The spotlight ingredient for this week is turmeric! I did a previous post on lemongrass about a month ago, but it's time to branch out and try something new.
MOH and I were walking through our local farmer's market looking for new things to try when we saw a bunch of people crowded around a particular stand with their heads deeply immersed into picking things into their plastic bags. When I stepped closer, I noticed it was fresh turmeric! If your only experience of seeing turmeric is in a spice jar, turmeric in its raw form looks like little tiny nubbins. It normally comes in two flavors, white turmeric and yellow turmeric (the yellow being the one most people are familiar with). Depending on how strong of a turmeric flavor you want, the white turmeric is much more tame.
Turmeric is in the same family as ginger, and is often cited as having beneficial health effects similar to its sister counterpart in promoting wellness and warding off the progression of diseases like cancer and Alzheimer's (try typing in "turmeric health benefits" on Google or the National Institutes of Health website Pubmed and you'll get a wide array of scientific articles). Turmeric is widely used in Indian cooking, where it originated, and is often a main ingredient in curry. What some people don't know is that turmeric is sometimes substituted in place of saffron. What exactly does turmeric taste like? Some would say it has an earthy, spicy mustard-y taste with a subtle heat at the end (similar to what happens when you eat ginger).
I was really excited to see turmeric in its raw form and decided to do something different with it other than make curry. How about FRIED RICE?!?! Who can say no to fried rice? Especially after a long day of doing nothing but veg out in front of the TV (there was an Alien marathon as well as Modern Family, so we couldn't resist).
I like to make kimchi ginger fried rice usually, but decided to branch off and substitute turmeric with ginger instead. The results were a success (at least between MOH and I). The key to this dish is dicing the turmeric such that in every bite of the dish, you get a good helping of turmeric that packs a punch at the end.
- 1 cup of diced fresh yellow turmeric
- 4 garlic cloves, diced
- 1 yellow onion, diced
- Half a bag of frozen vegetables (alternatively, you can dice 1 cup each of carrots, peas, corn and broccoli)
- 3 eggs
- 3 cups of cooked rice (brown or white, your choice)
- 1 cup of chopped green onions and cilantro
- 1 tbsp of soy sauce (season with fish sauce if you want a saltier bite)
- Salt and pepper to season
Protocol:
1. Heat a wok with 1 tsp of oil
2. Scramble eggs and set aside (can either cut the eggs into cubes or just take a spoon and mash crudely to get several pieces)
3. Add 1 tsp of oil and once hot, sautee the garlic and turmeric until garlic turns light brown
4. Add in vegetables, or if using frozen vegetable pack, first add in onions
5. Once onions translucent, add in frozen vegetables and sautee mixture until frozen vegetables are heated through
6. Add in rice, soy sauce and seasoning - mix thoroughly
7. Add in eggs and fold into the fried rice mixture
8. Garnish with green onions and cilantro
9. Scarf down like a zombie while you enjoy your last few hours of the weekend
A super simple dish that packs quite the punch thanks to the turmeric. If you're into this comfort food, spicing it up with turmeric will definitely lift the predictability of this dish and add a great heat at the end!
Until next time, happy eating all!
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