East Meets West Fried Rice

East Meets West Fried Rice - There is no such thing called the "Wrong Rice"

Serves 2

Ingredients:

2 eggs

3 Tbsp oil

3 cups of leftover rice

Small piece of smoked salmon, cubed

1/4 onion, chopped

2 green onion

2 Tbsp of carrots, chopped

2 cups of broccoli

A dash of kosher salt, white and black pepper

1 tsp of soy sauce

1. Scrambled the eggs in 1 Tbsp of oil. Cook until it's almost done but still a little runny. Set aside.

2. Saute the onion and green onion in 2 Tbsp of oil until fragrant about a minute, add the vegetables and a little water(1/4 cup more or less), cook until the water evaporates and the broccoli is crunchy but still has some bite to it, about 3 minutes.

3. Add rice, smoke salmon, scramble eggs, soy sauce, salt and pepper. Mix well and stir constantly until rice is heated and coated evenly with the soy sauce. Use the spatula to break up clumpy rice and the eggs into smaller pieces. Adjust the flavor if needed.

4. Divide the rice into two bowls and serve hot.

I've made fried rice numerous times, mostly without meat or fish, usually when there was nothing else to eat! Last night I stumbled on this recipe also as the last resort. I had nothing planned and the idea of having fried rice for dinner seemed depressing! Then I remembered I bought a small chunk of smoked salmon at the Chimacum Farmer's Market. It was wild line-caught Alaskan salmon from Cape Cleare Fishery. If you are like me who still consider smoked salmon a luxury item, now you can exhale, it only costs $5. You actually don't want to use too much salmon as it is nicely salty and flavorful, too much can be, well, "too much". You can use chives instead of green onions if it's more available, or just pluck the green stalks from the onions in the yard like I did. Now comes the most exciting part - the rice! I never used Basmati rice before but that was what I had for leftover. Again, like what I wrote in "Accidental Mango Salsa" - the best recipes come from accidents! I discovered Basmati is the best for making fried rice because it doesn't stick and stays in shape when heated. Besides it's nutty undertone compliments the salmon's smokiness.

I want to sound like a wise old Chinese woman with sage advices- "no, no, no use short-grain rice, no make the mistakes I made. Aiya, you learn, foreign devils." But wait a minute, who's talking? Who just wrote, "My best recipes often came from accidents?" There is no such thing called the "wrong rice" in the world of creating fried rice! So go ahead, use whatever you have, create your own master piece, and share with the world.