Pork Fried Rice
The recipe I use for fried rice is in a little cookbook by Bonnie Tandy Leblang and Joanne Lamb Hayes, called Rice. It’s really more of a guideline for fried rice, because the possibilities for variations are endless.
I happened to have leftover pork tenderloin, but you could use any leftover meat or seafood. The authors used water chestnuts; I added diced red pepper instead. They give suggestions for other substitutions: bamboo shoots, bean sprouts, mushrooms, pimientos, onions, or celery.
It’s best to use leftover rice, too. The rice should be cooked ahead of time and refrigerated; refrigeration makes the rice dry out a bit which makes it better for fried rice.
Basically, this is a great recipe for leftovers! It’s good enough, though, to cook up a batch of rice to refrigerate just for fried rice in a day or two.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Pork Fried Rice
(Inspired by the recipe by Bonnie Tandy Leblang and Joanne Lamb Hayes in Rice)
This is a stir-fry recipe that goes together very quickly once you start cooking, so have all of your ingredients ready to go.
Serves 4 (easily can be cut in half to serve 2)
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
4 cups cooked rice, cold
¼ cup oil (I use peanut oil.)
1-1¼ cups cooked pork, diced
2 eggs, lightly beaten
1 cup frozen peas
½ – ¾ cup diced red peppers
2½ tablespoons oyster sauce* (for gluten-free, use Wok Mei All Natural Oyster Sauce )
1 tablespoon soy sauce (use wheat-free tamari for gluten-free)
2 teaspoons sesame oil
3 green onions, sliced
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
1. Using your fingers, separate the rice so the grains aren’t stuck together.
2. Heat the oil in a large skillet over medium-high heat. (A 12-inch cast iron skillet is ideal.)
3. Add the red peppers (or any other raw vegetable that you’re using) and stir-fry for about 30 seconds. Add the pork and stir-fry for about a minute. Add the rice and stir-fry until it is all well-coated with the oil and warm, but not browned.
4. Make a well in the center of the rice and add the beaten eggs. Stir-fry to distribute the eggs throughout the rice. They will cook very quickly.
5. Add the peas, oyster sauce, soy sauce, and sesame oil. Continue to stir-fry for a few seconds. Stir in the green onions and serve.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
*Ingredient note: I discovered Wok Mei All Natural Oyster Sauce at Metropolitan Market. It’s great and has no MSG, sodium benzoate, modified corn starch, refined sugars, artificial colors, or artificial flavors. It’s gluten-free! Love it!
Great idea! I’ll do this tomorrow with all the left-over food in the ref. I just hope they taste good. lol 🙂
I hope it tastes good, too, Kathy! 🙂 Enjoy!
How yummy can fried rice get! As yummy as the ingredients you used. I made some fried rice too! 😀
“How yummy can fried rice get! As yummy as the ingredients you used.”
Exactly, Tigerfish! 🙂
We were searching for dinner ideas last night and decided on this one 🙂 It was good, and easy! We ended up using some beef rather than pork.
Glad you liked it! I’m thinking it would probably be pretty good with ham,too. 😉
Sounds delicious. I make a similar Wisconsin-style fried rice:
http://michaelbeyer.wordpress.com/2010/04/02/michaels-wisconsin-style-fried-rice/
Thanks for your comment, Michael. Your version with smoked sausage sounds good, too.