Quintessential Fried Rice
Fried rice: the perfect solo or double date weeknight shutdown when there is leftover (white, long-grained) rice in the fridge.
This hits. Pretty much any night. The post is old but the recipe is updated.
what you need
2-3 eggs, whisked
1 tablespoon butter
2 carrots, peeled and diced tiny
1 cup frozen peas (take them out during prep, let them thaw)
1/2 yellow onion, diced tiny
2-4 cups cooked, leftover, long-grain white rice (like a basmati or a jasmine). For best results, use day-old rice. You actually need the rice to be dry for this recipe.
1/2 cup green onions, sliced thinly, with some extra for topping
1 knob of fresh ginger, grated
2 cloves of garlic, grated
1 small knob of fresh turmeric, grated
freshly ground black pepper
1 tablespoon toasted or regular sesame oil
3 tablespoons soy sauce or Tamari + a bit more for cooking
2 teaspoons chili oil and/or 1-2 tiny diced red Thai chilies
2 teaspoons of rice vinegar
2 tablespoons sesame seeds
1 bunch of green onions, washed and chopped
(optional) prepared/leftover protein such as chicken, steak, or tofu. Personally, I am happy with eggs + veg.
🌶️🔥🥢
how to make it
Here is how we are going to approach this. And hopefully you have a wok, but if you don’t, a regular old large frying pan will work just fine.
First, scramble your eggs in the tablespoon of butter and set aside. Leave them on the softer side and break up the curds into smaller pieces.
Next, dice all your veg and set it out so it’s ready to go. I recommend three piles:
- Carrots, onions
- Garlic, ginger, turmeric, black pepper, chilies and chili oil
- Green onion, green peas, sesame seeds
The creation of this is going to move quickly so best have everything set out.
Heat up a few tablespoons of your favorite cooking oil in your wok. For me, that is avocado oil (no seed oils in this house). Get it really fucking hot. And turn on the stovetop vent.
1 tablespoon of tamari + the carrots and onions. Two minutes.
Follow with the garlic, ginger, turmeric, black pepper, chilies, and chili oil + 1 tablespoon of tamari. One Minute. (Stir it a lot).
Move the veg to the sides of the wok, add another tablespoon of cooking oil, and add the leftover rice. Spread it out and stir it up a bit, optimizing for maximum rice contact with the wok. To the top of the rice, add 1 more tablespoon of tamari, the sesame oil, and the rice vinegar. Stir it all up and now let it sit for two minutes. Stir. Two more minutes. Stir. A little smoke is okay.
// If you are using a protein, throw it in now, stir. One more minute. Just warm it up.
Last step. Add the green onion, green peas, sesame seeds, and scramble egg. Stir it up. Then take it off the heat.
You’re done. You made it. 20 minutes tops. With no seed oils. Now go eat that shit with chopsticks and sake.
More Rice
[…] biryani as well. This biryani rounds out my trifecta of main course rice dishes, to include my Mongolian Beef Fried Rice recipe and super flexible Chicken Rice Pilaf recipe (which has yet to make its way to the […]
[…] highly customizable rice pilaf rounds out my rice trifecta – Customizable Fried Rice, Indian Biryani Rice, and this one. This is by far the most customizable of the three. You can make […]
[…] Doing a PhD brought many new rituals into my life – not all of them welcome and many of them nocturnal. One such ritual was the routine production of these heart waffles between the hours of 1:00am and 4:00am. The Piemaker made these for me when I couldn’t sleep or when I just had to get up and keep my hands on a keyboard through the wee hours of morning twilight. These waffles were one of many things that got me through. They became synonymous with crisis. Bad day, waffles. Can’t sleep, waffles. Impossible due dates, waffles. Disheartening advisor meeting, waffles. Today, I can happily say these waffles have returned to a symbol of happiness and calm mornings. But every once in a while, like this morning when the alarm sounded at 4:30am to write a particularly pernicious proposal for work, I make it until mid-morning, underslept and overcaffeinated, and turn to Norwegian waffles. For other PhD-related stories, see Mongolian Beef Fried Rice. […]
This is Joe. Met you and z Chris last night. Thanks you the company. I was notified today my book is on its way. My email is joe@joeuddo.com. Can’t wait to read it.