Fried Rice

As long as I can remember, I have always loved fried rice. When I was young and my dad would take us to a Chinese restaurant, all I would want was fried rice.

When I moved to Japan, I spent a lot of time in Yokohama. Yokohama is host to one of the largest overseas Chinese communities in Japan (Kakyo 華橋, literally "Bridge to China"). There at one of those restaurants, I had the most delicious fried rice. Except, the rice really wasn't fried at all. They would mix various ingredients in the rice (egg, scallions, garlic, shrimp, chicken, etc) and gently mix them all together with a little vegetable oil. They never used soy sauce, as it would overpower the dish. They also did not use day old rice, as the rice looses its sweetness overnight. The result was light, fluffy and delicious.

The great thing about fried rice is that you can put almost anything in it, and is perfect if you have some leftover vegetables and meat. My basic recipe is as follows, but you can choose to mix it up as much as you wish!

It really helps out if you have a rice cooker, but you can boil the rice in a pot if you wish.

Ingredients
1 cup white rice, washed and drained
Chinese Sausages, 3 (feel free to use any meat you wish, or don't use any meat at all. I have made this with chicken, duck, shrimp, sausages, bacon or just plain vegetarian)
2 eggs, lightly beaten
1//4 cup diced red onion
1 carrot, diced
1/4 to 1/2 cup cooked green peas
1/2 cup fresh corn kernels (white or yellow) (you can also use frozen corn, but just thaw it beforehand)
3 scallions, chopped.
1 piece garlic, minced
2 teaspoons salt
Fresh ground pepper to taste


Directions
1. Wash the rice 2 or 3 times to remove most of the talc. Add some water to the rice and take your hands and mash the rice between your fingers gently. The water will turn very cloudy. Repeat 2 or 3 times, until the water does not turn as cloudy. Drain one final time.

2. Add water. This is the tricky part, as there are all different sort of rules for how much water to add for different rice grains. My rule of thumb is to take you index finger and fill the water up until the water line hits the first knuckle of you index finger. See my Rules of Rice.

3. Cook in the rice cooker and set aside.

4. Heat 4 tablespoons of oil in a wok. Add the eggs and stir with a wooden chopstick or spatula until lightly set on medium heat. Make sure to break the eggs apart, and continue to cook for 5 minutes until the eggs release an aroma. Remove and set aside.

5. Add a swig of oil to the wok (1 tablespoon) and cook onion for 2 minutes until soft and light golden brown. Add any other meat you are cooking along with the peas, corn and scallions. Stir fry till heated through, about 3 minutes.

6. Take the whole mixture and pour it over the rice in the rice cooker. Take a plastic spatula and gently mix all the ingredients, making sure to fully incorporate them in the rice.

7. Add the salt and pepper to taste.

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