When I was in grade school I hated my lunch. It was a single hotdog on 2 cups of rice, squished in a Sanrio plastic lunch container. By mid noon, the rice would be cold, tough and the hotdog in the middle would taste boiled. I had a nanny who dutifully prepared my meals which consisted of either a drumstick or a piece of hotdog. I tried to trade my lunch in school in vain. Nobody wanted my lunch. I resorted to eating heavy breakfast and heavy afternoon snacks just to avoid lunches. That was until a classmate of mine shared her lunch.
It was heaven-sent. Her mom prepared her lunch and although it was rice too, she made the effort of mincing the previous day’s leftovers and creating a fried rice medley of flavors. One might say that I survived grade school because of my friend’s lunch. One thing’s for sure, it made an impression on me.
This is why I decided to create healthy and tasteful lunches for my son. Through years of trial and error – I finally know what he wants and how he wants them. That is – he prefers them mixed with his rice so that all he has to do is open his kit and start eating. With these tasty fried rice creations, he could eat them standing up when there’s no room in the school’s canteen or as he would be walking from one classroom to the next. It wasn’t long until I found out that he would share his lunch with his classmates – specially those who were in the same situation I was in, decades ago.
Ingredients:
- Garlic – I leave the amount to your discretion. Some people like garlic, some don’t. đŸ™‚
- Ground Pork
- 1 1/2 tbsp Sun dried tomato-pesto sauce*
- 2 cups rice
Sun dried tomato-pesto sauce:
A handful of sun dried tomatoes, tsp. kraft parmesan and 3 tbsp of  homemade pesto can create 3 servings. I just do a basic basil pesto sauce. I use a blender to turn this into a thick sauce. If you have a food processor, that would be better. I usually prepare the sauces during the weekend and divide them into portions so that my son can cook these things himself when I can’t be around. Preparing the sauce before hand also cuts the prep-time shorter.
Instructions:
- Saute ground pork in garlic. Once it turns brown, add the sundried tomato-pesto sauce. Mix well and let it simmer for 5 minutes before adding rice. Leftover rice cooked the night before would be the best!
- Mix until the rice has been thoroughly coated. If you wish to have a little texture, you can let your rice sit in low fire for 2 minutes in-between mixes.
