fried rice

Per my brother's suggestion, fried rice the way Sueko taught us. Patiently, she showed us to rinse the Japanese rice seven time ritualistically. We don't bother with that using American rice. Steam covered for 35 minutes, an additional 10 minutes off the heat, not ever lifting the cover to check because that cancels the steaming. Lately, I've been cutting a disc from a paper towel square to use as a gasket between the pot and the lid. The protein for that first attempt as a child was chopped hotdogs and the flavor agent was catsup. Sueko found that amusing.

This rice is different from any other I've tried. It's a powdery white. It steamed wetter than normal [note to self: use less water next time]

* 1.5 cups rice
* 2.5 cups water (could get by with 2 or 2.25)

The rest of the ingredients are things I picked up for the sukiyaki except for chicken/turkey frozen from before and nori (alga -- the black paper-like squares, bottom right corner) which I always have on hand.

This dish was contrived to make use of leftover rice, but who ever has that? I just made a fresh batch specifically for this. You can use any vegetable and protein you wish, even Western vegetables, broccoli is nice, cremini mushroom, those sorts of things. Use what you have on hand. There is very little actual cooking involved, basically, just heating through. After the rice steamed, the rest took just a few minutes. In this manner, your fried rice never comes out exactly the same twice. Unless of course you happen to be some kind of neurotic freak that follows a specific recipe precisely each time and that would be insane.

Usually only soy sauce is used but I included saki and mirin because I'm becoming quite fond of that combination. To finish, an egg cracked into the mixture off the heat. That's what that lovely yellow creamy stuff is. The white tends to set gently as possible by residual heat.

I did not include any chile flakes or any other intensifying seasoning and that makes me wonder if I should make an appointment to see the doctor, or what.