Dad’s Fried Rice With a Little Tweak
Having recently posted a fried rice recipe (Kim Chee Fried Rice-Koreatown), this comes a bit sooner than expected, but a couple of things prompted this post. The rain is back with a vengeance so I have been holed up at home with Sammy. The perfect time to scrounge around the fridge and use whatever we have for dinner.
I found leftover rice, onions, eggs, a bell pepper, and some Chinese sausage…yum, all the fixins for fried rice. It’s easy, delish, down-home food. To top it off, my brother’s family spent the holidays in Hawaii and brought me back SPAM per my request. I know you’re thinking-we have SPAM here, duh. Yes, but Hawaii is the Spam capital of the world. We have regular, lite, and less salt, but head to any supermarket on the Islands and you will find a dizzying array of SPAM.
Welcome to Spam-a-lot
There’s Tocino SPAM, Portuguese Sausage SPAM, Garlic SPAM, Teriyaki SPAM, Black Pepper SPAM, Jalapeno SPAM, and the list’s keep going. Who knew? My niece grabbed a can of Tocino (Filipino) Spam which just happens to be my favorite. It’s sweet and salty and perfect for fried rice. Fire up that wok, baby.
So this is a rift on my Dad’s Fried Rice. He would always use Chinese BBQ Pork but sweet Chinese sausage and SPAM (yes!) are a good stand-in. The beauty of fried rice is you can put whatever you like in and make it your own. The foundation of course starts with rice, preferably day-old rice (drier), aromatics such as minced ginger, onions, scallions, seasonings-salt, soy sauce, oyster sauce, white pepper, eggs, and some sort of protein bbq pork, spam, bacon, shrimp, your choice. My Dad always added peas and shredded lettuce in his for color and probably to sneak some vegetables in. Bell peppers, leeks, diced carrots are also great additions.
Go crazy and make your own signature fried rice, the sky’s (and what’s in your fridge) the limit.
Dad’s Fried Rice Gets an Island Makeover
Ingredients
- 2-3 cups cooked day old rice long grain preferred, but short grain will work
- 1 T vegetable oil
- 1/2 onion finely chopped
- 1/4 cup diced red or green bell pepper*
- 1/2 cup diced carrot*
- 2-3 slices fresh ginger minced, 1 clove garlic minced (optional)
- 1/2 cup diced Chinese bbq pork or SPAM
- 1 Chinese sausage lop cheung and 2 slices of spam, diced
- 2 eggs slightly scrambled
- 1/2 cup green peas
- 1-2 green onions coarsely minced
- 1/2 cup shredded lettuce iceberg or romaine
Seasonings
- 1 T soy sauce
- 1 T oyster sauce
- 1/4 t sugar
- 1/4 tsp salt
- white pepper
- 1 teaspoon sesame oil optional
Instructions
- Heat a large saute' pan or wok and add the 1 T of oil to pan. Add onions, bell pepper (and any raw vegetable you like such as diced carrots or bell peppers) to the pan.
- Saute' until vegetables are soft approximately 5 minutes. Add Chinese sausage and SPAM and continue to saute until sausage is heated through and SPAM is brown and with crispy edges.. Remove from pan to bowl and reserve.
- To the same pan add 1 T oil. When shimmering add ginger and garlic (optional) and saute' until fragrant (15-30 seconds)
- Add rice to pan, breaking up the clumps as you stir fry the rice and ginger. When the rice is coated with the oil, move rice to the perimeter of pan creating a well in the center. Pour eggs into center of pan and scramble. As soon as the egg is slightly set mix into rice, do not overcook the egg.
- Toss vegetable mixture back into the pan along with the peas. Stir to incorporate and heat through.
- Season with soy sauce, oyster sauce, sesame oil is using, and pepper. Taste, use salt if necessary.
- Just before removing from pan add shredded lettuce and green onions
- Garnish with green onions or cilantro if desired.
- Serve immediately.
