How to Turn One Meal into Five
The other day I went out to lunch with a friend and ordered a yamani rice bowl (I have absolutely no clue how to say arroz yamaní in English, and have already looked online, so…sorry) with veggies, seaweed, and tofu. It was huge, so I took home about half of it, and that night added some extra veggies to serve it as a side dish with our chicken.
I grabbed bits and pieces of veggies in the fridge, including:
- Peas
- Yellow onion
- Green onion
- Leek
- Chard Acelga
- Shredded carrot (I still really don’t like carrots all that much, and tolerate them better when shredded)
- Diced fresh chile pepper
- Sesame seeds
- Poppy seeds
- Crushed walnuts (these are a yummy and crunchy addition)
- Crushed red pepper
And there were still leftovers, so the next day I bought some tofu, dusted it with rice/corn flour (which gave it a light, egg-free “breading”), and added it, along with some fresh onion:
So in the end, I ate lunch, then we both ate the second version of it as a side dish for dinner, then I ate some of the third version of it as a snack, then was left with one more portion for another meal. One meal turned into five!
You could do this at home with brown or wild rice and all the veggies you can find. The original dish included seaweed, eggplant, carrots, red and green bell peppers, onions, and tofu.
Enjoy!
I have done this in the past with Trader Joe’s various rice bowls as well! Soup stock is another item that is famous for being able to undergo additions and transformations!
Clever recipe! I love it. My family will enjoy this very much. Thanks for sharing.
Thanks! I loved that I was able to make restaurant leftovers into something so useful!
Oh, yum! Let’s go there again next time!
I love that place. I’m still thinking about that smoothie. Let me know when you’re free and we’ll go!
I love this. You also increased the fresh nutrients and food value.
I like to add veggies to fried rice from a restaurant and get two meals out of it, but 5 wow..
LOL, I know. I really stretched it. But now I have the ticket to repurposing leftovers!
Good point, Purplume, about increasing the fresh veggies and food value!