Ham Fried Rice

Copyright 2007 by Cooking With The Single Guy

Ingredients:
3-5 cups leftover cooked rice *
6 oz. ham (or other meat), chopped to small bits
2 to 3 eggs
8 oz. frozen peas and carrots
2 T soy sauce
1 T cooking wine or sherry
1 T sesame oil
2 stalks green onion aka spring onions, chopped (using mostly the white and pale green part)
2 T Canola oil
salt and pepper

Pre-cook your eggs in a non-stick skillet. Simply scramble them and set aside. (Make sure you season your eggs when cooking.) The number of eggs depend on how much rice you’re using.

In a small bowl, mix sesame oil, soy sauce and cooking wine. Set aside.

In a large wok or skillet, heat Canola oil over high heat and then add frozen peas and carrots. Cook for about a minute and then add ham and continue cooking for another minute. Then add rice, breaking it up if needed with your hands before tossing it in the wok. Drizzle some of your marinade and blend well, seasoning with salt and pepper (you only need maybe a teaspoon of salt since you’re already adding soy sauce). Add green onions and cooked eggs and mix well, breaking egg into smaller pieces if needed. Garnish with some more green onions.

Makes 3 to 4 servings.

Pair with jasmine tea or green tea.

* Caution: This is the measurement of rice already cooked. If you don’t have cooked rice already and plan to make some, then you might want to use only 2 cups uncooked rice.

TIP: Leftover rice is the key ingredient to good stir-fried rice. Having sat in your refrigerator, the cooked rice won’t be as sticky so it can mix nicely with the rest of the ingredients and make your fried rice fluffy. Just be sure to break up the clumps before adding to the wok.

FROM FREEZER TO WOK: I find that the frozen peas and carrots can cook quickly in the high heat of the wok because they’re so small. But depending on how much ice comes with the peas and carrots, you may end up with a lot of moisture, which will make your rice soupy. So if you’re worried about moisture, bring your frozen peas and carrots out ahead of time to let the ice around them to thaw out. Or rinse them under cold water and let them sit in a colander to dry before adding to your wok.

CREATE YOUR FRIED RICE: The ham in this recipe can easily be replaced by your favorite meat ingredients. This can include chopped shrimp, Chinese roast pork (or char siu), roast duck strips or even Spam! (Yes, I’ve said it and you know that’s a possibility since I’m from Hawaii.) Just make sure your meat is pre-cooked so no meat juice will turn your rice into soup.