I love Chinese food, and I’m one of those people who eats a lot of white rice with her main dish, so therefore I order a lot. But you always end up with a buttload of extra white rice that sits in the fridge, and no one eats it, and it gets thrown away. Not anymore!

Sara Moulton had this recipe on her show Sara’s Weeknight Meals last year and I made a mental note to make it. Tonight was one of those nights when it was hot, and I didn’t want to cook anything incredibly involved or complex, and so I made this. I used chicken because I didn’t have shrimp, but according to Sara, “any protein can be used.” I used peas, carrots,  corn, egg, chicken, minced garlic and since I didn’t have sesame oil, I threw some sesame seeds in with regular vegetable oil for the first step. You can throw in broccoli as well if you have it (which I wish I did), and use shrimp or any kind of “meat”, I guess- even strips of steak. I had some soy sauce left over from Chinese takeout as well so I used that, but if you have a bottle of it around then thats fine. Basically you could use anything in this, and it works.

This can be a side dish, without a protein in it, or a meal. Its great to use up any leftovers at the end of the month- leftover chicken, rice, veggies, etc.

FRIED RICE

Ingredients:

• 3 tablespoons vegetable oil
• 2 large eggs, lightly beaten
• Kosher salt and freshly milled black pepper
• 1 medium onion, chopped (about 1 cup)
• 2 garlic cloves, minced (about 2 teaspoons)
• 2 cups frozen shelled and deveined shrimp, halved (or chicken, or whatever you wish)
• One 10-ounce package frozen peas
• 3 cups leftover cooked long-grain white rice or Simple Boiled Rice
• 1/4 cup soy sauce
• 3 tablespoons rice wine or dry sherry
• 2 tablespoons finely chopped crystallized ginger
• 4 teaspoons toasted sesame oil

Directions:

1. Heat 1 tablespoon of the oil in a large nonstick skillet over medium-high heat until hot. Reduce the heat to medium. Combine the eggs with 1/8 teaspoon salt and 1/8 teaspoon pepper and pour into the skillet. Cook, stirring, until scrambled, about 1 minute. Break into small pieces and transfer to a bowl.
2. Add another tablespoon of oil, the onion, and garlic to the pan; cook, stirring 2 minutes. Add the shrimp and peas; cook until the shrimp are cooked through, about 3 minutes. Transfer the mixture to the bowl with the eggs.
3. Heat the remaining tablespoon oil in the same skillet over medium-high heat until hot. Add the rice and cook, stirring occasionally, until slightly crispy.
4. Stir together the soy sauce, rice wine, ginger, and sesame oil; add to the rice in the skillet along with the shrimp, peas, and egg. Cook just until the egg is heated through and serve.

Its a really quick easy meal to serve up that makes use of all that stuff in your fridge/freezer and is delicious too.