recipe below. If you have recreated a simple box pad thai with luck, please let me know!

Pad Thai

Thai Kitchen Pad Thai
(revisited especially for lazy Friday nights after a long week!)

1 box Thai Kitchen original pad thai
1/2 rotisserie chicken
handful of peanuts, roughly chopped
1/4 teaspoon salt
1/2 teaspoon black pepper
1/2 teaspoon chili powder
1/4 teaspoon cinnamon
1/2 teaspoon cumin
1/8 teaspoon cloves
1/4 to 1/2 teaspoon cayenne
1 bag frozen stir fry vegetables (or if you prefer fresh vegetables, shop for fresh snow peas, sliced carrots, sliced red and yellow peppers, onion, and broccoli or mushrooms)

Combine peanuts, salt, pepper, chili powder, cinnamon, cumin, cloves and cayenne in a small bowl. Set aside. Remove rotisserie chicken from bone and cut bite size pieces. Set aside. Soak banh pho noodles according to directions on box. In the meantime, heat your wok to medium heat, then add 2 tablespoons oil. Stir fry defrosted or fresh vegetables until desired tenderness is reached.

When noodles are finished soaking, drain and rinse well. Add noodles to the wok, along with the pieces of chicken and spice mixture. Stir-fry for approximately 5 minutes, until fully combined and noodles are tender. Serve hot, garnish with extra peanuts.

As you’re probably already aware, the Steelers won their 6th Super Bowl on Sunday! It was an amazing game; Morgan and I were jumping up and down all the way until the end. My heart is still slowly (very slowly) coming back down to its regular speed. Please excuse me in this post if I’m not able to form complete sentences yet!

chopped spinach

This recipe is originally from 101 Cookbooks, but when I first made it last year I didn’t like it very much. I had high hopes because the recipe and photos looked amazing, but I thought it could be a little more flavorful. After a few changes, this recipe is now one of mine and Morgan’s favorites.

pastacasserole

I’ve read that a trick to make macaroni and cheese more filling (so that you don’t eat as much) is to use a sharper cheese. Keeping this in mind, I added some sharp Vermont cheddar to the casserole. I also added chicken, which really made a huge difference (I’m not good with vegetarian meals, sorry Edwin!).

bakedpastacasserole

The only thing that I don’t love about this recipe is that it is time-consuming. There are several different steps including cooking the chicken, cooking the pasta, softening the veggies, combining everything and then baking it all together. I’d suggest making it on a Sunday night so that you have leftovers to enjoy throughout the week!

Also, I beg you to grate the cheese yourself and use only freshly grated cheeses. The times I’ve made this recipe with pre-shredded cheese it is never, ever as good. Fresh cheese makes a huge difference!

pasta casserole bowl

Chicken and Pasta Baked Casserole

adapted from 101 Cookbooks

3/4 pound pasta shells (101 recommends whole wheat pasta shells, but my grocery store never has whole wheat)
salt, to taste
1 lb. chicken, sliced (I recommend my recipe to bake the chicken, using 2 tablespoons white wine, paprika, salt, pepper, Montreal chicken seasoning, cayenne, to taste)
1 large yellow onion, chopped
5 cloves garlic, minced
3/4 bag fresh leaf spinach, chopped
1 cup almonds, coarsely chopped
6 ounces fresh mozzerella, grated
4 ounces fresh Vermont cheddar, grated

Preheat oven to 375 F. Butter/spray a large, rectangular casserole dish (I’ve found this works a lot better than round CorningWare).

Boil the pasta in salted water per package instructions. Drain, toss with a two tablespoons of olive oil. Set aside.

In the meantime, cook chicken in a baking dish. I use my standard method to bake the chicken, which you can find here.

