Fried Rice

We eat a lot of rice in our house.  A lot.  I buy the huge 15 pound bags you see at the store and wonder who in the world could eat that much rice.   We go through one of those bags in about 3 months. I make steamed Japanese short grain, or “sticky” rice to have with dinner every few days and that is only because there are just  3 people living in the house.  Top on the list of my daughter’s “must have for college”  was a rice cooker!   I make a lot of rice and we eat most of it but there is also a lot of leftover rice to deal with and I try really hard not to waste food.

I am always  trying to come up with creative ideas to use my leftover rice, but  that is an entirely separate post.   Two of my favorite ways to use leftover rice are soups  and fried rice, of course.

Fried rice is a fabulous way to use up your leftover rice, in fact, best results come from rice that is not fresh out of the pot.  Its also a great way to rid the fridge of leftover veggies and other odd bits of things too.  Don’t know what to do with 1/2 an onion?   Only a few springs of parsley? Corn or peas leftover from the night before?   Put it in the pan.  It will all look perfect in your dish of fried rice!

It seems like a piece of cake to just mix things in with the rice and serve but it has taken me a long time to get comfortable making this and being happy with the result.  Mainly because I was under the misconception that everything had to be done on high heat and very quickly. Unless you have a wok this is not necessary.

My preference is to saute the vegetables I want to use first and then set those aside.  Next,  I scramble  the eggs in the same pan and add them in with the vegetables.  I add a little more oil to the pan, if necessary, and then add the warmed leftover rice to the pan mix with the oil to get a nice glaze on the rice.  I then  put everything back into the pan and mix it together thoroughly.  You will find what works best for you once you make this dish a couple times.   The sauce should be the added last but other than that I don’t think it matters which comes first.  Usually I am using leftover ingredients and things just need to be warmed through and that is what I expect you will do with this dish too.  Clean out the fridge!

What I have found over the years is that the more ingredients you add to the rice, such as chopped sautéed vegetables, garlic and ginger and fresh chopped herbs makes all the difference.