I’ve been cooking lunch this entire school week. No kiddin’! I used to cheat by buying the kids’ lunch like once or twice a week. But you know the thing with gas prices these days so hell, we gotta try and cut cost.

I made my kids’ favorite pan-fried fish fillet today and paired it with rice simply because we haven’t had rice for lunch all week! Wha-at, no rice and we call ourselves Asians? Shame on us !

I’m using dory fillets here. If you’ve ever eaten fish at a restaurant, you know it’s darned expensive and you walk out still hungry because the servings are so small. Well, that’s me anyways .

The fillets I buy come frozen in packs of 4 or 5 pieces each and cost less than 10 bucks. I heat up some olive oil in a pan and chuck in a handful of chopped garlic and fresh chillies to flavor the oil.

The fillets go in next to be pan-fried till they’re cooked through on both sides. If the fish is flaky when you cut through it, then it’s cooked. A sprinkle of salt and pepper to taste, and we’re done.

Meantime, my rice is in the rice cooker bubbling away. I blanch 1 carrot and a handful of French beans, both finely cubed, to soften them up a bit. I melt some butter in my pan and add the carrot, French beans and 1 tomato, also finely cubed. Fry them for a minute.

The rice goes in last. Give it a good toss with the veggies in there. Add salt and pepper to taste. And we’ve got a healthy lunch with veggies, fish, carb and a spicy kick to boot.

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