The broccoli from the co-op ended up in an (admittedly bastardized) fried rice. My housemate, Kat, is Korean, and her fried rice is pretty incredible. She's shown me a few times how to prepare it just right, but even so, my version never comes out tasting quite like hers. That's OK by me--it tastes good in its own right. And that's kind of the whole idea of fried rice, isn't it--to be a quick dish that uses up all the odds and ends hanging around in your refrigerator, to be easily adaptable to whatever seasonings you might have on hand (whether they're strictly "Asian" or not), and to turn out well regardless of your culinary background. It's not a very authentic dish, and that's exactly what I like about it; I like flexibility in cooking.
Here's how I made it (one serving, eaten with chopsticks at a leisurely pace if you're lucky, or scarfed down with a fork in front of your computer as you put the finishing touches on an overdue Powerpoint presentation if you're not):
Cut one boneless, skinless chicken breast into chunks and place them in a bowl with some soy sauce, a dash of sesame oil, and some red pepper flakes. Allow the chicken to marinate as you cook your rice (if you don't have any left over) and get your other ingredients ready.
Cut some broccoli into bite-size pieces and blanch them in salted simmering water, cooking them for 4-5 minutes. During the last minute of cooking, add a handful of frozen peas and carrots, and then drain all the vegetables. I run them under cold water to stop the cooking.
Heat some vegetable oil in a large skillet and add the drained chicken, cooking it all the way through. Set the chicken aside. Wipe out the skillet and return it to the heat. Add about a tablespoon more oil and a goodly amount of finely chopped garlic. Cook for 30 seconds, then add your rice (I used short-grain brown rice). Fry the rice, seasoning it with soy sauce, sesame oil, and gochujang, if you have it (which I did, thanks to aforementioned Korean housemate). Add a beaten egg, stirring rapidly so the egg breaks up and cooks through. Add in the chicken and vegetables, season more to taste, and heat mixture through.
Or, you know, just go with your instincts, like I did.
5 comments:
How long do you fry your rice for? -
koreans cook with a lot of garlic. here is what chinese people do:
put oil in hot wok and heat til it starts to smoke.
add two eggs beaten and let them cook and add salt before scrambling.
(you can add cubed sausage, carrots, peppers, peas if you want...)
then add rice and heat until it is hot and not glued together like it was in the tupperware container in the fridge. mixing it with the eggs.
add chopped green scallions and stir a little longer. salt to taste or add MSG if that is your bag. voila!
Awesome Blog
-Avi
Hello, my name is Gideon Steinberg, and I just used this recipe to make myself a delicious dinner! Thank you so much Ms. Rothman for having such an informative, easy-to-use, and quite handsome at that, blog. Bravo!
put oil ibc in hot wok and heat til it starts to smoke.
add two eggs beaten and let them cook and 7m add salt before scrambling.
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