Faced with the challenge of needing to devour any medicinal ingredient I could get my hands on, garlic, ginger, onions, chili, but it not being soup, I had to come up with a plan B.
Instantly rich curries and tagines come to mind, but lets not forget the man flu, it had to be ready in about 15mins and with a little effort as possible. So close to death you don't want to risk a delicious slow cook if there is a chance you won't live long enough to taste it.
The answer???
Man Flu Fried Rice
- Olive oil.
- 2 onions chopped (any colour)
- 4 cloves of garlic chopped (or as much as you or your beloved can stand)
- 4 cm ginger finely chopped
- 2 red chili sliced (seeds in or out it's up to you)
- 2 carrots grated
- 3 stalk celery sliced
- Garden fresh broccoli or any other vegetable you can get your hands on.
- 3 spring onions chopped
- 3 cups of cooked rice
- Salt and pepper
- Kecap Manis, as much as you like.
Method
- Saute onions, garlic ginger and chili with a good splash of olive oil in a fry pan.
- When the onions start to soften, add the carrot and celery and other vegetables and saute for about 5 mins, you can add a little bit of water or stock if it is too dry.
- Add the spring onions and rice.
- Add Kecap Manis, salt and pepper to taste.
- This version was meatless but you can add any meat of your choice...if you have the strength to go to the shops.
- grab a box of tissues, a blanket, pillow, boxed set of your favourite DVD and pray you have enough strength to eat.
About a month ago our home was hit with a double dose of Man Flu. A near death experience, I even had 2 days of work, not consecutively, 1 day a week times 2. This was pretty dire as I left my last job taking about 3 sick days in 2 years. Thankfully I can report that all is well and we have survived.
I'm blaming my incapacitation for the lack of blog updates, where as others may attribute it to my hoity toity laziness, but they would never say it to my face.
The staple diet of any man flu casualty is chicken soup, mothers milk. I guess you could add noodles but that would be dependant on the man patient having enough strength to chew.
This is my version, I drank it breakfast, lunch, and dinner till I mentioned having more soup and AB gave me a look that advised against it toot sweet. My solution will feature next post.
Clear Chicken Soup
- 500 grams chicken necks
- 2 large red onions (or any colour you have)
- 2 chilli
- half a bunch of celery
- 3-4 carrots
- 1 head of garlic
- 4cm ginger sliced
- small cinnamon stick
- salt and pepper to taste
Method
There are options here depending on your level of Hoity Toity laziness.
Options 1
- Brown the onions, peeled garlic and chicken necks
- Add the remaining ingredients and cover with hot water.
- Simmer for about 45mins-1hour.
- Strain through a sieve and serve.
Option 2 Lazy version
- Put everything in the pot and cover with water
- I don't even peel the garlic as it is strained anyway.
No glamour photo shop here, this pot only has 1 handle, I must replace it!
