Upcyling: Freekeh "Fried Rice"

The title of this post just makes me think of Freaky Friday. My nerdy love for alliteration takes over, yet again. I was thinking about naming this post Fried Freekeh, because that is a more accurate description of the recipe, but that sounds like I'm deep frying freekeh and that is so incorrect. So it's a healthy "fried rice" using freekeh, if you will.

I wanted to post a way that I frequently use freekeh, as mentioned in my grain guide. Because freekeh is a grain that I love to cook a batch of in the beginning of the week, I find myself upcycling random meals with them a lot to use up whatever I can of my produce that is about to take a turn down expiration lane.

So this recipe is just a sampling of a random upcyling meal I quickly threw together- not a whole lot of thought went into this one except that I was in the mood for something hearty and my lonely zucchini was starting to show slight signs of withering. I already had cooked freekeh, so that cut off some cooking time, but it took me less than 5 minutes to chop, and about 10 minutes to cook it all. So if you didn't cook your freekeh yet, you could do that while the chicken and veggies cook so realistically this whole meal could take you 15-20 minutes at most- ain't too shabby.

Freekeh "Fried Rice"

*serves 2

Ingredients

1 cup cooked Freekeh
1 Red Bell Pepper, chopped
1 Zucchini, diced
1/2 small yellow Onion, diced
2 Chicken Breasts, cut into pieces
1 tbsp Soy Sauce or Tamari
1 clove crushed Garlic (I used frozen Dorot)
~1 tsp Ginger (I used powder, you can use fresh!)
~1 tsp Black Sesame Seeds
EVOO Spray or other cooking oil (coconut oil, sunflower oil)

Recipe

1. Heat up a large frying pan (or wok) on medium-high heat on the stovetop and spritz EVOO spray to coat the bottom of the pan. Add chicken pieces and cook until almost opaque white (about 2 mins), then flip over to cook on the other side. Remove from heat and put chicken on a plate. 

2. Place pan back on the stovetop on medium-high heat and spritz EVOO spray to coat the bottom of the pan. Add garlic and all vegetables (bell pepper, zucchini, onion) and cook for about 3-5 minutes or until tender, stirring occasionally. 

3. Stir freekeh and chicken into veggie mix. Add ginger, soy sauce (or tamari), and sesame seeds in and reduce heat to low. Stir mixture in pan for about another minute until all flavors soaked together. 

4. Plate and serve!