Quick and easy way to use up that leftover rice
Basil Fried Rice
Fried Rice is a dish found all over the world. Almost every culture has a dish where leftover rice can be reheated with seasoning and served as another meal. My version takes heavy influence from the Chinese style of fried rice which is prepared in a wok. The wok allows for the rice to reach high heat while also allowing the rice move freely around the pan. Wok hei which translates to "breath of the wok" refers to the smoky flavor that the wok imparts on the food being cooked in it. This phenomenon and not soy sauce is what gives chinese fried rice its characteristic flavor. The key to this technique is to constantly be moving the contents of the wok around. This constant motion ensures all the food in the pan caramelizes, but does not burn.
For this recipe, I decided to go a very basic recipe for fried rice with the additional of basil. In thai cuisine, basil fried rice is a common occurrence, but with the use of thai basil which has a more pungent flavor than traditional basil. I went with traditional basil in my recipe, because it is more accessible and does not overpower the rice with basil flavor. This recipe is great to use when you have leftover rice from takeout or last night's dinner plus only takes about 10 minutes.
Note: Do not use fresh or hot rice for this recipe, because the end product will end up mushy. If you do make fresh rice, put it in the fridge to cool for at least 4 hours before making the fried rice.
Ingredients:
2 tbsp canola oil
1/2 onion, diced
2 ea scallions, sliced
1 sm. carrot, diced
3 ea garlic cloves, minced
2 cups white rice, cold
1 pkg(1oz) basil
Soy sauce to taste
Salt/ pepper to taste
Method:
Heat oil to medium high heat in wok, then stir fry basil until slightly crisp, then remove it. This will flavor your oil. Be careful it might pop.
2. To the now empty wok, stir fry onion and garlic until fragrant, then add carrot and the white part of the scallion. Cook until carrots are shiny from oil while constantly moving the contents of the wok around.
3. Once carrots are shiny, add in rice and turn up the wok to high heat. Stir fry until you can see some pieces of rice have browned and crisped. Move the rice around quickly with the spatula and do not let it sit in one place to long, because it will burn.
4. Once rice has begun to brown, toss in the fried basil, soy sauce, salt, and pepper to season the rice. Add soy sauce in a teaspoon at a time, pouring in on the edge of the wok so the liquid evaporates until it the desired flavor that you want. The soy sauce here is utilized for color and the salt for flavor, so don't over saturate your rice with soy sauce.
5. Once the taste of the rice is to your satisfaction, take out serve with green part of scallion.
Note: This recipe can be made in large sauteuse instead of wok, but the rice will need to be cooked in batches, so only 1/3 of the pan is full at a time. This will allow all the grains rice to caramelize since they are not overcrowded.
Comentarios