Getting dinner on the table in 40 minutes was a whirlwind yesterday, but somehow I managed to do it. With a 2.5 year old boy running around, dinner needs to be on the table between 6:00 – 6:30 p.m. so that bathtime and bedtime all stay on track. Otherwise, a busy weeknight can turn into a small nightmare of preschool fatigue-triggered tantrums. I suddenly heard a little voice say, “Mommy…I’m hungry…!” This moment is always stressful for parents when dinner isn’t prepared. I looked at the clock, which said 5:30 p.m. and then stared at a fairly empty fridge and pantry. I had 40 minutes to get dinner on the table, so my first thought was to put on some rice and whip up the fastest chick peas curry ever because I always have the ingredients on hand. No chick peas in the cupboard. Oh no. I texted my wonderful neighbor Peyman, who lives in the apartment below us, but he didn’t have a can of chick peas either. It was a classic weeknight dinner saver moment: I had to create something from what I already had at home, and fast.

It’s good to keep a couple of high quality sausages in your fridge for busy weeknights. The flavors envelope all the other ingredients and pack a flavorful punch. (Photo Source: aidells.com)

What to do….I could make some kind of fried rice! The good thing about stir-fries and fried rice is they can be made quickly with whatever you have at home. I spied a package of Cajun Andouille sausage and pulled open my vegetable drawer — I had an onion, garlic, ginger root, carrots, cauliflower, bell pepper, cilantro, and a bag of frozen peas in the freezer. So I could get a lot of vegetables into this fried rice too, always a plus. I pulled a package of wild rice from the shelf, poured out a cup and put it on the stove immediately. Then I sliced the sausage and cut all the vegetables as quickly as I could. The genius of good quality sausage is once it’s combined with sautéed onion, garlic, and ginger, the salty, meaty flavors coat all the other ingredients, so you don’t really need much of anything else except a bit of soy sauce and black pepper. By 6:15 p.m. I was calling Liam for dinner. As he dipped his little spoon into the nutty wild rice, the spicy sausage was a great foil for the sweet carrots and peas, hearty cauliflower, and shiny garlic slivers with green specks of fresh cilantro. The fried rice packed a lot of flavor and even though it was on the spicy side and Liam kept saying “ohhh, spicy” he proceeded to eat spoonfuls of it. Before long, the curried pork & vegetable fried rice was gone, and Liam was munching on grapes for dessert. Right on schedule for bath time.

The clock on the piano isn’t that clear, but it says 6:20pm. I got dinner on the table in 40 min, just in time! Phew.

Weeknight Dinner Saver: Curried Pork & Vegetable Fried Rice

Serves 4

Ingredients

• 2-3 cups cooked rice of your choice (= 1 cup uncooked rice)
• 2 tablespoons canola oil
• 1 large onion, chopped
• 3 garlic cloves, minced
• 1/2-inch piece of ginger root, peeled and minced
• 12 oz package Cajun Style Andouille sausage (4 links), sliced into rounds or quarters
• 3 carrots, peeled and sliced into rounds
• 1/2 head of cauliflower, chopped (about 12 florets)
• 1 red bell pepper, chopped
• 1 teaspoon curry powder
• 1/2 cup frozen peas
• Soy sauce to taste
• Black pepper to taste
• Fresh cilantro, finely chopped

Preparation

1. If you don’t have leftover cooked rice, the first thing you need to do is put on the rice. Use any long-grain or wild rice you like, and cook according to directions on package. Once it’s come to a boil and is simmering, get to work on the other ingredients.
2. On one cutting board, peel and chop the onion, garlic, ginger root, carrots, cauliflower, and bell pepper. On another cutting board, slice the sausage in rounds or quarters. This should take no longer than 10-15 min tops.
3. Heat canola oil on a medium-high flame in a large, non-stick skillet. Add onion, garlic, and ginger (yes, all at once). After a couple minutes and they are soft and shiny, add the sausage, increasing the flame slightly. Sauté the sausage until it’s browned on the edges, about 5 minutes.
4. Add the carrots, followed by the cauliflower, bell pepper, finely chopped cilantro, and curry powder. Continue to sauté, mixing everything well to combine. If you’re rice isn’t done yet, turn off the flame. Once your rice is done, add it and the frozen peas to the skillet, gently folding everything together and seasoning with soy sauce and black pepper to taste.
5. Serve immediately with more finely chopped cilantro as desired.