Easy Weeknight Fried Rice
This Level 7: Easy to Chew Easy Weeknight Fried Rice is exactly what you need after a long day at work! It’s a quick, delicious, and easy to chew meal!
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Weeknight meals for the win
I love the feeling of coming home from work and knowing I have an easy dinner planned. It takes the stress out of the night. While cooking is fun for me, I fully recognize that not everyone wants to spend their whole night doing it. If you’re new to making modified meals, I’m sure simplicity is something you’re looking for too. If you need more guidance, find out get started page here.
Fried rice is one of my go-to easy, weeknight meals. Whenever I make rice, I make extra knowing that I’ll turn it into a fried rice of sorts. What I put into it always depends on what’s in the fridge, but there’s always something. Sometimes it’s mushrooms, carrots, zucchini, or even just tofu.
In this version, I stick with the basics – green onion, garlic, ginger, frozen peas, and eggs. If you don’t have ginger, you could just omit it from the recipe. If you don’t have green onions, you could use a regular onion or a shallot. Use the garlic though, that’s always the best part of every dish! 🙂
The weirdest part of this recipe is adding the rice to the pan before the eggs. This confuses a lot of people. If you don’t like the idea, you could definitely cook the eggs separate from the rice.
However, I like to cook them together when making modified diets. For one, rice is typically a difficult thing for people to manage if they have dysphagia. It can easily separate into individual grains in your mouth, making it hard to swallow it in one big lump.
If you cook the egg on the rice, you’re helping to tie the rice together. You want it to almost bind together before you add the sauce. Then the sauce will be the final touch to really keep the rice easy to eat (and swallow)!
Personally, I had to think long and hard about how to categorize this recipe before I posted it. Had I pulsed the peas prior to cooking, it could’ve been minced and moist. If that’s your diet type, try it out! It would definitely work. It could easily be soft and bite sized or easy to chew.
I ended up putting it under easy to chew instead of soft and bite sized for one reason – rice can be a little trickier to chew and swallow. If you eat this on a soft and bite sized diet, make sure you’re keeping your rice grains bound together so they’re not too separate.
Level 7: Easy to Chew
Level 7: Easy to Chew is appropriate for individuals who can manage chewing and processing foods of any size without tiring across the meal. Because this level allows pieces of any size, individuals who are at a higher choking risk are typically not appropriate for this level. At Level 7, most everyday foods are allowed, but must be soft and tender. This includes mixed consistency foods, such as cereal and milk or soup with chunks or noodles, but cannot include hard, tough, chewy, fibrous, or crumbly bits.
Foods at this level must still be mashable under pressure. Although bite size is not predetermined, choose a sample size that is 15mm square for adults or 8mm square for children when testing the sample. The pressure from a fork or spoon must be able to mash the pieces easily; this is called the Fork Pressure or Spoon Pressure Test. In these tests, the utensil must be able to easily cut through or break apart the food using only the side of the utensil. When mashing the sample to test, only use as much pressure as causes your thumbnail or fingernail to blanche white. After mashing, the food must not return to its original shape. We recommend watching IDDSI’s Youtube video of the Fork Pressure and Spoon Pressure Test before you cook as well as during the testing of your final modified portion.
Always test your food before serving to ensure that it meets all the IDDSI testing guidelines.
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Level 7: Easy to Chew Easy Weeknight Fried Rice
Ingredients
- 2 green onions sliced thinly
- 3 cloves garlic minced
- 1 tablespoon fresh ginger minced
- 2 cups cooked white rice
- 2 eggs
- 1 cup frozen peas
- Scant ¼ c soy sauce
- 1 tablespoon brown sugar
- 1 tablespoon sriracha
- ½ teaspoon sesame oil
- Vegetable oil for sauteing
Instructions
- Heat nonstick pan over medium heat. Add vegetable oil. Then add the green onions, garlic, and fresh ginger. Saute 1-2 minutes, or until softened and fragrant.
- Reduce heat slightly, then mix in the rice.
- Crack two eggs into a bowl and whisk together. Pour over rice in the pan. Cook until the egg is completely cooked through.
- While the egg is cooking, mix together soy sauce, brown sugar, sriracha, and sesame oil. Once the egg is cooked, pour over the rice. Add additional soy sauce and black pepper to taste.