Wednesday, January 28, 2009

In an act of desperation

What I have never understood is how people have recipes for fried rice. It is just the Asian version of using up leftovers.
It's like bubble and squeak,
a fritatta,
a toasted sandwich.

And I know that you're probably thinking that a toasted sandwich isn't that, but I have had friends put leftover pasta from the night before in a toastie with cheese.
Or maybe that is just freakish eating.

The thing is here is that this is kind of me using up leftover rice, and also being too piss-weak to wander to the markets today in the heat, despite my determination.
That dissipated when I went to the gym for two hours this morning and decided I had become mildly insane, and if it were not for the Amnesty International people giving me ice in the street, I would probably still be sweating.

So, I scrounged this together and now, I definitely have to go to the market tomorrow.

Fried Rice
Yes, I do know that I am hypocritically putting up a recipe, but really, it isn't like I cooked the rice and let it cool on the bench and sit in the fridge for the day for this purpose.

1 onion, diced
1 chili, finely diced
as much ginger as you like, grated and finely chopped
2 eggs, beaten
leftover brown rice that has been in the fridge for at least a day (yes, I used brown, it is tasty and also what I had left. so...ner)
light soy sauce (My Cantonese background makes me loyal to the Lee Kum Kee brand)
dark soy sauce (As with above)
salt
sugar
1/2 a bunch of garlic chives, chopped

Heat oil in a wok and throw in the onion, chili and ginger with a pinch of salt. Allow to cook for a couple of minutes, or till fragrant. Throw in the egg and break it up in the wok while it cooks and then add the cold rice, mushing it down, to let the heat and flavours penetrate. Add a glug of light soy and a dash of dark (for colour) and a pinch or two of sugar as well as salt to taste.
When the rice has heated through, add the garlic chives and toss till evenly distributed.
Eat with chopsticks or you'll just end up inhaling it.

This is the only thing I condone eating with Sriracha chili sauce as opposed to my big evil chili that gives other people ass-burn.
Obviously you can add what you want, like left over roast pork, chinese sausage, fresh peas, bacon, roast duck, xo sauce, bean shoots, spring onion, tofu (and that is a fine line) etc.


BUT
I swear to god, if you add anything freakish like corn, pineapple, carrot, tempeh or something stupid like that, I will really have to take my mad Asian skills out on your ass!

7 comments:

Cindy said...

I fully endorse your frying of brown rice - did it myself on Sunday actually. (I also added carrot... unleash your mad Asian skillz!!)

Agnes said...

You may want to take away my Asian card - I normally add carrot to fried rice.................. and sometimes even corn!

mon said...

no 'chinese cooking wine for depth of flavour', as kylie kwong would say?

bunchesmcginty said...

Cindy- I actually don't have mad Asian skillz, I am pretty sure it just involves me jumping around in circles with my legs shoulder width apart and my knees bent.

Agnes- WHA??? If there is one thing any of my parents, grandparents, aunties or "the aunties" have gabbed on about it is shunning those oddities. Mine are so utilitarian with not adding unnecessary things.

Blue- ha. She says many things, like translating "vegetable" to "green" and using collective nouns when she is using a translator to communicate to someone...

or the famous eating bao with chopsticks incident. She so crazy.

melbourne said...

Ha ha. Love the clazee chinese. After seeing William Yang I am now learning Mandarin. Don't want the natives thinking I am retarded when I visit. Maybe I will even avoid some Kwongisms. Love your blog. It both makes me hungry and giggle!

mon said...

ha yeah. or just her shrieking in english to people who clearly don't understand, and taking over their kitchens then fishing for compliments after force-feeding them 'her version'. i mean what are they going to say, chinese people insult strangers behind their backs and definitely not on tv, at least that's my family anyway. minus the tv part.

p.s. not to be a stalker but i may or may not have seen your john candy-fied front window, i chuckled every time. (used to live in the area, have now moved a state away!)

bunchesmcginty said...

Thanks, Melbourne. Kwong is a nut, but I guess we all are, she just embarrasses herself publicly for it.

Blue- Yes, the real Asians bitch about them behind their backs...oh, family.