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.