Heat a tablespoon or two of oil in a skillet or wok. Saute the onions and a bit of salt for 2-3 minutes. Add garlic, then spinach, cooking for approximately 20-30 seconds. Remove skillet or wok from heat and stir in almonds. Combine spinach mixture with pasta in a large bowl and carefully stir. When chicken is done cooking, slice and add. Set aside. (If you like to sneak in more veggies, I’d recommend sliced mushrooms which I have also added before)

Grate cheese and combine in a medium bowl. Begin by adding a layer of pasta to the casserole dish, followed by a layer of cheese. Continue alternating layers, finishing with a layer of cheese. Sprinkle just a dash of cayenne and paprika over the top. Cover dish with foil and bake for approximately 30 minutes.

Sante Fe Soup with Chicken, A Super Bowl Savior

If you’re like me when planning a party, then you’ll probably make too much food. You’ll also choose things that all need to go into the oven at once, are too time-consuming, and keep you in the kitchen while everyone else is waving their Terrible Towel at the tv.

Sante Fe Soup

I’ll be trying to avoid that problem on Sunday by including an enormous, hearty bowl of chili on the menu.

This “Santa Fe Soup” recipe was given to me by a co-worker at a previous job. I normally don’t go wild for chili, but the chili’s great look and smell won me over when he brought it in for lunch one day. Unfortunately he didn’t tell me where he got the original recipe, and when I googled it I came up with hundreds of variations. I did, however, make a few changes.

Chili and Beer

The recipe I was given called for 2 pounds of ground round, but I substituted beef for rotisserie chicken. I also substituted chunky stewed tomatoes and tomato paste for crushed tomatoes. The recipe called for two packages of Hidden Valley Ranch Dressing dry mix and one package of taco seasoning mix for seasoning, but I decided just to recreate these mixes using the spices in my kitchen and season it myself. I also halved the recipe, and it still almost filled my spaghetti pot.

This chili is excellent – spicy but not too spicy, thick, and full of variety. I hope you’ll consider it either for your Super Bowl party or a cold winter night!

Close up Sante Fe Soup

Sante Fe Soup with Chicken
(recipe below is a half batch, which still makes enough for several dinners for two!)

1/2 cooked rotisserie chicken, cut into bite size pieces (you could also use 1 pound of chicken breast cooked using a method of your choice)
1 chopped onion
4 cloves garlic
1 can black beans
1 can kidney beans
1 can pinto beans
1 can white niblet corn, canned
1 can Rotel tomatoes
1 can stewed tomatoes
1 can tomato paste, 6 oz.
2 teaspoons chili powder
1 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon garlic powder
1 teaspoon cumin
1 teaspoon cayenne
1 teaspoon paprika
1 teaspoon red pepper flakes
1 teaspoon oregano
1/2 teaspoon marjoram
15 saltines, crushed
1 tablespoon Nature’s seasoning
1 tablespoon parsley flakes

Combine all ingredients, beginning with beans and cooked chicken, in a large pot on medium low heat. Simmer approximately 20 minutes, but the longer the better. Top with tortilla chips, sour cream, or grated cheese to serve, or enjoy it “plain!”

Simple Yet Delicious – Adobo Black Bean Soup

On inauguration day, while over 1.8 million people flooded capital hill and surrounding area to witness history in the making, I was working far away in Reston. Yes, I missed all the glory and truth be told, even if I had the day off I would probably have just slept in; maybe baked a pie (fact: baking a pie is never a poor use of one’s free time), but definitely keeping myself as far away from DC as possible. There are a lot of great things about living inside the beltway, but every now and then there are events that strongly compel you to stay out of DC (the cherry blossom festival is another taxing escapade).

Sweating those aromatics

I’ve never been one for politics and while I am hopeful for the possibilities our new President brings, there was no friggin’ way I was putting up with THAT insanity. And it was cold. Good lord, do I hate the cold… It was still a noteworthy day for me though because I came across some delicious black bean soup at Whole Foods. Due to my lack of time management, I had not prepared a large pot of soup for the week and was forced to brave the elements in search of lunchtime nourishment. I was pleased to find this soup and had to recreate it!

