Monday, April 12, 2010

Fried Rice??

So Friday night I decided to cook Teriyaki chicken and fried rice. I LOVE Chinese food, so the more I can master, the less I will have to eat out. Teriyaki chicken is something I have made hundreds of times.. usually using a store bought marinade. What I really wanted to concentrate on was the fried rice.

I again trusted the cooking of the rice to my wonderful rice cooker. I used medium grain rice this time, it's a shorter grain and is used in a lot of Asian cooking. Since I was cooking for 3, and my son is a BIG rice eater, I went with 2 cups of dry rice.
While the rice was cooking, I chopped some green onion, and drained a can of bamboo shoots. I was using my mom's cast iron wok to cook in, so I got it nice and hot and added a little butter to the pan. (I only use real butter.. every since I learned that margarine has been used as an industrial lubricant.. eww) I stir-fried the green onion, bamboo shoots, garlic, and some mung bean sprouts for about 2 minutes, then added in my cooked rice, and a dash of soy sauce. I also used a little Asian sea salt to season. After stir-frying for another 5 minutes or so, I added in two eggs, and continued cooking until the eggs were done.

The rice was done well before the chicken... I have trouble with my timing- still trying to get the hang of cooking several things at once and having everything ready at about the same time. The rice was good.. but it was lacking something. Maybe it needed some carrot, or some green peas, something with some color and a little crispness. It definately needed some more seasoning. But what? I need to explore the flavors of more than just onion powder, garlic powder, and Tony Chachere's. (for years, everything I cooked has been seasoned with this trinity... BORING!!)

So here's where I need your help, faithful readers... what would you suggest? Where did I go wrong? Maybe wrong is too strong a word. It tasted good, after all, just not good enough. Comment away, please.

And as a side note, I loved using the cast iron wok.. but it does need to be "seasoned" a little more.

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