Friday, December 6, 2013

Hash Browns in the Waffle Maker

I saw it on Pinterest! Results: meh. I brushed the grates with vegetable oil for the first shot, and used peanut oil for the second round. The peanut oil hash browns tasted better. For both experiments, I used frozen shreds and sprinkled them with seasoned salt. The upside is that they cooked more quickly than the regular frying pan method.

Thursday, December 5, 2013

Fried Rice - Basic Recipe



I was so fortunate to receive a fried rice cooking lesson from a friend from China. The best tip: use rice that was cooked at least 24 hours ago.



She did the cooking in an electric wok. I used a large frying pan (not a non-stick).

Ingredients:

2 cups of rice (long grain, cooked the day before and refrigerated overnight)
2 eggs - beaten
sliced green onions
sliced carrots, peas, whatever vegetables you want to add
diced or chopped cooked meat (again, whatever you want, I used Chinese pork)
Vegetable oil
Salt and pepper
garlic granules
soy sauce 
sesame oil

Heat the wok or skillet so it's very hot and add a tiny bit of vegetable oil - maybe a teaspoon. When the oil shimmers, add the egg. When eggs are almost done, add the green onion and break everything up. Add rice and vegetables. Stir while everything fries, add salt and pepper. When you see some browning of the rice, add the soy sauce. Only about a tablespoon. Sprinkle the garlic granules over everything and keep stirring until as done as you want it. Add a drizzle of sesame oil (optional) and stir in after the rice is done cooking. 

You can freeze this. To refresh - just start over with the egg and sliced green onion step - and then add it all in and no need to thaw.