fried rice

Regular short-grained rice cooked the usual way; rinsed, brought to boil in 1.25 X the amount of water, steamed with a paper towel gasket for 25 minutes on LOW as possible, kept covered for additional 10 minutes. Perfect!

Homemade sausage browned then removed to a bowl. Broccoli bits browned in the same pan, removed to the same bowl. Onion, garlic, sweet snow peas singed the same pan removed to the same bowl and reserved. A few minutes before the rice is done, 1/4 cup water and two teaspoons Hoisin sauce and one tablespoon soy sauce heated in that same overused pan. This forms a loose sauce. The rice dumped in, all the vegetables with the sausage also tossed in.

Radish sliced, cucumber sliced, coated with olive oil, sprinkled with vinegar, S/P.

Ta daaaaaa.

So easy, a child could do it.

Fried rice 2

Oh, Man that fried rice was good. The thing is, I still have a ton of Asian vegetables picked up for the sukiyaki, so I made fried rice again. The exact same way, and I mean exactly the same way ... 'cept differ'nt.

Mushrooms don't last forever, you know. So I used 'em -- a LOT of them. Also I picked up a daikon radish that I didn't show yet. It's the large white thing that's shredded thusly usually seen on sushi plates. They always have those at Asian markets, less frequently at western markets. It has a definite radish flavor and texture that is lost when cooked. Because of that, I like to add more in raw form for the plate. It's interesting to have raw vegetables mixed with cooked. The daikon was turned on the Japanese Benriner shredding tool first. It's designed to shred a whole potato or some such into a series of long continuous filaments. It's the sort of thing that's just plain fun. Have the kids do it. They'll have a ton of fun using the thing. It's safe too. Same thing with salad spinners, really gets 'em going.

A few of the vegetables needed a head start so they went into the pan with a little water to steam first, then a tablespoon of oil and the rest of the vegetables as with a stir-fry. Just heat through, barely cook. Add flavor ingredients, then the rice.

The green shreds is seaweed that I got at the Asian market. I keep it refrigerated in a tub of water. It's in the form of exceedingly long shreds. I like to add it to things for its sea-weedy mineral goodness and its oceanic flavor.

The protein ingredients are

* shrimp, cut to pieces. (ridiculous to buy huge ones then cut them, I know, but that's what I do)
* scallops (ridiculous to buy huge ones then cut them, I know, but that's what I do. Hey. I'm having the strangest sense of déjà vu)

* firm tofu

My favor ingredients:

* grated ginger
* grated garlic
* fish sauce (fermented anchovy and water, very strong)
* saki
* mirin
* soy sauce
* black pepper
* red cayenne pepper

* Thai mint

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.

fried rice

Rice pressure cooked for five minutes in 1.5 X water to rice. Left to depressurize of heat.

* held-over kielbasa added.