The Great Fried Rice

We love fried rice. And a damn good plate of fried rice will definitely served at our wedding. Until then we are a quest to make the perfect fried rice. We never plan to make fried rice, that's the whole point of fried rice. It's suppose to be a mash of leftovers into a tasty, hearty treat.

The trick to fried rice is the rice, the rest is just the cherry on top! Not too mushy, not too gummy, not too dry, not too overcooked, not too undercooked, just perfectly cooked to where the rice soaks up the flavors of everything it's cooked with, while adding texture and carb-goodness. We like to use rice made a day ahead which is dried enough to instantly absorb the flavors of anything its cooked with.

There are a few other tricks to fried rice, like a nice thin omelette that is cut into strips and added at the final stage of cooking the fried rice. Sometimes we like to get fancy and make a traditional green onion omelette, but we are learning the thinner the omelette the better.

Fried rice is one of those great dishes that you can continuously "perfect" because the ingredients are endless. Every time we have made it the vegetables vary and we even tried our hand at pineapple fried rice. And we never tire of the fried rice leftovers. Here is mom's basic fried rice we use as the general base for our fried rice. I see lobster fried rice in our immediate future. Enjoy!

Mom's Fried Rice

1 cup peas

1 cup cubed carrots

1/2 lb fresh shrimp

2 cups diced ham or barbecued pork

1/2 cup sliced green onions, thinly sliced

4 eggs, beaten

3 cups jasmine rice, steamed

2 Tablespoons Soy Sauce

1 Tablespoon Sugar

1/2 teaspoon salt

Cooking Oil

In a non-stick wok or pan, heat 1 teaspoon of cooking oil. Pour beaten eggs into a thin layer in pan, cook until firm. Remove from pan and slice into thin strip about 1 inch long.

Over medium heat in the same pan, heat 1 Tablespoon of oil and add diced ham, shrimp, peas, carrots, sliced egg, sugar, salt, and 2 teaspoons of the soy sauce. Stir fry for about 4 minutes. Remove from pan onto a plate.

Wipe clean pan and return to heat and add 1 Tablespoon of oil. Add the green onions and 1/2 Tablespoon of soy sauce. Stir fry for 1 minute until combined. Add cook rice and stir fry for about 3 minutes or until combined.

Add the previously stir fried vegetables and meat back to the pan with the rice and stir fry for about 5 minutes until meats are thoroughly cooked through.

Taste and decide whether it needs more soy sauce or sugar.