Midnight Fridge Raid

A quiet weekend evening; time to catch up on some coding, tasklist cleanup, and overall systems maintenance. Taking a break from AWS (GuardDuty to Kinesis to S3), abuse (just, who is abusing who, here?), I find it is way past snack time and bedtime, but I know I’ll not sleep without food.

Time for a midnight kitchen raid. Searching the refrigerator, I find some cold-cooked rice; in the freezer, I find some frozen shrimp and a partial bag of frozen vegetables. It seems like I have the making for fried rice. The frozen veggies are a large cut; I’ll need to give them a quick pass with my knife to generate a smaller cut that will cook quicker. (One uses what one has.)

I want to keep this simple: cook the omelet, then slice/dice, then cook the shrimp, then cook the veggies, then fry the rice, and mix everything, does not qualify as simple. However, my wife had mentioned something about a method she read about where the rice was combined with the egg and seasonings, thence fried. (Yes, dear, I DO listen.) This method does lend itself to being simple, quick, and tasty.

From Wikipedia:

Fried rice is a dish of cooked rice that has been stir-fried in a wok or a frying pan and is usually mixed with other ingredients such as eggs, vegetables, seafood, or meat. It is often eaten by itself or as an accompaniment to another dish. Fried rice is a popular component of East Asian, Southeast Asian and certain South Asian cuisines, as well as a staple national dish of Indonesia. As a homemade dish, fried rice is typically made with ingredients left over from other dishes, leading to countless variations. Fried rice first developed during the Sui Dynasty in China and as such all fried rice dishes can trace their origins to Chinese fried rice.

Many varieties of fried rice have their own specific list of ingredients. In Greater China, common varieties include Yangzhou fried rice and Hokkien fried rice. Japanese chāhan is considered a Japanese Chinese dish, having derived from Chinese fried rice dishes. In Southeast Asia, similarly constructed Indonesian, Malaysian, and Singaporean nasi goreng and Thai khao phat are popular dishes. In the West, most restaurants catering to vegetarians have invented their own varieties of fried rice, including egg fried rice. Fried rice is also seen on the menus of American restaurants offering cuisines with no native tradition of the dish. Additionally, the cuisine of some Latin American countries includes variations on fried rice, including Ecuadorian chaulafan, Peruvian arroz chaufa, Cuban arroz frito, and Puerto Rican arroz mamposteao.

Fried rice is a common street food in Asia. In some Asian countries, small restaurants, street vendors and traveling hawkers specialize in serving fried rice. In Indonesian cities it is common to find fried rice street hawkers moving through the streets with their food cart and stationing it in busy streets or residential areas. Many Southeast Asian street food stands offer fried rice with a selection of optional garnishes and side dishes.

Simple Fried Rice

Quick, Easy, Filling. Perfect for those midnight munchies

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Prep Time 10 minutes mins

Cook Time 10 minutes mins

Total Time 20 minutes mins

Course Lunch, Main Course, PubGrub

Cuisine Asian

Servings 1

Calories 553 kcal

Equipment

• 1 Wok Or large fry pan

Ingredients

  

1x2x3x

• 1 cup Cooked Rice
• 1 ea Egg Jumbo
• 1/2 tbsp Soy Sauce Low Sodium
• 1/2 tbsp Oyster Sauce
• 1/2 tbsp Dark Soy Sauce
• 1/2 tbsp Sambal oelek Or other chili paste
• 2 tbsp Oil
• 1/2 tbsp Minced Garlic
• 1/2 tbsp Ginger Paste
• 1/2 Ea Onion Small, peeled, minced
• 1/2 Cup Frozen Veggies Asian Mix or Carrots and Peas, your choice
• 1/2 Cup Shrimp Peeled, Deveined, (4-6)
• Salt and Pepper To Taste
• 1-2 ea Green Chilies Optional, washed, stemmed, sliced

Instructions

 

• Pat the shrimp dry and toss them with a bit of oil, a pinch of salt, and a pinch of pepper. (maybe a dab of sambal). Set aside
• Mix the rice with soy sauce, beaten egg, oyster sauce, dark soy sauce, and Sambal chili sauce in a large bowl. Mix this very well, coating the rice.
• On high heat, heat the wok until smoking hot. Drizzle in some cooking oil, and swirl it around. Add the shrimp. Stir for just a minute.
• Once the shrimp change color, add the diced onion, ginger, chilies (if using), and garlic. Keep stirring until fragrant.
• Add the diced vegetables and stir for a few minutes or until cooked; remove and reserve.
• Reduce the heat to medium, drizzle more oil into the wok and add the rice
• Stir over medium heat for a few minutes until the rice grains start to separate and take color.
• When the rice becomes fluffy, return the shrimp and vegetables to the wok.
• Add some diced scallions, and toss to combine.
• Taste, season, and balance flavor

Notes

One note on frozen veggies is that you do not want huge chunks of veggies, like a broccoli mix; we are looking for small pieces that will cook reasonably fast.

This is fridge velcro; just about any leftover can be used.

One can fry off bacon and use the drippings in place of the oil.  

 

Nutrition

Calories: 553kcalCarbohydrates: 64gProtein: 10gFat: 29gSaturated Fat: 2gPolyunsaturated Fat: 8gMonounsaturated Fat: 18gTrans Fat: 0.1gCholesterol: 4mgSodium: 1302mgPotassium: 353mgFiber: 5gSugar: 1gVitamin A: 4643IUVitamin C: 13mgCalcium: 61mgIron: 2mg

Keyword Fried, Quick, Rice

Tried this recipe?Let us know how it was!