Failed Experiment #3

[melayneseahawk]

Mom and I were seriously bored last night, and we had piles of leftover rice in the fridge and not much else, so we experimented with the fried rice recipe again. This is the ingredient list and process:

2 tbsp peanut oil
3 cups cold cooked rice
8 oz can chunked pineapple, drained
8 oz can water chestnuts, drained
8 oz can bamboo shoots, drained
2/3 cup edamame, shelled
2 eggs, beaten
2 tsp sesame oil
1/8 tsp ground pepper
1 cup cashews, broken into pieces

Heat peanut oil until almost smoking. Put in rice and stir fry until coated. Add canned items and edamame and stir fry for 5 minutes. Add eggs, mix until coated, and fry until egg is firm and yellow (at least 3 minutes). Add sesame oil and ground pepper and continue to fry until vegetables are warmed through and soft, an additional 3-4 minutes. Add cashews, fry for additional 30 seconds, and then remove from heat. Serve hot, topped with scallions.

It still needs work. The process is correct, but the above recipe doesn't really taste like much of anything. :( One of the recipes I was using as a guideline suggests ham, so we're going to give that a try next time.

If you give this a try and come up with a better version, let me know!

Comments

[sid]

I don't see any salt? That might be needed. Ham would be a step in that direction. *tries to think of fried rice recipes I've used* Scallions/green onions? Hmm, and 1/8 teaspoon pepper for 3 cups of rice doesn't sound like a whole lot, so that might need bumping up.

You've just reminded me that there's edamame in the freezer that no one else will eat!

[melayneseahawk.livejournal.com]

Yeah, I realized after-the-fact that since I wasn't using soy sauce or something similarly salty to flavor it that a bit of salt would not have gone amiss. The pepper quantity had actually seemed fine at the time.

[superboner.livejournal.com]

I remember that the recipe Katie and I use says to cook the egg first, and then fold it into the rice after it's been cooking a bit, but I'm sure the way you did it works just fine.

Seasoning seems to be what you're lacking, especially if your concern is that it's not tasting like anything. You could always add soy sauce, and might also use a little rice vinegar to give it some extra pop. If you like it hot, you can always add a little cayenne or thai chili paste. Or you could experiment with different seasonings, like a little cinnamon and honey to go with the pineapple (making it a little sweet and tangy), or you could try some curry-like seasonings, like garum masala, coriander, etc. I sometimes use shredded coconut as a seasoning too, so you could throw some of that in if it's lying around.

Hope that gives you a few ideas, and that you enjoy trying again!

ps-we should definitely talk more. I miss you.

[melayneseahawk.livejournal.com]

Honestly, the egg was the least of my worries. And the Chinese cookbook was using for the method (which had been my problem last time) said that cooking the egg in advance can make it too tough, a problem I've had with restaurant fried rice.

Yeah, the consensus is that something needed to be added to make it taste like something. That is, the veggies themselves were fine, but it needed some kind of sauce or something to flavor the rice. We're going to try the ham (and some salt!) next time, so we'll see if that's enough. I'm sort of trying to mimic something I had at a Chinese restaurant in England years ago, so I may have to abandon that idea.

[littpiski.livejournal.com]

i don't know if this is useful at all since i don't remember the details of the previous fried rice experiments, but some things you can try:

cilantro, tomatoes, fish sauce, white pepper...and dare i say, msg?

i agree with the above poster to cook the eggs and rice separately.

[melayneseahawk.livejournal.com]

Tomatoes are right out because I'm allergic. :D And I never realized that msg was used as a flavoring (for some reason I thought it was a preservative...).

I'm definitely thinking salt next time, as long as I stay away from things like soy and oyster sauce. *shrugs* Thanks for the thoughts!