Dinner

We had this for dinner last nite and it was delicious. Pretty darn easy and slightly different from the usual fried rice. I really, really, liked it and the whole family seemed to concur by licking their plates clean and unfortunately leaving no leftovers. I had to modify the recipe a bit because I did not have all the ingredients but I plan to make it again and follow the recipe to the "T" very soon.

My modifications included using grapeseed oil instead of peanut oil which I did not have. Grapeseed oil is pretty neutral so I knew it wouldn't add any weird flavor but I am sure peanut oil makes a much better choice. I considered using coconut oil but I knew that would change the flavor and I wanted to try and get as close to the intent of the recipe as possible. I think I might try it sometime though. I also did not have day old rice so I cooked some rice up in the morning and then left it in the fridge in an open container with the hopes of drying it out a bit. I do usually try and use "aged" rice but I think it turned out just fine this way. I also added a tiny, tiny, little splash of fish sauce because I think that adds a great flavor to fried rice. And finally, since my hubby isn't a big fan of fried eggs I scrambled his and added it to the rice the way fried rice is normally served in a restaurant. But, I think the fried egg on top of the rice was genius and made the dish by adding another layer or flavor. Hubby was intrigued and said next time he would like to try the fried egg. Okay, and I also added some veggies because I love them. I added onions, carrots, green beans, bean sprouts and peas. Not a lot, just enough to give it some color and, I don't know, add something more than just rice. So basically I strayed a lot from the recipe but the bottom line was it was delicious and this will definitely be on heavy rotation in our abode.

Recipe via NY Times, Mark Bittman's Bitten Blog.