Friday, December 21, 2012

RICE: Fried Rice



FEATURED ITEM:
RICE
WHY STORE THIS ITEM:
  • Rice is a basic food staple and a versatile part of any food storage.
  • When sealed in an airtight container dry rice can be stored up to 30 years! Once opened rice still lasts for an impressive 1-2 years when kept in a dry container.
  • Rice is a fantastic part of many fun and creative dishes like risotto, pilaf, and fried rice. Rice can also be cooked plain as a base or side to accompany many other dishes such as curry, stir-fry, or with fish or chicken.
DINNER RECIPE:
Fried Rice
 
In college I had a Korean roommate who made the most delicious fried rice! However, she didn’t have a written recipe or instructions of any kind.  This recipe is the result of cooking with her and adapting her recipe over the years. Fried rice is always a hit at my house and is frequently requested by my husband as a fast and easy weeknight meal.  I use Calrose or any other short grain rice for this recipe mostly because it is more traditional in Asian cooking but also because I like the texture and stickiness of the rice. This recipe does make a large batch but the leftovers re-heat very well!

Makes: 8 large servings
Cook Time: 40 minutes

Ingredients:

4 cups short-grain rice
1 can chicken broth
6 T vegetable or olive oil
1 medium onion chopped
3 cloves garlic minced
1 pound of frozen mixed veggies of your choice
2 cubes chicken bullion (or 2 teaspoons)
5 eggs
½ teaspoon each salt and pepper to taste

Directions:
Rinse and cook rice according to instructions for stovetop or for your individual rice cooker. I love my rice cooker because of how fast and easy it is.  My rice cooker takes about 20 minutes to cook this amount of rice. Use chicken broth in place of some of the water you would otherwise use to cook the rice (could also use 1 bullion cube instead of the broth). This will allow the flavor to absorb into the rice as it cooks.
While the rice is cooking, heat oil in a large pan over medium heat. The pan needs to be large enough to fit all of your rice and vegetables.
Add onions and garlic and cook until tender.
Add bullion cubes to onion and garlic mixture and stir until dissolved. This allows the bullion to flavor the oil and vegetables.
Add frozen vegetables and stir to coat with oil and cook until thawed. By now your rice should be about done cooking. 
 Add rice to your vegetable mixture one scoop at a time. Stir each scoop of rice into your vegetable mixture making sure it is fully incorporated before adding the next scoop.

Make a well in the center of the pan and add egg one at a time. Quickly stir each egg into the surrounding rice to make sure that your scrambled egg is evenly distributed throughout the rice.

Once all eggs are incorporated allow the rice to “fry” in the pan.  Simply stir the rice every minute or so. You should see areas where the rice is browning nicely as you turn the rice in the pan. Cook for 5-10 minutes until all the egg is fully cooked and the rice has reached the desired amount of crispiness for you. At this point you may want to add salt and pepper to taste. If you find that you want more browned bits in your rice you can continue to let it cook but you may need to cover it to prevent the rice from drying out. 


Tell us what you made!
Please leave a recipe of what you made with this week’s featured item in the comments field or email it to us.


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