Every Kind of Fried Rice
Fried rice is my version of meatloaf. If you have leftovers, you can make fried rice. So instead of giving you a straight recipe, I will give you my approach to fried rice.
Trust me. Almost anything can turn into a fried rice.
Required Ingredients
Leftover rice
Oil/butter
Seasoning(s)
Let me be extremely clear. Seasoning is just that. Whatever you want to season it with. Here are some options: Soy sauce, fish sauce, oyster sauce, salt, pepper & garlic, sesame oil, gochujang, ketchup, steak sauce, furikake, everything but the bagel, seasoning salt, braising liquid, etc. Pick a ‘cusine’ or ‘inspiring dish’ that your leftovers remind you of, and base the seasoning you use off of that.
Optional Ingredients
garlic or onions or both or none
Some sort of protein (or many kinds of protein) cut up into small ish chunks
some sort of bite sized vegetables (I tend to stick with veggies that don’t get too watery, but anything will do. I often reach for a frozen bag of mixed veggies from costco when I dont have any fresh cut veggies on hand).
Directions (and tips)
The key to a good fried rice is that at the end it is not mushy and that it is seasoned well enough for its purpose. If it is meant as a special side to your meal, light seasoning will do. If you’re like me, and fried rice IS the meal, it’ll need to be a bit more fancy.
Preheat oil (skip of protein has fat that can be rendered) a large pan on medium-high heat
(re)heat the protein. season if desired.
add in onions & garlic - saute for a few minutes until onions are transluecent
add in veggies — saute again for a few minutes.
If pan looks ‘dry’ or lacking in oil, push aside the mixture and add oil to the pan again. allow to heat.
add rice. If cold, allow to warm a few moments before slightly pressing down to separate into individual grains. mix as necessary.
season. taste. season again.
