Cookery

[redbird]

I made papersky's fried rice for supper tonight, in part because I remembered liking it when she fed it to me in Swansea, and in part because I had leftover roast pork and it seemed like a good idea.

It worked well, and cattitude and I were both happy. I didn't have any nice poultry fat, so I used peanut oil; I might try olive oil sometime, because it's more flavorful. Or not, for the same reason.

We hadn't been able to find cooked frozen shrimp, so Cattitude had bought uncooked frozen "salad shrimp", which I boiled while other things were cooking.

New Yorkers (and possibly other Americans) may want to note that this recipe, followed carefully, produces a generally egg-coated rice dish, rather than the rice with clumps of scrambled egg that we get in Cantonese restaurants around here. Both are good.

Comments

Fried Rice

[bookworm1225.livejournal.com]

What is the deal with putting carrots and peas in fried rice? I just *cannot* see that as right.

There's a Chinese restaurant near my home called Hong Kong. That's where I had my first, and still best, experience with chicken fried rice. Besides whatever flavorings are in there (I'd assume soy sauce, but I don't know if there's anything else), the list of ingredients are:

Rice, of course.
Chicken, of course. (They also have shrimp, pork, combo, and vegetarian.)
Eggs, of course. (Coating the rice, not chunked in.)
Onions. (*Big* pieces of onions, which I usually don't like, but which are perfect in this.)
Bean sprouts.

That's it. That's all you need. None of this carrots-and-peas thing for me--they're too...pedestrian. And they throw the taste and texture balance off, IMO.

Unfortunately, they're about the only restaurant I've ever found that serves this kind of fried rice. I should learn how to make it at home, in case they ever go out of business. (They've been around since at least 1979, though, so they've got staying power. *grin*)