TASTE
Got leftover rice? Make a tasty meal
By Bill Daley
Chicago Tribune
With Ms. Visa and Mr. MasterCard about to call with holiday bills, it's important to stretch those food dollars. Take something as basic as leftover steamed white rice — a bountiful resource in Hawai'i. Not exciting on its own, but it's exactly what you need to make fried rice that is as good or better than Chinese takeout.
Fresh-cooked rice is too wet and gummy to be fried. It clumps together in a soggy mass. Refrigerating the cooked rice overnight allows the grains to dry out and separate when fried.
What you put in your fried rice depends on what's in your refrigerator. This recipe calls for chopped ham, but you can use leftover chicken, beef, turkey, just-thawed shrimp or even slivered sausage or salami. Scrambled egg is a given, but you can replace peas with chopped green beans, red bell peppers with carrots, slivered onion with broccoli florets.
TIPS
Plan ahead. If you make rice for dinner tonight, cook extra for fried rice tomorrow.
Have all the ingredients ready before preparing fried rice. This is a dish that cooks quickly.
Add the egg right before the rice. You want the egg to remain as moist and fluffy as possible. Overcooking dries and toughens it.
For "white" fried rice, replace the drizzle of shoyu with a sprinkling of kosher salt.
FRIED RICE WITH HAM, EGG, ONIONS AND PEAS
Heat the oil in a skillet. Add the garlic; cook until golden, about 1 minute. Add the onion and ham; cook until the ham is slightly crisp and the onion softens, about 5 minutes. Stir in the peas; cook until heated through, about 1 minute.
Pour the beaten eggs into the pan; toss vigorously, breaking up any large egg clumps that begin to form. Cook until eggs are just firm but not dry, about 2 minutes; stir in the cold rice, breaking apart any clumps. Toss rice rapidly, allowing grains to heat through, about 2 minutes. Season with shoyu; garnish with parsley. Makes 4 servings.
