A little bit Country, a little bit rock-and-roll...

You know that song: "I'm a little bit country. I'm a little bit rock and roll?" Well this dish has a similar identity crisis. Put together a jalapeño chile pepper from Mexico, some Chinese soy sauce and some Italian basil, and you know you have oddly mixed origins. Nevertheless, I'm a British immigrant to California, whose favorite cuisine is probably Italian, so who am I to judge. Maybe we should just call it fusion?!

To be brutally honest, the start for this dish was the current contents of my fridge, and the knowledge that some of those contents were going to end up in the compost unless I used them soon. If I'd had the time or the inclination to go shopping, I would probably have bought some more Asian-style peppers, and perhaps some Thai basil, but I didn't :-) Feel free to tweak, if you try this out and send this recipe in a more authentically south east asian direction, if you want to, I'm sure it will be no less delicious.

Despite the seemingly odd combination of ingredients, not only are my fridge and my compost bin now a little emptier, the dish turned out pretty good, if I do say so myself. And it is the kind of thing where any vegetables you have to hand can be substituted in. Bargain!

Stir Fried Vegetable Rice with Basil and Ginger
Serves 4

14oz brown jasmine rice
canola oil
1 TBSP grated ginger root
1 large jalapeno pepper, seeds removed and finely chopped
3 large cloves garlic, minced
2 leeks, rinsed and cut into thin half-moon slices
3 small carrots, in small dice
1/2 bunch lacinato/Tuscan kale, stems removed and thinly sliced
4 green/spring onions, thinly sliced
1 red bell pepper, chopped
7 TBSP soy sauce (I used low sodium)
1 cup chopped fresh basil leaves
lime wedges to serve

1. Cook the rice according to the directions and drain off any remaining liquid. Set aside.
2. In a large wok, heat some canola oil until hot, and then stir fry the ginger, jalapeño and garlic together until the garlic starts to turn brown and the mixture is fragrant.
3. Add the leeks, carrots and bell pepper and continue to stir until the carrots are tender.
4. Stir in the rice, kale, green onions and the soy sauce and mix to combine. Continue to cook until the kale is wilted. Then stir in the basil, and let it heat through until you can smell that delicious aniseed fragrance of the hot basil.
5 Serve garnished with lime wedge to squeeze over the top.