Pork Fried Rice

I am working on a AAR on a AK-47 game I played this past Saturday with Will. He took some pictures, but I am waiting on them before I finish the report. So, as filler, I present to you my recipe for fried rice.

This ain't the stuff you get at Chinese restaurants, this is the real deal. The secret is that there really isn't any set recipe. Chinese rice is an excuse to use up left-overs, however, here is my prototype recipe. It must be OK, because my wife and mother-n-law, both Chinese, think its pretty good:

Ingredients:

• At least two cups of cooked rice, preferably Chinese rice. Needs to be
  about a day old; cold, or at room temperature.

• Cooking or light olive oil*

• 1 pork chop or thick slice of ham, diced.

• 3 green onions, diced.

• 1 carrot, diced.

• 1 zucchini, cubed

• 1/2 cup frozen peas

• 3 eggs, well beaten

• soy sauce*

• Chinese cooking wine or dry sherry*

• Ginger root, 3 thin slices, finely chopped (can substitute ginger powder)

• 2 cloves of garlic, finely chopped

• Coarsely ground black pepper

• Red pepper flakes (optional)

*Sorry folks, I never measure these ingredients. I just pour them in until it seems right, but if you must know, about 1 to 2 tablespoons for the soy sauce and sherry.

How to prepare:
First, heat your wok or a deep-lipped frying pan on medium-high and and then add oil, at least 2 tablespoons. While the oil is heating up CAREFULLY swish it around the sides of the wok/pan to coat the sides. Pour in the beaten eggs, but do not mix it in the pan. What you are making is sort of an omelet or egg crepe. When it looks fairly solid, carefully flip it over to the other side briefly and then turn it out onto a plate.

If there is egg stuff still in your wok, clean it out with a paper towel (try not to burn yourself in the process). Egg protein has the nasty habit of sticking to things and messes up anything else you stir fry if its still in the wok. Add more oil, but not as much as for the egg, 2-3 teaspoons is probably enough. When the oil is hot add your ginger, garlic, and pepper flakes. Be careful not to over fry the garlic. Some people don't like its taste. What you are doing is flavoring the oil.

Next add your pork or ham and green onion. If you have time, you can marinade the pork in cooking wine and soy sauce for about an hour. You will have to cook the raw pork longer than the ham. From the time I add the garlic and ginger, I am constantly stirring things with a wooden spatula or wooden spoon.

Once the meat is done, add a little more oil and add in first the carrots, then the zucchini. To speed things up, I often boil the carrots for a few minutes in a small pot of water before I add it to the wok.

Once the zucchini starts to look tender, then add your soy sauce and sherry. I then add the frozen peas. Once the peas looked cooked, then I add the rice. Your rice will be all clumped together, especially if its Chinese short-grained rice, so you need to chop up your rice before you add it to the wok. Again, keep stirring everything. If you hear some sizzling at the bottom of the wok that is your rice getting toasted and crunchy. If you don't like that, you need to make sure you keep turning over everything. You'll know the rice is cooking when it seems to be softening and looks sort of shiny. If it looks too dry, you can add a small amount of water or chicken stock to it, but be careful not to turn it all into a big, soggy mush.

Finally, chop up the egg into coarse pieces on the plate and carefully fold it into your rice mixture. You want to avoid disintegrating it in the mixture. It is now ready to serve.

If you want your fried rice to look more like what you get at a Chinese restaurant, take two more eggs, beat them and pour the mixture over the rice while quickly stirring the rice. The egg will coat the rice and cook onto it.  I am not sure if that is how they do it at Chinese restaurants, but it seems to  give the desired effect.