Adobo Black Bean Soup

This soup…. is not the soup I had on Tuesday. Don’t get me wrong, this is good soup and I’m enjoying it quite a bit; but it is not the soup I had at Whole Foods. This soup is milder and less sweet; and still delicious. It’s got a bit of a spicy tweak to it, but not so much as to overpower the taste. Give it a shot. And if you’ve ever tried to make Whole Food’s version, let me know.

Adobo Black Bean Soup

Adobo Black Bean Soup
Inspired by Whole Foods

2 tablespoons of olive oil
1 yellow onion; chopped
1 green bell pepper chopped
2 cloves of garlic; minced
1 teaspoon oregano
1 teaspoon ground cumin
1 teaspoon adobo seasoning
2 chipotle peppers in adobo sauce
4 tablespoons adobo sauce
2 cups dried black beans; cooked and drained
1 teaspoon cocoa
2 tablespoons sherry cooking wine
4 cups water
Salt to taste

In a large sauce pan, heat the oil on medium heat and sweat the onion, bell pepper and garlic until onion is soft and slightly translucent; approximately 3 minutes. Add the oregano, cumin, adobo seasoning, chipotle peppers and adobo sauce. Stir briefly and let cook for approximately one minute. Add everything else and simmer for 30 minutes. Add salt to taste.

Spicy Shrimp and Couscous

I’ve mentioned my dad’s strict dietary restrictions before, but it wasn’t until he began eating that way that I noticed how misleading healthy eating cookbooks, guides and restaurant menus can be.

garlic cloves

I’ve opened new “healthy dinners” cookbooks to find macaroni and cheese and beef stroganoff, or soups thickened with heavy cream and butter. If these are lightened up versions of the original, then I’m truly terrified of the original.

spice

Restaurants like Panera want to showboat as healthy alternatives for lunch, but some of their salads rival fast food cheeseburgers. Most people know that a caesar salad packs in the fat with cheese and heavy dressing, but what about Panera’s Orchard Harvest salad? It sounds absolutely incredible, boasting “field greens, crisp romaine, dried cherries, fresh pears, Gorgonzola, toasted pecans & our cherry balsamic vinaigrette.” Lovely leafy greens combined with fruit and just a hint of nuts, right? The Orchard Harvest salad contains 540 calories and 33 grams of fat, including 8 grams of saturated fat and 0.5 grams of trans fats. Don’t worry, you can also get 48% of your daily value of sodium, or 1140 milligrams. Yikes!

leaf salad

I’ve been eager to share my Spicy Shrimp and Couscous recipe since the last time I made it earlier this week; it’s one of my favorites – quick, easy, spicy, healthy and full of flavor and zip. Buy a bag of frozen shrimp and just use it as needed (and if you’re like me, you can get your husband to remove any legs or tails still on the shrimp… Ghost Baker does NOT mess with shrimp parts!). Couscous smells wonderful when cooked, and did I mention that cooking it only takes five minutes?

cooking shrimp

If you’re like Chef Edwin and can’t handle spice, then try toning down some of the spice either by decreasing or removing the cayenne and chili powder. If you love spice like I do, then please don’t wait to add this healthy dish to your dinner rotation!

shrimp and couscous

Spicy Shrimp and Couscous
(serves two people)

12 frozen shrimp, thawed (by running under cold water)
1 tablespoon oil
5 cloves of garlic, minced
1/8 teaspoon cayenne
1/4 teaspoon salt, pepper, chili powder, paprika and garlic powder
1/2 teaspoon cumin
1 box plain couscous
1 bag leaf salad of your choice

Begin to cook couscous according to package instructions. Mince garlic and set aside. Combine and stir cayenne, salt, pepper, chili powder, paprika, garlic powder, and cumin together in a small dish. Fluff couscous when it’s done cooking and set aside, covered.

