This very easy and yummy recipe is from Martin Yan's "Chinese Cooking For Dummies". Amazon has it...click on the Amazon link in the sidebar to search for it. In my opinion this is superior to Chinese-restaurant fried rice!

The important thing to remember here is that you must use leftover rice...not freshly-cooked. If you don't have any leftover rice, cook some, let it cool, and refrigerate for a few hours...by them it will have dried out enough for this dish. If you try to use freshly-cooked rice, you will end up with a gloppy mess.

The original recipe calls for char siu, which is some kind of Chinese BBQ'd pork. There's a recipe for it in the book, but I didn't feel like making it. I had some leftover ham, so I cut that into small dice, sauteed it in a little butter until it was nice and crispy, and used that instead.

However, you can use any kind of leftover meat, or seafood, that you have on hand. Or just leave it out for vegetarian fried rice.

Ingredients:

3 tablespoons vegetable oil
2 eggs, lightly beaten
Salt & pepper to taste
3 cups cold, cooked long-grain white rice, fluffed
3/4 cup meat or seafood of your choice (optional)
3/4 cup frozen peas & carrots, thawed
1 1/2 tablespoons soy sauce
4 green onions (scallions), thinly sliced

Method:

Place a wok or large frying pan over high heat until hot. Add 2 tablespoons of the oil, swirling it around to coat the interior of the pan. Add the eggs, salt & pepper, and cook until the eggs are lightly scrambled. Move the eggs to the side with a spatula, add the remaining oil, and the rice. Stir-fry for 2 minutes. The eggs will break up and get mixed in with the rice.

Add whatever meat or seafood, as well as the peas and carrots, combine well. Then add the soy sauce and green onions, stir-fry for another minute or so.

Makes 4 servings.

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