The Secret to Truly Awesome Fried Rice

Some nights (and I love these nights), Robbie takes Nelle out on a date. Just the two of them. Often it's a walk down the road to the Chinese restaurant, with its big tank of lobsters and airport-lounge carpet, to share a special fried rice. Or, as Nelle calls it, 'special rice.' With 'crawns.' (She loves crawns)

I sit at home - glass of red wine in hand - and exhale.


This is my special rice. It doesn't have prawns, or meat of any kind, and I think over time I've got the balance just right. It's rich without being oily - which is a win in my books. Experimentation is awesome, by the way ... on something you can hardly do wrong.

And you know what the secret is? Eggs. Lots of them. Scrambled. 
Making this special rice both tasty and sustaining. Survival rice. For when daddy doesn't take the kids out ...

Enjoy!
Amanda xx

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Special Truly Awesome Fried Rice
serves 3-4

The time
10 min prep + 15-20 min cooking

The ingredients
The eggs
1 Tbs rice bran oil (or use olive)
4 large organic eggs
1/4 cup milk

The veggies
1 Tbs rice bran oil (or olive) 
2 spears of celery, minced
3 small scallions or green onions, minced
1 cup frozen or fresh corn
1 cup frozen or fresh peas
1 tsp minced garlic
3 Tbs soy sauce
+1 more Tbs soy sauce (later)

+ 3 cups cooked rice
+ soy sauce, to taste

*Try to use organic when you can! Pick up other veggies at the market on the weekend and try them out, too.


The process
1. Mix the eggs and milk together in a bowl, then saute them over medium heat in 1 Tbs of oil until they're soft-scrambled - that is, scrambled but still wet looking. Maybe a little under what you'd want to eat all on their own. Remove from heat and set aside. (You can leave them in the pan - that's ok).

2. In a clean frying pan or wok, saute the celery and scallions over medium heat in another Tbs oil until the celery has softened. Then add all the other veggies and stir pretty regularly until the corn is cooked (5-10 minutes). 

3. Add the cooked eggs, the rice, and 1 more Tbs soy sauce to the veggies and crank up the heat slightly. Keep stirring, and let the rice get golden if you like. This is really just the part where you combine everything and remove any excess moisture from the fried rice - so go ahead and take it off whenever you like. 

The rice, that is. I don't know what you were thinking.

4. Serve in bowls with extra soy sauce, to taste.

The cost
Fried rice is easy to make with pantry staples - rice, eggs, and whatever veggies you have on-hand. I usually keep peas and corn in the freezer, so this is my basic 'special rice' - feel free to try out different combinations! Made with organic ingredients, this dish'll probably cost you about $8-$10.

Comments

  1. Love this recipe and definitely going to try it. I eat a lot of fried rice.

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  2. @Paula

    That means we'll expect a report back from you, my dear, on what *you* think constitutes a great fried rice! :)

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  3. I made Fried rice the other day which was well received by my family (did have to add chicken for the carnivores!!) and rather tasty! Never thought of scrambling the eggs, will definitely try that next time.
    P.S. Tell Nelle I love 'crawns' too :)
    P.P.S. I LOVE LOVE LOVE your blog!!

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  4. Thanks DONNA! You'll have to come 'round for dinner one night and fight my girl for some crawns ;)

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  5. Sounds like a great idea Amanda. Nelle will have some stiff competition from Sammie though she loves 'crawns' too! I would love to get them together, Sammie loves little people. She is doing a school based traineeship in Childcare (and I am sure that Nelle would love seeing all of Sammie's dance paraphernalia! We should definitely organise something soon :)

    ReplyDelete

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Thanks for commenting! Amandaxx