Homemade fried rice was tricky business in my house growing up....just soy sauce wasn't enough flavor, yet the only thing my Dad could think of to beef up the flavor was to add curry powder and garlic. This really wasn't a bad combo and was quite delicious, but obviously tasted nothing like traditional Chinese Fried Rice. As an adult I've had to play around with ingredients and flavors to get the right combination, and I'm happy to say that after years of playing I finally did it. I knew it must be good when I was browsing around Steamy Kitchen and her Fried Rice recipe is almost identical to mine....and she's Asian! It probably didn't take her long to figure out how to write her recipe, but mine was definitely years of trial and error.
At least I got it all figured out. Eventually.
Recipe by Meal Planning 101
_________________________________________________________________________________
Serves 4
1 ½ cups cooked day old rice
2 chopped green onions
1 clove minced garlic
1 inch grated fresh ginger
1 egg scrambled
Soy sauce
1 tbsp sesame oil
Frozen veggies or fresh veggies (whatever you prefer)
Optional: add any diced meat you have
Heat a wok to high. Add a bit of vegetable oil and scramble fry the egg. Set aside. Add more oil to the wok and add the veggies (add as many or as little as you'd like). Stir-fry a few minutes or until the veggies are almost cooked, then add the garlic and ginger. Stir fry only about 30 seconds so you don't burn the garlic. Add the rice, soy sauce and sesame oil. I just eyeball the soy sauce until it looks right, and seems to be seasoned properly. Keep the rice on high heat. You want each grain of rice heated through. Add the scrambled egg back to the rice and mix thoroughly. Turn off heat.
Click here for printable version of Fried Rice
__________________________________________________________________________________
THE RESULTS?
The thing I love about Fried Rice is that it's versatile; the rice is all from leftovers and you can throw in virtually any veggie or meat you have on hand. It's a great way to clean out a fridge. And it's always delicious.
Fried Rice is a great side dish for: