December 19th, 2009 by Dawn

When I was growing up, my mother always served us a hot breakfast. None of these western sticky sweet creations like pancakes, donuts or cereal. Even though we were poor then, Mom would find a way to coax a satisfying steamy broth out of a gnarly looking piece of beef, a bunch of spinach, a clove of garlic, salt and added macaroni. It was one of our morning favourites. Looking back I am impressed with how much she was able to stretch her budget sometimes with only $20 a week to feed a family of five. It’s truly remarkable and I am sure I never appreciated her struggle enough as children will do.

The old Asians are generally known for being frugal and extremely good at bargaining. Admittedly, I like to challenge myself to waste as little as possible. TIP: I stick over-ripe cherry tomatoes in a bag, no matter how few, and freeze them. I toss them in stew or sauce as I need it. You’ll be amazed how handy it is to have a few veggies in the freezer to add to stews and soups when you’re in a pinch. And many vegetables freeze well so whatever odds and ends you have left just freeze it for a rainy day. As a single mom of two ravenous boys, whatever I can do to keep my grocery bill in check helps. Mostly I save what I can to see how far I can ration food and how many times I can recreate leftovers into new dishes. It’s a weird game but when you love food as much as I do it’s hard to waste it.

Which brings me to the big save. Rice. In our family, occasionally we make extra rice on purpose so we can have fried rice the next day. Day-old rice is drier than fresh rice and makes the end product better. Fresh rice is okay if you don’t have day-old rice, but it can easily become soggy, especially if you don’t have your wok fire hot enough.

For breakfast, I use day-old rice and stir fry it quickly with some diced onions or simply take the leftover rice, sprinkle a few drops of water to moisten and cover with plastic wrap and microwave on high for 2 minutes. Ding. It’s steamed back to a freshly cooked state. Serve it with a fried egg topped with some soy sauce and this makes a tasty and easy hot breakfast, simply called Egg On Rice.

Pictured above in the rice bowl is one chicken and one quail egg. Julian and Cole love quail eggs, fried so the edges are crispy and topped with a wee sprinkling of sea salt as a snack. Today they get one of each egg for breakfast. And I know that they’re bellies will be full enough to take them through to lunch.