Do you make fried rice and if so what do you put in it?

[David M. Bueker]

Did some mostly veggie fried rice tonight using a bunch of leftover brown basmati. Veggies were broccoli, carrot and spinach. Seasonings of curry powder and fish sauce. Not bad at all.

Peas, carrots, green onions, scrambled eggs, soy sauce.

along with those additions I add minced bbq'd pork, or cooked shrimp, minced roma tomato (no seeds or pulp), minced red bell pepper(sauteed), garlic slivers (sauteed), beans sprouts (blanched), scallions (minced), chili oil, sesame oil, mushroom soy.

Did some mostly veggie fried rice tonight using a bunch of leftover brown basmati. Veggies were broccoli, carrot and spinach. Seasonings of curry powder and fish sauce. Not bad at all.

David, what brand of fish sauce do you use/recommend?

[David M. Bueker]

Drew,

I have to admit I have never been observant or choosy about fish sauce (or soy sauce for that matter).

For us, fried rice is whatever we scrounge from the fridge: meat, seafood, veggies, egg, tofu, etc. The seasoning also changes from classic Chinese to SE Asian depending on our whims.

Mark Lipton

Fried rice is a great way to use up leftovers, so mostly just use whatever is available. We are more likely to have haiga rice leftover, works ok even if sticky.

For meatless Mondays I'd be likely to use sprouts, tofu, mushrooms, carrot, egg, bok choy (or other cabbage). But have thrown in broccoli, cauliflower, zucchini. Other nights might add shrimp or leftover chicken. Soy sauce, fish sauce, oyster sauce, or kecap manis for flavoring. Scallions or cilantro for garnish.

Personally I tend to like Vietnamese fish sauces a bit more than Thai. For soy we usually keep Kikkoman for Japanese and Pearl River Bridge for dark Chinese.

[Jenise]

Did some mostly veggie fried rice tonight using a bunch of leftover brown basmati. Veggies were broccoli, carrot and spinach. Seasonings of curry powder and fish sauce. Not bad at all.

David, what brand of fish sauce do you use/recommend?

Not David, but the one with the three boats on the label. American/Chinese chef Barbara Tropp reccomended it as the best, and I've taken her word for it ever since.

[Jenise]

Funny, David; yesterday I made fried rice with, of all things, brown basmati. First time ever making a brown rice fried rice for me. And where the only two things that HAVE to be in fried rice for me or it doesn't taste like fried rice are green onions and soy sauce, I found the brown rice needed a stronger flavor and added oyster sauce, too. If making fried rice as an original dish (not out of leftovers) and for comapny, I often add bean sprouts and slivers of boy choy leaf for texture and color. If feeling the fusion thing, then I'll go all Wolfgang Puck (Chinois on Main) with a confetti look and add tiny diced red bell pepper and yellow corn kernels.

Otherwise, when it comes to fried rice, I'm with the Chinese in that it's all about using up leftovers. Yesterday's had scrambled egg and small half inch chunks of asparagus in it.

I'm suddenly reminded of my stepmother's fried rice: MJB brand rice, cooked at the dreaded 2:1 water/rice ratio so already soggy, extended-cooked for another half hour or so with soy sauce and diced lunch meats. Dear god!

Tiparos seems to be the fish sauce brand used in most Thai restaurants, including the one that produces the best Thai food I've ever had (Spice Siam in Sydney, Australia). It's the brand that I use.

You might want to check out this discussion of premium fish sauce brands: http://importfood.com/sati7501.html .

I make fried rice by Joyce Chen's recipe, with scrambled egg, diced green onions, and thick soy sauce.

-Paul W.

I'm basically with Howie on this, but I might add anything in the fridge that looks lonely in addition to his ingredients. But I only use day old rice for this dish. Too soggy otherwise.

NASI GORING:
(Indonesian Fried Rice)

2 Onions chopped
2 Cloves garlic minced
½ C Peanut oil
1 C Raw rice (short grain)
2 C Chicken stock
1 C Shredded cooked chicken
1 C Diced ham
1 C Cooked popcorn shrimp (native Maine shrimp)
1 tsp Shrimp paste
¼ tsp Cayenne
¼ tsp Ground white pepper
¼ tsp Ground mace
1 T Sweet paprika
2 tsp Laos root
1 tsp Ground cumin
¼ C Peanut sauce

Cook rice in stock; cool & dry. Sauté onion in oil until golden. Dissolve shrimp paste in onions and add garlic and other spices (not peanut sauce yet). Cook spice mixture for five minutes (the shrimp paste will smell like terrible for a while, but eventually dies down). Add rice and mix thoroughly with spices. Add meat and shrimp and stir till heated through. Stir in peanut sauce. Place on warm platter, garnish with chopped parsley or cilantro, and serve.

Carl,

That looks very tasty. But what is meant here by "peanut sauce"?

-Paul W.

Had to look up Laos root (it's galangal). Sounds good.

If I can't get Vietnamese fish sauce, usually get Tiparos or Squid. But be careful- as Tiparos is most common, there are knockoffs (Tips, Tiparu, etc)

Carl,

That looks very tasty. But what is meant here by "peanut sauce"?

-Paul W.

PEANUT SAUCE:
4 T Conimex Gado-Gado Mix (or 4 T crunchy peanut butter and ¼ tsp crushed red pepper)
4 T Water
Mix together over heat.

[Jenise]

Question for Dale re Haiga rice: I have a bag standing by to take the place of what I've been using. I've never cooked it before, but would presume that the germ doesn't change anything about cooking, the way the hull (if present) would. Right or wrong?

PEANUT SAUCE:
4 T Conimex Gado-Gado Mix (or 4 T crunchy peanut butter and ¼ tsp crushed red pepper)
4 T Water
Mix together over heat.

Thanks, Carl. Sounds delicious!

-Paul W.

Question for Dale re Haiga rice: I have a bag standing by to take the place of what I've been using. I've never cooked it before, but would presume that the germ doesn't change anything about cooking, the way the hull (if present) would. Right or wrong?

We cook the same, but it takes a little longer (hard to be exact, we use rice cooker). But closer to white rice than brown. We treat like any Japanese short-grain: wash, soak, cook-I think something like 1 cup rice to 1.25 (or a scant 1.25) water.