I grew up eating fried rice all the time. Starving after school? Grandmother made fried rice. Nothing to eat for dinner at home? Mother whipped up a batch of fried rice. Brother’s birthday? Dad ordered fried rice at our local Chinese restaurant. I ate fried rice so much that I truly appreciated any type of fried rice. My absolute favorite, however, was Yang Chow fried rice. There are different variations, but the one I love is made with Char Siu, ham, eggs, shrimp, scallions, green peas, and carrots.
When I moved to Ohio, I missed the access I had to good fried rice in Brooklyn so I started making my own. The challenge though, is that fried rice is very difficult to make well, but I still continued to make fried rice using whatever ingredients I had on hand. The idea for bacon fried rice came when I looked into Kevin’s fridge one weekend, and saw a couple strips of bacon left, and about 3 eggs left so I combined those ingredients and made bacon and egg fried rice. I also used some of the leftover jasmine rice we had from the night before.
Bacon and Egg Fried Rice
· 2 teaspoons light soy sauce
· 2 teaspoons dark soy sauce
· ½ teaspoon freshly cracked black pepper
· ½ teaspoon white pepper
· ½ teaspoon granulated sugar
· 6 slices of bacon, some fat trimmed, diced
· ½ small onion, diced
· 1 carrot, diced
· 3 large eggs, lightly whisked
· 1 tablespoon vegetable oil
· 2 cups jasmine rice, cold and overnight
· ½ cup frozen green peas, thawed
· 3 stalks scallions, thinly sliced
Directions:
1) Heat a skillet on medium heat. In a small bowl, combine the soy sauces, peppers, and sugar. Set aside.
2) Once the skillet is heated, add the diced bacon and cook until crispy, about 5 minutes. Use a slotted spoon to remove the bacon onto a plate. Cook the diced onion and carrot in the bacon fat for 2 minutes. Remove the diced onion and carrot to the plate with the bacon. Add the eggs and cook in the bacon fat for about 1-2 minutes. Remove the eggs to another plate. Add the vegetable oil. Then, add the cold rice and let cook for about 1-2 minutes. Add the bowl of sauce. Stir fry until the sauce coats the rice. Add the green peas, scallions, and cook another minute. Add the bacon, eggs, diced onion, and carrot back into the skillet. Cook for another 1-2 minutes.
3) Let stand for a minute before serving.
Takeaways: The fried rice can be altered to suit your taste. I’ve made this fried rice with fresh basil in place of the bacon. I’ve also added additional bacon to give the rice more of a smokiness. I used freshly chopped and diced carrots, but you can also use frozen diced carrots. I like to top my fried rice with Sriracha.