Yes, I am one of those people who post pictures of their dinner on Facebook.
Honestly, I didn't think the picture would get the response that it did. And by response, I mean two people asked for the recipe. Hey, validation is validation.
But I felt the recipe was too long to put in a comment, so I decided I could blog it and just share the link. Here's an account of a weekly event in our household that breeds wide smiles and happy bellies.
Before I was born, my parents lived in Guam and my mom learned this fried rice recipe from her Guamian neighbor. She made it for me, and now I make it for my son. He loves it. Thanks, mom.
Fried Rice
I start with bacon -- that really should be the opening sentence of any recipe. I slice about a half a pound into bite size pieces and fry them in a large, deep frying pan. I use this type of pan because eventually, everything will go into this one pan, so you want it to be big.
While the bacon is frying, I set up my rice cooker to cook 2 cups of rice. It's nice that I can just push a button, and 20 minutes later, I'll have perfectly cooked rice. I use white rice because I'm not a crazy health nut, and I think it tastes better than brown rice, but you can use brown rice if you want.
When the bacon is done, take it out of the pan and put it on a paper towel to drain. The next step is really, exceptionally unbelievable.
Are you ready? Here goes.
I leave the bacon grease in the pan. Shocking, I know. Nobody cooks with bacon grease anymore, but I say a little liquefied blubber never hurt anybody.
I cut up two chicken breast fillets into cubes and send them to sizzle in the bacon grease. When the chicken is about halfway done, I put half of a cup of chopped onion in with the chicken. Yellow, white, red, green -- it doesn't matter.
Right after that, I throw in chopped vegetables. Whatever I have. Usually that's carrots and broccoli, but you can dump anything in there -- peas, corn, green beans, zucchini, mushrooms, you name it.
I let that cook until the veggies are semi-soft, maybe five to seven minutes. Then I make a little hole in the middle of the pan by scraping everything to the outside of the pan, so a mini pool is formed in the center. I hope you get what I mean. Now, you'll crack two eggs into the center of the pan and scramble them. This is a pretty fun part since it's messy and yummy at the same time.
Once the eggs are fully cooked, mix them in with all the other ingredients, incorporating everything. By now the rice should be done, so dump all of the rice into the pan. Get out the soy sauce and pour about a quarter of a cup to start with all over the rice and start mixing. Blend, blend, blend.
If more soy sauce is needed, just keep adding it until you like what you taste. I don't typically add salt or pepper to this dish since there is enough salt in the soy sauce and the bacon. I have been known to sprinkle sesame seeds over the top, but that's only for a special occasion.
Voila. Homemade fried rice.
This recipe could easily go vegetarian if you didn't use the meat. When our budget has been tight, I've eliminated the bacon, since apparently pigs eat gold these days. But I usually always have chicken on hand since it's our go-to meat, and shrimp would work, too.
Every time I think I've made enough fried rice to feed an army, we end up having just a little bit left. That makes my stomach -- and my heart -- full.
Try it and let me know what you think.
Honestly, I didn't think the picture would get the response that it did. And by response, I mean two people asked for the recipe. Hey, validation is validation.
But I felt the recipe was too long to put in a comment, so I decided I could blog it and just share the link. Here's an account of a weekly event in our household that breeds wide smiles and happy bellies.
Before I was born, my parents lived in Guam and my mom learned this fried rice recipe from her Guamian neighbor. She made it for me, and now I make it for my son. He loves it. Thanks, mom.
Fried Rice
I start with bacon -- that really should be the opening sentence of any recipe. I slice about a half a pound into bite size pieces and fry them in a large, deep frying pan. I use this type of pan because eventually, everything will go into this one pan, so you want it to be big.
While the bacon is frying, I set up my rice cooker to cook 2 cups of rice. It's nice that I can just push a button, and 20 minutes later, I'll have perfectly cooked rice. I use white rice because I'm not a crazy health nut, and I think it tastes better than brown rice, but you can use brown rice if you want.
When the bacon is done, take it out of the pan and put it on a paper towel to drain. The next step is really, exceptionally unbelievable.
Are you ready? Here goes.
I leave the bacon grease in the pan. Shocking, I know. Nobody cooks with bacon grease anymore, but I say a little liquefied blubber never hurt anybody.
I cut up two chicken breast fillets into cubes and send them to sizzle in the bacon grease. When the chicken is about halfway done, I put half of a cup of chopped onion in with the chicken. Yellow, white, red, green -- it doesn't matter.
Right after that, I throw in chopped vegetables. Whatever I have. Usually that's carrots and broccoli, but you can dump anything in there -- peas, corn, green beans, zucchini, mushrooms, you name it.
I let that cook until the veggies are semi-soft, maybe five to seven minutes. Then I make a little hole in the middle of the pan by scraping everything to the outside of the pan, so a mini pool is formed in the center. I hope you get what I mean. Now, you'll crack two eggs into the center of the pan and scramble them. This is a pretty fun part since it's messy and yummy at the same time.
Once the eggs are fully cooked, mix them in with all the other ingredients, incorporating everything. By now the rice should be done, so dump all of the rice into the pan. Get out the soy sauce and pour about a quarter of a cup to start with all over the rice and start mixing. Blend, blend, blend.
If more soy sauce is needed, just keep adding it until you like what you taste. I don't typically add salt or pepper to this dish since there is enough salt in the soy sauce and the bacon. I have been known to sprinkle sesame seeds over the top, but that's only for a special occasion.
Voila. Homemade fried rice.
This recipe could easily go vegetarian if you didn't use the meat. When our budget has been tight, I've eliminated the bacon, since apparently pigs eat gold these days. But I usually always have chicken on hand since it's our go-to meat, and shrimp would work, too.
Every time I think I've made enough fried rice to feed an army, we end up having just a little bit left. That makes my stomach -- and my heart -- full.
Try it and let me know what you think.