Lap Cheong and Egg Fried Rice

Lap Cheong Fried Rice

Lap Cheong is a Chinese hard sausage made from pork and pork fat that is usually smoked, sweetened and seasoned. I generally freeze the package of lap cheong since I so rarely use it. It's easy to remove the casing by soaking the sausage links in boiling water until the casings puff up. They're easy to then peel off, making it less difficult to slice. I like to season the rice for depth of flavour and mix it with eggs to give the fried rice a golden hue.

This fried rice is a one-dish meal that needs no more than a bowl of soup for company. It has all four food groups and is a complete meal unto itself.

Hsi Hta Min - Burmese Golden Rice

Hsi Hta Min

As in any other fried rice recipe, it is best to use day old rice that has been refrigerated overnight so that the rice absorbs all moisture. I've used Basmati rice, but jasmine or any other long-grain rice would work just as well. Sticky rice makes it even more special.

Tomato Pulao or Tomato Fried Rice

Tomato Pulao

A pulao is usually made with uncooked rice, but I had a whole 2 cups of it sitting in the fridge so I used that instead. It came together very quickly and goes well as a side dish with Begun Bhaja and/or Fuji Apple Raita.

The curry leaves in this pulao give it a South Indian flair.

Burmese Htamin Kyaw - Burmese Fried Rice

Burmese Htamin Kyaw

Thai and Chinese take-out joints are very generous with their rice portions and there's always a lot left over. Customers have the option of asking for fried rice in place of plain, steamed rice (sometimes for an extra dollar). The rice is simply fried with some soya sauce and not much else. Packed in a ziploc bag and flattened down to a disc, it goes straight into the freezer until it's time to make fried rice.

Fish Sauce

Shrimp Powder with Chili

    

Two essential ingredients for cooking south-east Asian cuisine are shrimp powder and fish sauce. The fried rice I made would have been the run of the mill Chinese fried rice except for the addition of these two condiments that add umami to any dish.

Burmese Fried Rice

Fried rice tastes best if day-old rice is used because most of the moisture in the rice has been absorbed and each grain separates from the others and develops an al-dente texture. This Burmese fried rice sets itself apart from other fried rice because of its umami-saltiness from the shrimp powder and fish sauce, a pungent spiciness from green chilies and faint sweetness from caramalized onions used while frying the rice and as a garnish.

This dish is very simple and easy to make, took under 15 minutes to prepare and goes well with soup or salad. Burmese shrimp fried rice is another fried rice that is a meal unto itself for lunch.

Ingredients:

2 cups day-old rice

1 large onion, diced

4 cloves garlic, diced

2 green chilies, diced

1 Tbsp. dried shrimp powder with chili

1 Tbsp. fish sauce

1 Tbsp. soya sauce

4 + 2 Tbsp. vegetable oil

1 egg, beaten

2 stalks green onions, chopped

deep-fried onions for garnish

Directions:

1. Mix rice with 2 Tbsp. oil, soya sauce, fish sauce and set aside.
2. Heat remaining oil over medium-high heat and stir-fry onions, garlic, chilies and shrimp powder until onions caramalize.
3. Add rice and mix thoroughly, reduce heat to medium and leave rice to brown on the bottom.
4. Stir and make a well in the center, add beaten egg and allow it to set.
5. Toss rice with egg to scramble and garnish with green onions & deep-fried onions before serving.

Serve with soup (Buthi Hinjo) or a salad (Nga Hpet Thoke or Roasted Cauliflower Salad or Tomato Salad or Vegetable Dip).

Burmese Shrimp Fried Rice - Pazun Htamin Kyaw

Pazun Htamin Kyaw

This recipe was inspired by Promilaa Bhatia's post on the Burmese Food Lovers' Kitchen in Facebook. Her delicious vegetarian recipe was modified to add shrimp for us non-vegetarian folks. The modified recipe is provided here with her permission and blessing.

As in any other fried rice recipe, it is best to use day old rice that has been refrigerated overnight so that the rice absorbs all moisture. I've used Basmati rice, but jasmine or any other long-grain rice would work just as well.

Burmese Shrimp Fried Rice - Htamin Kyaw

Htamin Kyaw

What makes this fried rice Burmese? The addition of dried shrimp and fish sauce. Day-old white rice from the Chinese restaurant is perfect for making fried rice. A small portion of the sauces, along with dried chili flakes, mixed into the rice helps distribute taste and color throughout the fried rice. Dried shrimp imparts a lovely umami flavor to this dish.

To make a white fried rice increase the fish sauce to 4+1 tablespoons of fish sauce and omit the soy sauce. There's no need to add salt because both fish and soy sauce are loaded with salt.

Bachu's Tuna Fish Fried Rice

Bachu is my youngest brother and the youngest sibling in our family.  I was speaking to him over the telephone recently and he was in the process of fixing dinner for his two teenagers. He sent me a picture of this fried rice and described each step while he was making it. Hope I got it right. It's always easier to cook fried rice with day-old rice, so any time we go to a Chinese restaurant, we bring home the rice and freeze it until I'm ready to make a fried rice. I prefer to mix all the sauce ingredients into the rice, breaking up the lumps at the same time. This ensures that each grain of rice is coated with the sauce and means less stirring later which could turn the rice into mush. Notice there is no mention of salt anywhere in this recipe. That's because the tuna fish, soya sauce and fish sauce are salty enough.

Quick & Easy Fried Rice With Bacon And Peas

Fried Rice with Bacon & Peas

Left over white/steamed rice, unless cooked at home, usually turns hard and inedible the next day.  I usually freeze the left over rice in Ziploc bags until I'm ready to turn it into fried rice.

Ingredients:

2 cups cold cooked white rice (preferably short-grain sticky rice)
1 Tbsp. dark roasted sesame oil
2 tsp. dark soy sauce
3 Tbsp. light soy sauce
4-5 slices bacon
2 Tbsp. vegetable oil
1 large yellow onion, chopped
4-5 cloves garlic, chopped
1 Tbsp. butter
1 large egg, beaten with salt & pepper
1 cup peas
2-3 stalks green onion, chopped

Method:

1. Remove all lumps from the rice with your fingers.
2. Pour sesame oil and soy sauces on rice and mix until rice is coated well.  Set aside. 
3. Fry bacon until crispy.  Remove bacon, crumble and set aside.
4. In the same pan, heat vegetable oil and saute onion and garlic until translucent.
5. Add rice and crumbled bacon to pan and toss.
6. Make a well in the center of the rice and melt butter in well.
7. Add beaten egg.  When it begins to set, combine it with the rice.
8. Stir frozen peas into rice and garnish with green onions.
9. Serve immediately.