Fried Rice

Ham Fried Rice

Friday night I was actually in the mood to cook. So I thought I should take advantage of it and make something I have never made before or something that is really time consuming. So after throwing a few ideas around I was no longer in the mood because it meant going to the store and I do not like going to the grocery store at 5. So I ended up coping out and making something easy. One part of the meal that I made was fried rice. Chris and I LOVE fried rice. So as I started to pull out all for the ingredients I realized my ham had gone bad ... it smelled like yeast and was slimy. I called mom to double check and she concurred, resulting in a very sad Janessa . What was I going to do!? I opened the fridge and saw the bacon ( already defrosted woo hooo) and thought this will have to do. I don't know why I love ham fried rice so much. I have tried making fried rice with chicken, ham, and bacon but ham is my favorite hands down. Who picks ham over bacon? In this ONE case I pick ham. I will share the recipe with you so you can make it.

2 Cups (precooked) steamed white rice
1/2 Onion -chopped
2 Eggs
2 T Butter
1/4 Cup Frozen peas ( very important they are frozen and very important you do not leave them out even if you hate peas!!
Salt & Pepper
1/2 tsp Ginger
1/4 Cup Soy Sauce
1 tsp Red Pepper Flakes
1/2 -1 Cup Chopped Meat (bacon or ham)

Heat large pan to med high and melt 1 T butter.
Saute Onions until clear.













Remove onions from pan and add chopped ham or bacon to pan. Brown meat.















Once browned, remove meat from pan and scramble 2 eggs. Chop into small pieces














Remove eggs from pan and add 1 T butter and steamed rice.














Pour soy sauce over top of rice. Mix well. You can always add more soy sauce later if you need it but don't be too generous or you will have soggy rice not fried rice. Soggy rice that will be way to salty.
Salt and pepper rice to taste. sprinkle 1/2 tsp ground ginger on rice and shake in pepper flakes (about 4 shakes or to taste)







Flatten rice down in pan like a pancake. Take Eggs onion and meat and pour over top.













Fold in the ingredients and flatten down again.














Let Rice brown for about 1 min. Flip rice over and brown the other side. Do this 2 or 3 times total. making sure the rice is looking a LITTLE crispy when you flip it over. This is a good time to do a taste test to see if it needs more Soy sauce ( salt) or more peppers. Once you are finished browning the rice. Pour Frozen peas onto the rice. Again I am going to say "You cannot leave out the peas!" Even if you don't care for peas. I don't like peas very well but it adds a sweetness that the rice will need or it might be too rich. If you are really stubborn and are not going to listen to me about adding the peas then you have to add something else like frozen carrots pieces or something to give it some texture and some sweetness. Okay?














Once peas are added stir them in and it is ready to serve. the reason I add frozen peas at the very end is so they don't get mushy and have that gross pea flavor. They still have garden sweet flavor.
And Voila!!! Your rice is done and ready to be gobbled up!! You will probably have left overs but you will be glad because it is just as good reheated as it is freshly made.