~ mama's fried rice ~

since moving to new york, i do miss my mom's home cooking. it is the best taiwanese food you will ever eat. trust me, once you have some of her cooking, you are hooked.

many people associate taiwanese with chinese food you get at a chinese restaurant, like kung pao chicken or sweet and sour pork. i don't remember a time where my mom's cooking was drenched with sauce like what you get at the chinese restaurants. taiwanese food is much simplier and healtheir since the ingredients are fresh. you can taste the sweetness of the vegetables or the fish due to the simple way of preparing the dish.

one of my faves is how my mom makes fried rice. this dish is so simple to pull together because you just add in whatever veggies or left overs you have, no special ingredients really, but extremely filling. my mouth is watering as i'm writing this blog.

the best fried rice always starts with day old rice left over from the day before, or a couple days before. the dried out old rice allows for the rice to soak up the flavors better, leaving for a better tasting fried rice.

a new technique that my shared with me is to cook the eggs and rice together first, allowing each grain of rice to get coated with the egg and fried up. originally, i would cook the eggs as if i'm making scrambled eggs. however, with this new technique, it definitely gives the fried rice a different dimension and flavor with the egg distributed evenly throughout.

recipe (yields 4 servings) :

ingredients (feel free to change up the veggies and meats for whatever you have available):
* 2 cups rice
* 2 eggs
* 2 green onions/scallions, chopped
* 1 medium onion
* 1 carrot, chopped
* 1 zucchini, chopped
* 1/4 cup of frozen peas
* 1 baked tofu, chopped
* 1 4 oz chicken thigh, chopped
* 3 tbs soy sauce ( i actually used japanese seasoning soy sauce to give it extra flavor)
* 2 tbs sesame oil
* 2 tbs cooking oil ( i like to use grapeseed oil since it has a high cooking point and does not give extra flavor to the food like extra virgin olive oil)
* salt and pepper to taste 

note: the ingredients in your add ins should be chopped to the same size
hardware:
* sautee pan
* large mixing bowl

steps:
1) cook off the rice and egg
        > crack the eggs into a bowl/cup and scramble
        > heat the pan to medium high heat with 1 tbs of oil
        > add in the rice to the pan, breaking the rice a bit
        > pour the scrambled eggs evenly over the rice
        > start to mix up the rice with the egg so each grain gets coated with the egg
        > once the egg is cooked through, take out the rice and egg mixture into a bowl

2) cook mix ins for the rice
(keep in mind the sequence of your mix ins: heartier veggies like your onions and carrots go in first, then your protein, then your herbs/cooked ingredients)
        > add in 1 tbs of oil into the pan on medium high heat
        > add in the onions and carrots, sautee until translucent/soft/tender
        > add in your uncooked protein, in this case the chicken, sautee until cooked
        > add in the tofu and zucchini, sautee until tender/soft

3) putting it all together
        > add in the rice and egg mixture to the pan, turn down the heat to medium heat
        > combine evenly
        > add in the soy sauce and sesame oil around the outside of the pan, this allows for the soy sauce and sesame oil to be more aromatic
        > toss in the frozen peas and green onions
        > add salt and pepper to taste (there is already soy sauce so don't go crazy with the salt)

4) serve and scarf down, yes scarf down because it is that good!

cheers!