Heat wok on medium heat (you can use a skillet if you do not have a wok). When hot, add a little bit of oil to the wok. Add half of your garlic, stir for 30 seconds, then add peeled and thawed shrimp. Stir for 10 seconds and add remaining garlic along with spice mixture (it’s okay if you decide not to use all of the spice mixture). Cook, stirring occasionally, until shrimp are pink and curled.

To serve, add leaf salad of your choice to a plate along with couscous and cooked shrimp.

There’s just something about rice noodles that seem so…. cool to me. Maybe it’s because they’re so different from the standard flour-based noodles I grew with under my German and Italian parents. The texture is so much more flimsy that the first time I had them it blew my mind. “These are noodles? Seriously?”

Stir Fry Some Veggies

I don’t cook with rice noodles that often and perhaps that’s what keeps it special for me; absence making the heart grow fonder and such. For New Years Eve I decided to cook my lady friend a special dinner of one of her favorite dishes: drunken noodle with thai iced tea. Both were a big success, but I felt the drunken noodle had room for improvement. It needed more veggies (reoccuring theme in my life), so I decided to give it another shot with my own spin. The second time around was an improvement but I still wanted more vegetables so I’ve modified the recipe accordingly. My new best friend cauliflower is making another appearance.

Noodley Goodness

Drunken Noodles get their name not from the inclusion of alcohol but for the vast amounts of liquid you’ll need to get through the heat. As I mentioned in my last post, I can’t handle much spice in my food so I really brought this one down in intensity. Thai chiles are friggin’ HOT and I made the folly of trying a piece after chopping a few. This….. did not go well. If you’re more manly than I am then just up the amount of these you use; up to a 1/4 cup (maybe more? good lord). The same goes with the Tien Tsin chiles. If you don’t have these, then don’t bother buying them just for this recipe. Just substitute in more thai chiles. This dish is great because you can adjust the amount of heat to your liking with little effort. I will definitely be coming back to this.

Mild Drunken Noodle with Many Veggies

Mild Drunken Noodle with Many Veggies
adapted from Epicurious

1 12 ounce package of rice flakes

4 tablespoons peanut oil
1 anaheim/cubanelo chile; cut into strips
2 green bell peppers; cut into strips
8 cloves of garlic; minced
1 Thai chile; chopped
4 Tien Tsin dried chili peppers
1 head of broccoli; cut broken into florets
1 head of cauliflower; broken into florets
1 large carrot; peeled and into small planks
1 pound ground chicken

1/4 cup fish sauce
1/4 cup dark soy sauce
1/4 cup “regular” soy sauce (feel free to use low sodium. I did.)
1 tablespoon sweetener (splenda works but so does sugar)
1/2 cup fresh Thai or regular basil leaves

Cut the broccoli and cauliflower florets into small, roughly equal size pieces. The larger florets you’ll quarter, the mediums you’ll cut into thirds, etc.

Under high heat, heat two tablespoons of oil in a hot wok then add the bell peppers, cubanelo chile and thai chile. Stir fry until softened; about 1 minute. Add the dried peppers and half the garlic and cook briefly until fragrant, about 20 seconds, followed immediately by another table spoon of oil along with the broccoli, cauliflower and carrots. Continue to stir fry until vegetables begin to soften; 3-4 minutes. Move everything out of the wok into a bowl.

Bring the wok to medium-high heat. While reheating bring a large pot of salted water to a boil. Heat the remaining table spoon of oil and garlic together until fragrant but not burning; one minute or less. Add the ground chicken and cook until “browned.”

At the same time you add the chicken to the wok, throw the rice flakes into the boiling water, stirring occasionally, these should only take a few minutes to boil; roughly the same time it takes to brown the chicken. These will stick and clump together very easily, so be sure to stir on occasion and add to the stir fry immediately after straining.

Once the chicken is ready, raise to high temperature and return the vegetables to the wok along with the rice flakes, sauces and sweetener. Cook until everything is heated and coated and the sauces have enough so the dish is wet but not runny. Once ready remove from heat

Serve with some chopped basil and tall glass of your beverage of choice.