Fried Rice

The first “Trick” in making Fried Rice begins with using cold pre-cooked rice. Trying to use freshly cooked hot rice can easily end in a sticky starchy fried rice mess – you’ll hate it. Use leftover or make sure the cooked rice is cold at the time you use it. Rice is a very starchy food, so when it is hot, all the starch is "out" and this creates the "Stickiness" associated with boiled rice. However, once cooked, rice is fully refrigerated or at least cold, most all of the starch is "locked" in each kernel of rice. Also using fully cooked "cold" rice allows even mixing of the Fried Rice.

The second "Trick" is using a traditionally good gourmet cooking habit when cooking any recipe containing several ingredients. Chop all your ingredients first, which is more important with foods like Fried Rice because of the high heat involved. With high heat you don’t want to suddenly discover something you have to chop at the last minute at the most inopportune time during your Fried Rice cooking process. The solution is to have all your ingredients ready and organized in little bowls. The more ingredients the more important it is to having them lined up and ready, just like the TV cooks. This will make your job much simpler once the cooking has begun. Everything in the right order will make your Fried Rice a snap!

Boiled Rice
· Bring 5 cups of water to a brisk boil and bring heat to medium – remember, a ratio of to rice of 2 to 1 – 2 parts water to 1 part rice.
· Put 2 ½ cups of plain white rice in the boiling water
· Put a Tbsp of oil (spiced oil is good) in the boiling water, plus a little soy sauce maybe, but no salt
· Boil covered on medium heat for 10 minutes with no mixing
· Turn off the heat but do not remove the cover
· Let sit for 30 minutes with the lid slightly ajar - do not remove the cover
Get the twicky little message? Once the rice is finished cooking let it cool on the counter for 30 minutes, place the cover slightly ajar to release some of the steam - do not remove the cover. Lowering the entire pan of rice into some cold water will accelerate the process. Then place the rice in the refrigerator for at least one hour to chill completely. Once cold, Now you can remove the cover and mix it all up. Why its so hard not to remove the cover and mix the rice up immediately is a human dilemma - don’t know why, maybe human nature and all.

Marinade For The Pork And Shrimp
· 1 tablespoon dark sesame oil - or a spiced oil like Mongolian Devil Oil
· 1 tablespoon fresh garlic (minced)
· 1/2 teaspoon fresh ginger (minced)
· 1 tablespoon orange zest (orange peel)
· juice from one orange
· 1 tablespoon red chili flakes
· 2 tablespoon soy sauce
Place all marinade ingredients together in a mixing bowl, mash and mix all the pieces together with a fork. Or pulse the mixture in a food processor for a moment. Put it aside for pouring over the Fried Rice meats next.

Cook the Pork And Shrimp
· 1 cleaned pork tenderloin (about 1 pound)
· 1/3 pound small (28 - 30 per pound) uncooked shrimp - fresh if possible
Clean the pork tenderloin well and cut into thin small bite size strips no longer than 1 inch by ¼ inch and place in a small bowl.
Clean and devein the shrimp and place them in a separate small bowl.
Pour half of the marinade over the shrimp and the other half over the pork and put in refrigerator for about 2 hours.
Heat a very large saute pan or wok over a high flame for several minutes. You want to get your cooking surface very, very hot.
Add one tablespoon of sesame or other oil to the wok or saute pan and saute the shrimp for several minutes. It is important to keep the shrimp moving in the pan as to not burn or over cook the shrimp. Once the shrimp is finished cooking remove from the saute pan and put aside.
Clean the wok or saute pan and perform the same operation with the pork. Again it is very important to start with a very hot surface in order to "stir fry" the pork. Remove the pork from the cooking surface and put aside.

Frying The Rice
· 1 tablespoon ginger "minced"
· 1 tablespoon garlic "minced"
· 1 teaspoon of red chili flakes
· ½ cup of medium diced red bell pepper
· ½ cup of blanched broccoli florets
· ½ cup of green onions (medium pieces)
· ¼ cup of red onion (diced)
· ¼ cup of carrots (diced)
· ¼ cup of frozen peas
· 4 eggs beaten and scrambled in oil
· cooked shrimp from above
· cooked pork from above
· 5 cups cooked chilled white rice
· 2 tablespoons sesame oil,
· 4 tablespoons soy sauce

Preparation
1. Heat your saute pan or wok over a very high flame once again
2. Once the wok or saute pan is very hot add the oil, garlic and ginger and saute for a few seconds
3. Quickly add all the vegetable ingredients and saute for about 1.5 minutes stirring constantly
4. Remove the vegetables and scramble the eggs in the oil
5. Remove the eggs, drain any oil from them and use some more oil if needed
6. When hot again, add both the cooked shrimp and pork and continue to stir for an additional 3 minutes, put aside
7. Add the cooked and chilled white rice and continue to stir, make sure there is still oil in the pan
8. Add the soy sauce and cook until the rice is very hot (several minutes). Keep stirring - remember "Stir-Fry."
9. Finally you simply combine all the ingredients you've reserved, mix and serve your Fried Rice on a plate.

Serves 4 – 6