And also, if you believe that the only place you can get good fried rice is a hibachi place, please give this recipe a try. Because of this recipe we are fried rice snobs. We walk out of every restaurant knowing we could have made better rice. For way less.
I'm not kidding. I don't kid about Asian food.
Ever.
Start with a half cup of uncooked white rice and stick it in your rice maker with a full cup of water. This recipe doesn't really work with brown rice. I understand it's not healthy. We already covered that fact. I make no apologies.
If you don't have a rice maker, cook a half cup of white rice however you do that. Then go out and buy a rice maker. They're wonderful.
Green onions are more important to me than a lot of things in life and this dish wouldn't be the same without them. You really only need one for this recipe, but if you wanted to go a little wild and use two, I wouldn't judge.
I don't judge when it comes to green onions.
I might judge green onion breath, but that's an entirely different issue.
Cut off the roots and dice it up to the point on the stalk where the green starts to get really deep and rich.
PSA from Jake: This is a two-beer dish. It takes two beers to make this dish from when you put the rice in the maker till you get to enjoy the Asian-inspired goodness. You should crack open your favorite beverage as the rice goes in the maker.
For Jake it's Fat Tire.
I like color in my food, so I added some carrots to the green onion. You could probably throw some corn, red peppers or snow peas in there, but I didn't have any handy.
I used about 4 or 5 baby carrots. If you only have the big ones, probably just less than half a carrot will do.
***Timing disclaimer***
Don't start this step until your rice is almost finished cooking. Thank you.
***Disclaimer over***
Now, grease the pan in which you will be frying your rice and crack some eggs. Scramble these with some salt (a few dashes) and pepper (also, a few dashes).
We like eggs to have a tangible presence in our fried rice. If you're not the hugest egg fan, cut it back to only one. At this step be sure your pan is on medium-high heat. This will help with the rice-frying later on.
Chop up the eggs so they blend into the rice well.
Remove to a separate bowl. In our household there is always an obligatory egg-testing that happens at this stage. This step is completely optional if you are not in our household.
Don't turn the heat down just yet. Put a tablespoon of vegetable oil on your pan.
(Note from Jake: You should be starting your second drink right about now.)
Dump your rice in the hot oil. It will crackle and pop a little bit, but don't worry, Rice Krispies do it too. It's how rice communicates to you that it enjoys this process of becoming delicious.
Turn the heat down to low. We're talking 2 or 3 on a 10 scale.
Dump in your eggies.
Soy sauce! Now this is the point where measuring doesn't really happen. We *think* it's about a quarter of a cup. Maybe exact measurements can be decided upon at a later date and this post will be amended.
Until then, turn that bottle upside down over your rice and count to 5. If you like salty things, make it 5mississippi. Don't go nuts. You can always add more later.
We're so helpful and detailed, aren't we?
Be sure you're stirring this around as the pan is still hot and you don't want the rice to burn.
Now add 1/2 teaspoon garlic power, 1/8 teaspoon salt (optional because the soy sauce is pretty salty on its own), and 8 to 10 turns of pepper with your pepper grinder. If you have the powdery stuff, put in 1/8 of a tsp.
Add your chopped veggies and 1/2 tsp of sesame seeds. They add a wonderful texture to the rice.
Yum...
Now add two tablespoons of margarine. We have tried this with butter and it doesn't taste quite right. Though bad for your heart, bust out the Shed Spread Country Crock for this recipe.
It's worth it.
Now, center yourself, grasshopper, and channel your inner hibachi chef. (Maybe sans the knife juggling for your safety and the safety of those around you.) Pile that rice up into a neat little mound.
You pan should have cooled down enough that you can focus on something else. Go finish grilling your rib-eyes (we love steak and fried rice). Go change over some laundry. Go tweet about what an incredibly talented hibachi chef you are.
This is also the point to check your seasonings. If you want to add more soy sauce, go for it. If you need more pepper, knock yourself out.
Yum. This would taste delicious with some shrimp mixed in. It goes great with teryaki chicken too.
Here's the recipe:
Jake's Fried Rice:
1/2 cup uncooked rice
1 cup water
1 green onion
1/2 carrot (or 4 or 5 baby ones)
2 eggs
1 tablespoon of oil
soy sauce
1/8 teaspoon salt (optional)
1/2 teaspoon garlic powder
1/8 teaspoon pepper
1/2 teaspoon sesame seeds
2 tablespoons margarine
Cook 1/2 cup of white rice. Dice onions and carrots. Set aside. When rice is almost finished cooking, scramble two eggs on medium-high heat in a frying pan or wok. Add a dash of salt and a dash of pepper. Remove cooked eggs to a separate bowl.
Put oil in the hot pan and dump the cooked rice in. Turn the heat down to 2 or 3 (medium-low). Add eggs. Dump in soy sauce for about five seconds. Rice will not be completely covered, but should turn brown when mixed.
Add garlic powder, pepper and salt. Stir. Add veggies and sesame seeds. Stir again. Add margarine. Stir and taste. Adjust seasonings as you see fit.
Pile the rice up and let it cook for another 5-10 minutes, stirring once or twice.
Enjoy!
Jake and Renee
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