Recipe Corner: Fried Rice

I was asked to make fried rice.  I looked at several recipes online and in cookbooks and came up with this amalgamation.  This version was approved of by all household members, who promptly ate it all up, yum, and asked me to make it again.

I'm adding it to our blog since I don't want to forget how to make it in a way that I know will be liked.

Fried Rice on the Divide

~4-5 cups cooked rice (it doesn't matter if it's leftover cooled rice or freshly cooked hot rice)
2 eggs, mixed with a pinch of salt
~3-4 scallions, chopped
~1/3 cup frozen peas, more or less thawed (use the microwave or let them sit out for a while)
~2-3 cloves garlic, chopped
a bit of ginger, chopped (optional)
~4 T. oil, divided (see the cooking process below)
~2 T. soy sauce
pinches of salt, pepper, etc.

Heat ~2 T oil in a frying pan until hot.  Pour in the egg mixture and cook as for scrambled eggs.  Remove the cooked eggs from the pan.

Add ~2 T oil to the pan.  When it is hot, add the scallions, garlic, and peas, and saute (stir fry) for ~30 seconds to a minute, until they are about half-cooked.  Add the rice, soy sauce, and cooked eggs.  Saute (stir fry), stirring, until all is blended, cooked, etc.

Serve and eat.  It will serve 4 people if they are not too hungry and/or have other things to eat at the meal.  If you are feeding teenagers, it might look like the hyena feeding time at the zoo.

I'm sure this would be even better with some diced leftover meat, other vegetables, and so on.  I sometimes add a sploot of sesame oil when I add the soy sauce.

Needless to say, all amounts are approximate.

I used a large cast-iron frying pan for this.  A wok would work well, too.

This is a fairly new recipe for us, so I expect it to evolve over the next several months.


Ramen Noodle Variation

If you want to tart up some ramen noodles, the above mix of stuff works well.

All the ingredients are the same except for the rice.  Instead, use one packet of ramen noodles, cooked and drained.  (Put the seasoning packet somewhere else, not in the noodles)  Cook the rest of it as above, except that the cooked noodles get fried with everything instead of cooked rice getting fried with everything.  Definitely add sesame oil to this variation; it makes a big difference for balancing the flavors.

I'm pretty sure that any other kind of Asian noodle would work tolerably well for this.

Recipe Corner: Butter Mochi

We had this at a potluck a few years ago.

The person who brought it gave us the recipe.  She wrote, "I got this recipe from a Japanese/Hawaiian woman who owned a little cafe in Mesa AZ called 'Highland Cafe' which is now closed."

The person at the potluck gave us the full recipe, which makes two pans of butter mochi.  We usually make a one-pan version, with the amounts slightly tweaked.  We now bring it to potlucks.

Since the paper on which we wrote the recipe is getting rather scummy with drips of this and that, here is the recipe, both the 2-pan version and the 1-pan version.

Butter Mochi  (original recipe)

1 20-ounce box of sweet rice flour (3.75 cups)
2.5 cups granulated sugar
2 tablespoons baking powder
1/2 teaspoon sea salt
1 stick unsalted butter (1/2 cup), melted
1 can coconut milk (2 cups)
1/2 cup milk
5 eggs
1 teaspoon vanilla extract (optional)

Preheat oven to 350F.  Mix dry ingredients and wet ingredients in separate bowls.  Combine and mix thoroughly.  Grease two 9" x 13" pans.  Pour batter evenly into both pans.  Bake for 45-60 minutes.


Butter Mochi (enough for one 9" x 13" pan)

approximately 1/2 box of sweet rice flour (we estimate it)
1.25 cups granulated sugar
1 tablespoon baking powder
1/4 teaspoon salt (regular salt is fine)
1/2 stick butter, melted (1/4 cup, we use either unsalted or salted depending on what's around)
approximately 1/2 can of coconut milk (we estimate it)
1/4 cup milk
3 eggs
1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract

The method is the same as above.  The mochi is usually done in 30-45 minutes, when it is golden and set, but not too dark along the edges.  Even with a greased pan, this can be a pain to get out of the pan.  If the pan is hard to clean, soaking it in water for a short while softens the stuck-on bits enough to get off fairly easily.

We cut this into 1" squares, give or take a bit, and then remove it from the pan.

When we make the half-recipe, we end up with half a can of coconut milk left over.  We either make another batch of mochi within a few days, or we use the coconut milk for other things.  I suppose it could be frozen, then thawed and used in a second batch later.  The rice flour is not a problem.  It keeps indefinitely in the pantry along with other flours.

Sweet rice flour and coconut milk can be found in grocery stores with a good ethnic section or in Asian specialty markets.  Sweet rice flour is also known as mochiko.

There are several similar recipes on the 'net for butter mochi in case you want to try several and then tweak it to match your own personal preferences.