Vegetable Fried Rice, Grilled Veggies, Seitan & Steamed Broccoli

I feel like lately, a lot of my meals are about using up the ingredients I have in my refrigerator.  But then again, isn't that kind of the purpose of having food in the fridge - to use it?  Anyway, hubby and I were very hungry tonight  (when are we not???) and wanted dinner very quickly.  I had some leftover cooked rice, some seitan I prepared from Viva Vegan (we were not fans!  Too garbanzo-y!) and a mushroom sauce I had prepared a couple days ago.  Fried Rice came to mind very quickly, as well as the mushroom sauce over the seitan, and I really wanted something grilled - so I slapped a few veggies on my panini machine, which gives amazing grill marks, great flavor, and a very nice texture.  I also put the seitan on the machine for a few minutes for good measure, to heat it back up and try to make it look a little nicer - it was pretty ugly.  Surprisingly, dinner came together very quickly, in about 30 minutes and hubby and my bellies were both very satisfied (although we still didn't like the seitan, even smothered in the mushroom sauce!).  Any thoughts on what to do with the seitan, which was steamed, not boiled?

Vegetable Fried Rice:



(I must have been starving when I was taking these pictures -
they are all so blurry!  This was the best one!)
Grilled Seitan with Sauteed Mushrooms, Vegetable Fried Rice,
Grilled Veggies & Steamed Broccoli



Serve 2-3

3 tablespoons olive oil, separated
3 cups cooked, cooled rice (leftover rice works beautifully here)
1 cup snap peas, tough ends removed
1 medium onion, small diced, about 1 cup
1 medium orange pepper, small diced, about 3/4 cup
1/2 cup shredded purple cabbage
1/2 stalk broccoli, chopped finely
2 tablespoons tamari
1 tablespoon mirin (rice cooking wine)
3/4 teaspoon vegetable boullion powder
1/4 teaspoon black pepper
Red Pepper flakes and additional tamari, for serving

1.  Place a wok over medium -high heat.  Add the oil and allow it to heat up.  Once it is hot, add the peas, onion, pepper, cabbage and broccoli.  Saute, stirring frequently, until tender-crisp. 
2.  Break apart the cold rice with your hands into the hot wok and continue stirring.  You may have to add an additional 1-2 tablespoons of oil to keep everything from sticking.  Continue to fry for a few minutes, until the rice is hot and has colored slightly. 
3.  Add the tamari and mirin at the same time, being sure to drizzle it around the contents in the wok.  (If it is deposited at the same spot, it will cause the rice to absorb too much of the salty flavor and the seasonings will not evenly distribute throughout the rice.)  Quickly stir the rice mixture to coat.  Add the boullion powder and black  pepper and stir again.  Continue to cook for a few more minutes to allow the rice to dry out again.  Season to taste
4.  To serve, sprinkle the rice with additional tamari and as many red pepper flakes as you would like.  So quick and so delicious!

Enjoy!

-K