in which i thought that something was doomed, but it turned out amazing

chicken and veggie stir fry for six:

slice an onion lengthways and gently sautée in olive oil, cover with lid to finish steaming.
slice 6 happy boneless skinless chicken thighs (= $1 a person for meat and it's so easy) into thin strips and sautée with the onion until almost cooked.
add a maggi butter chicken sachet/water that ya found in the pantry.
squirt in some ginger from the tube, squeeze in half a lemon, sprinkle over a spoonful of raw sugar.
simmer gently 5 mins, cover until nearly ready to serve.

rinse and slice:
celery (diagon alley)
carrots (super thin using edge of grater)
half a cauliflower from granny and geed
one red red red capsicum
asparagus also from granny and geed
button mushrooms (quarters)
until they fill up an entire stock pot.

rinse and bring to boil 2 1/2 c basmati rice. when the rice lid is on, sort of gently steam veggies, trying to stir occasionally. turn on and off and place lid on and off about four times as ya wonder whether they've cooked enough to take that crispyness away but still be al dente.

when rice is cooked, quickly reheat chicken yummies.
spoon rice into big square bowls. spoon over the luscious spring veggies. spoon over the chicken yummies. that's a lot of spooning.
rescue mushroom and asparagus reofferings from the littlest peeps and EAT IT ALL UP.
five six stars X