Some quick options for those last-resort meals
Gholam Rahman
Consider this scenario: You open the fridge, and there is nothing there you can just reheat and serve for lunch. The day outside is too miserable to go out and get something, and ordering a pizza doesn’t sound too appealing.
For such a quandary, most families have a number of last resorts. Here are a couple of our favorites, embracing several cuisines – from Indian to Chinese and Italian, quite in keeping with our eclectic taste and background. My wife Kaisari and myself are Urdu-speaking Bengalis, firmly grounded in Eastern ethics but steeped in Western culture, and Americans for almost 45 years now.
For such quick fixes, though, there have to be some givens – in this case, some frozen rice and a
FRIED RICE, BENGALI STYLE
4 cups frozen cooked
basmati rice, thawed 1 onion, thinly sliced
2 to 3 garlic cloves, thinly
sliced
3 to 4 tablespoons
canola oil
1 to 2 red chili pepper,
whole
2 to 3 eggs, lightly beaten and seasoned with pepper
A few dashes of low-salt
soy sauce
Additional salt, if needed
1. Let rice thaw. Prepare onion and garlic. In a large nonstick skillet, heat oil and fry the whole chili peppers, until fragrant and getting darker, tossing occasionally to crisp evenly. Remove chilies to a cutting board. In the flavored oil saute onion, stirring, until beginning to color; add garlic and saute bunch of noodles in the freezer – things that were deliberately cooked in excess to leave leftovers for such inclement occasions. By the way, both rice and pasta freeze very well and can be easily reheated in the
until onion is deep golden and garlic lightly colored.
Move the sauteed onion-garlic mix to one side (or take it out) and add the beaten eggs to the pan. Let cook into a thin sheet, then cut into pieces with a spatula, tossing occasionally. Add the rice; stir and toss to combine everything, with a few dashes of soy sauce. Roughly crush the crisped chilies with fingers and toss into the rice mixture. Serve piping hot for lunch.
The second quick-fix has an Italian connection. We love all kinds of pasta and some are likely to be found in our fridge or freezer. The following is a simple dish; you can keep it that way or embellish it with whatever meat leftover is handy. microwave.
Our top choice is Baghara Bhath, which translates to the less mysterious fried rice, a Bengali recipe tricked out with a touch of Chinese. The flavorings come from the usual onion, garlic
SIMPLE PASTA WITH PARMESAN 2 to 3 cups cooked pasta Good quality extra-virgin
olive oil
Freshly ground pepper
and salt to taste Chiffonade of fresh basil and fried hot red chilies, plus a few dashes of soy sauce — but you can add any leftover meat or chicken to the rice-andegg
leaves
Grated Parmesan cheese
Heat cooked pasta to piping hot in the microwave oven. Toss with extravirgin olive oil, a generous
base. quantity of freshly ground pepper, salt to taste, the basil chiffonade and cheese. Serve with a glass of dark grape juice for a quick lunch or light dinner.