I love a good egg roll, so I decided to create this Asian-Inspire dish that packs a lot of flavors and includes good portions of vegetables. I use Asian-inspired flavors such as soy sauce and Gochujang to create this dish’s savory umami flavor. It’s also not too difficult to make and can be done in usually under 45 minutes.

Ingredients:

Here are the ingredients that I use for this dish:

4 cups of Cooked Rice
1 lb of Ground Chicken Meat
salt and pepper to season
1 Tablespoon of Chili Crunch (my preferred brand is Momofuku)
2 Tablespoons Gochujang Sauce (Korean Chili Paste)
2 Tablespoons Low Sodium Soy Sauce
1 Tablespoon of Olive Oil
0.5 Tablespoon of Sesame Oil
1/3 of a medium sized cabbage head, roughly chopped
1 medium sized head of broccoli, rough chopped
1 large carrot, peeled and julienned or sliced thin
3 cloves of garlic, minced
2 teaspoons of fresh ginger, grated
1/4 Cup of Green Onion, sliced thin for garnish.

Preparing your vegetables:

The most time-consuming part is generally preparing your vegetables. If you know you are busy throughout the week, it may be a good idea to prep the vegetables ahead of time, along with other vegetables for your weekly meals. This requires some planning, but from experience, this could be a game changer when you don’t have much time to cook later in the afternoon.

Cabbage: Remove the top leaves of the cabbage, and slice about 1/3 of it as if you were making round “cabbage steaks”. Usually, I have about 1-3 slices. Then, you will chop them up and wash them off in a strainer. I prefer smaller sliced cabbage, however if you like more julienned style slices, that will work too!

Broccoli: Rinse off your broccoli and roughly cut the broccoli tops. Once again, I prefer smaller pieces in this recipe, however this isn’t necessary. If you want to include more fiber, you can also chop some of the stalk up and add it to the recipe.

Carrot: Rinse and peel your carrots. I enjoy julienning my carrots using a julienne peeler or you can simply thinly slice your carrot. If you slice your carrot too thick, it may not cook all the way through when stir frying it.

Garlic: The trick to peeling the skin off of garlic is by taking your chef’s knife or pan and pressing firmly down on top of the garlic until the garlic breaks. This helps separate the clove from the skin so it doesn’t become too much of a flaky and sticky mess. Then you’ll want to mince it well.

Ginger: When I saw this tip, it blew my mind. First wash and peel your ginger. Then find a grater and use the side with the smallest holes. Take parchment paper and lay it on top of this part of the grater and start grating your peeled ginger. What this does is prevents most of it from getting stuck to the grater and now is a layer on the parchment paper. You can use a knife or finger to slide it off the paper when it’s time to use it!

Green onion: Clean and slice thinly your green onion tops. I like to slice them all at one time, since I generally use them as a garnish on most my meals. This allows me to grab them and add them to my meals throughout the week if needed.

Prepare your rice:

You want to ensure you cook enough rice depending on how many servings you want. My recipe makes 4 servings, which is equivalent to 4 cups of cooked rice. If you were to half this recipe, that means you need two cups. Use your prefer way of cooking rice (rice cooker, stove top, microwave) to have it ready to use in the recipe. Generally, this is one of the first steps to do since rice takes the longest to cook when in the rice cooker or on a stove top.

Tip: Use a whole grain rice for a little bit more fiber intake.

Prepare your meat:

Heat a large pan or wok on medium heat. Once heated, add your ground chicken. Add some salt and pepper to taste, and allow the meat to cook all the way through to 165 degrees F. Once cooked add your chili crunch, gochujang, and half of the prepared soy sauce. Mix together well and let it sit together for another few minutes. Remove the chicken from the pan once cooked.

Cook your vegetables:

The bottom of the pan should have some of the flavors you meat was cooked in, so you want to make sure you don’t clean the pan so the vegetables can absorb all of that flavor. Add the olive oil and sesame oil (which I use more for flavor). Keep your pan at a medium heat and add your carrots, cabbage, and broccoli. Once they are cooked about halfway through, add the garlic and ginger. Toss and cook the mixture with the rest of the soy sauce. You can add more salt and pepper here to taste if desired.

Final Steps:

Lastly, once your vegetables are cooked through, add back in your ground chicken. Blend together on a medium-low heat and allow all the flavors to merge together for a few minutes.

In a separate large mixing bowl, place your finished rice into it and then place the vegetable and meat mixture with the rice. Toss together until combined and mixed. Serve in separate bowls and top with green onion for garnish!

Tips:

Switch out white rice for brown rice for a healthier grain option. Consider using quinoa as well!
You can switch out your meat for a low-fat ground beef, ground turkey, or sausage for other flavor profile options. Keep in mind your health goals when choosing the meat.
Add or remove vegetables. Some other vegetables you may want to add are mushroom, onion, and edamame. You can also remove the ones you don’t prefer.