Fried Rice - Friday Foods

Welcome to Friday!  Yay, it's Friday.  This seemed like one of the longest weeks I've had in a while, but I think that was due to the fact that I was sick and I had a plethora of new blood in the lab, so I had to show them the ropes.  Yay, Science.  But now, it's Friday, which means the start of the weekend and by the looks of things, it's going to be lovely here in Madison.

And because it's Friday, that means it's time for a recipe.  Yum!  This week I thought I would share with you a staple that we eat quite a bit in this house.  Fried Rice.  This is our go to meal when we need something quick and easy.  And it's so yummy.  So lets get to it.

Ingredients
~  4 c cooked rice - any rice will do
~  1 tbs sesame oil
~ 2-3 tbs soy sauce - we use aged mushroom soy sauce, it's amazing
~  8 oz mushrooms - any type
~  2 carrots - julienned
~ green onion
~ minced garlic
~ 2 egg
~ salt and pepper


Directions
 1.  Cook the rice ahead of time.  So if you are going to make this, make the rice in the morning.  Fresh rice will get sticky.  If I don't remember to make rice ahead of time, I will make it and then pop it in the freezer to cool it down in a hurry (about 1-2 hrs).  Now I have no idea if this is good to do or not, but I've done it hundreds of times and it has worked.

 2.  Heat your pan on med heat.  Add sesame oil to the hot pan.

 3.  Saute your mushrooms, carrots, green onions, and garlic.  I saute the mushrooms (with green onion and garlic) until they release their juices and then add  the carrots for the last couple of minutes.  But it's up to you how crispy you like your veggies.

 4.  Take veggies out of pan and set aside.

 5.  Add eggs to the hot pan.  Scramble.

 6.  Add the veggies back to the cooked eggs.  Add the rice to this mixture.  Mix it all together.

 7.  Add the soy sauce and mix.  We use an aged mushroom flavored soy sauce for this, so it's much darker then normal soy sauce.  It also goes a long way, so we use a smaller amount.  You may need to use more soy sauce depending on the type of sauce you're using and your taste preferences.

 8.  Add salt and pepper to taste.  Remember the soy sauce is very salty, so you may not need salt depending on what you like.

 9.  Let this fry for a bit, stirring occasionally.  I normally let the rice brown just a little bit before serving.

10.  Serve and enjoy!

We normally will add different veggies depending on what we have in the house.  This is normally one of those "use what you have" meals for us.  You can see that I used green peppers (and broccoli) in the pictures above, that's because we just happen to have a little bit of green pepper left.  I also topped our with dark sesame seeds, because we love sesame seeds :-)

You could also easily add a meat or tofu to this dish, we normally don't, but that doesn't mean you can't.  I bet this would be delicious with some sauteed pork.  Yum!

I also stated above that we use an aged soy sauce, this is why the fried rice is so dark.  We get this from our local Asian market.  It's amazing.  It's thicker and has a much more flavorful.  It's the same consistency as say, an aged balsamic.  We get the mushroom flavored one as well, so it's more potent and has a light hint of mushroom flavor.  Could you ask for anything better?  I strongly suggest you go check out your local Asian market and see what they have.

I hope you enjoy this recipe and have a fantastic weekend.