Shrimp Fried Rice
I struggle to think of any meal that is truly complete without a good side dish. My homemade Asian meals are certainly no exception to that. There are a number of side dishes that I like to pair with a nice stir fry and shrimp fried rice is one of my favorites. For this particular meal, it was a perfect follow-up to the lobster rangoon appetizer. It's a fun and easy dish to prepare and most importantly, it is delicious and incredibly satisfying.
The proper name for this dish is Yeung Chow or Yang Zhou fried rice. Contrary to popular belief, fried rice is not an American fast food dish. Although there are plenty of Americanized versions of it, this dish did originate in China and was often served as an entree along with fish soup. There are a number of different variations of this dish but Yeung Chow fried rice is typically made with shrimp accompanied by pork, a variety of different vegetables, and fried or scrambled eggs.
There are two ways of preparing the egg in this dish. One way is referred to as "silver covered gold" in which the egg is fried or scrambled separately and then added to the rice. The second is referred to as "gold covered silver" where the egg is poured into the rice and they are cooked together. I have done both preparations of the egg in this dish a number of times, but today I have prepared the "silver covered gold" version. I prefer this preparation when I do not have the time to keep a constant watch over my pan. Other than that I really do not prefer one preparation over the other. They are both equally as delicious!
Here are the ingredients
I have Jasmine rice, two fried eggs, sweet baby peas, shredded carrots, 1 pound of shrimp, sea salt, cracked black pepper, dark soy sauce, low sodium soy sauce and toasted sesame oil.
Preparing the ingredients
First I start by frying the two eggs.
Once I am done frying the eggs, I transfer them to a cutting board, chop them into small bite size pieces and then set aside.
I have already steamed one box of Jasmine rice; and if I am being honest, it is instant Jasmine rice. In fact, it is boil - in- a bag instant Jasmine rice. When you are preparing a labor intensive meal as I did on this day, you have to find ways of reducing the preparation time where ever you can without compromising the integrity of the meal. This is one of the few ways I could find during this cooking marathon. Once you are done steaming the instant boil-in- a bag rice, place the rice into a bowl and put in the refrigerator to cool.
Next, you will shred the carrots. You can shred carrots in a number of ways but I like to use a vegetable peeler to do this. Using a vegetable peeler is a little more time consuming than other ways but I love to use long thin strips of carrots in my fried rice.
The peas take no preparation time at all. I used a half a bag of frozen sweet baby peas in this recipe. In the summer I like to use fresh pea pods out of the garden but frozen peas work just fine.
Finally, you will peel and devein the shrimp. For my last confession, I will admit that that these are frozen shrimp and sadly, they are also not from Maine. What can I say... it is winter in Maine and native shrimp have been hard to come by so far this year.
Cooking the fried rice
In a large saute pan over medium high heat, add two tablespoons of peanut oil. Once the peanut oil is hot, add your cooled, now sticky, rice to the pan and spread out evenly to cover the bottom. Let the rice sit like this in the pan for about 30 seconds or until the rice starts to brown, then stir and flip to brown the top layer of the rice.
Once all of the rice has started to brown and crisp, add the vegetables and eggs to the rice and give a good stir to incorporate. Once you have incorporated the vegetables and eggs, pull the rice mixture to one side of the pan and then add the shrimp to the other side. Stir the shrimp around in the hot pan until they begin to turn pink and then slowly start to incorporate them with the rice and vegetables.
When you have incorporated all of the shrimp, you will add one tablespoon of dark soy sauce, two tablespoons of low sodium soy sauce and two teaspoons of toasted sesame seed oil and give a good stir. Continue to stir until shrimp are completely cooked. Finally, you will add sea salt and pepper to taste.
They say that confession is good for the soul. While that may be true, I find it to be no better for my soul than eating some of my favorite comfort foods. I would love to say that I take the long and hard road while preparing all of my meals but I much prefer getting to the business of enjoying the fruits of my labor. If that means cutting corners every once in a while, then so be it. I encourage anyone to find ways to save yourself some cooking and preparation time as long as long as it does not alter the meal in a way that it becomes anything other than the authentic dish that it is meant to be.
Enjoy!
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