Location: My tiny kitchen
There was a time in my life that I made fried rice very often. I was in love with it. It was the best comfort food for me. I started making the “traditional” fried rice such as Yeung Chow fried rice and salted fish and chicken fried rice, then gradually, I created my own.
This is one of the fried rice dishes that I created. Some of the ingredients used are not what you would expect to find in Chinese fried rice. This dish has a little fusion component, and I love this aspect of the dish.
What I love more is that recently I found out my little brother also likes to cook. Like me, he also created his own version of fried rice. What makes me smile is that although we have never cooked together, nor tried out each other’s fried rice, we cook very similarly. He likes to put a lot of ingredients into his fried rice, to the point that you no longer see any white speck. He likes to fry minced garlic with the rice and never fry the garlic alone, to prevent it from getting burned. We are very similar in these ways.
This is for you, my LB.
This recipe makes a lot of fried rice. I figure since I have to go through all the preparation of cutting, chopping, mincing, dicing, then why not make more of it?
I have cooked almost 2 cups of rice. It’s important to choose the right rice to fry. Rice that are too startchy, such as arborio rice, are not good for frying as they will stick together and you will end up with rice balls. I always use jamine rice and I cook the rice before hand. I let the rice cool down complete so that the rice is dry and easy to fry.
Take one pound of ground pork and put in:
- 1 tbsp of onion powder
- 1 tbsp of brown sugar
- 1 1/2 tbsp of salt
- 2 tbsp of Japanese cooking wine
- fresh groud pepper
- A few drops of sesame oil
Mix all seasoning into the pork and set aside.
The key ingredient in this dish is the portobella mushroom ragout. To make the ragout, you will need a lot of garlic. In case you haven’t gotten the hint, I’m a garlic freak.
Mince 8 big cloves of garlic. After they have been minced, separate them into two piles.
Wash 4 big portobella mushrooms. I know how the pros all tell you not to wash any mushroom and only clean them with a soft brush. Since I haven’t reached the pro level yet and I’m germ/dirt conscious, I always give my mushrooms a good rinse.
Cut the mushrooms into thin slices.
Cut the slices and turn the mushrooms into a mince.
In a non-stick pan, put in 2 tbsp of butter.
Put in 1 tbsp of olive oil.
Put in the minced mushrooms.
Put in one pile of minced garlic.
As soon as the muchrooms reache the pan, they will suck up all the oli.
Grind in fresh black pepper.
Put in 1 tsp of salt.
To cook a very good mushroom ragout, you have to let all the mushroom juice reduced. The mushrooms give off a lot of juice during cooking and once all the juice have evaporated, the muchroom flavour becomes super-concentrated.
When all the juice is gone, put in 2 tsp of balsamic vinegar.
This is the portobella mushroom ragout. It is aromatic, flavourful and it carries a hint of butter. You can serve it as a side dish with chicken or fish.
Once the mushrooms have been cooked, their size become much smaller.
Finely slice 4 stalks of green onion.
In a non-stick pan, put in the minced pork. Sautee it until it is fully cooked. Sautee it with a spatula to make sure the meat is broekn apart.
In a non-stick pan, put in 1tbsp of olive oil.
Put in half of the rice.
Once the rice is hot, put in half of the left-over minced garlic.
Mix the garlic into the rice.
Put in a few drops of sesame oil.
Put in 1 tbsp of soy sauce.
Turn the heat to medium, fry the rice until there is no big lump of rice stuck together.
Turn the heat to high.
Pour in half of the ingredients.
Thoroughly incorporate the ingredients into the rice.
When all ingredients have been incorporated, put in half of the green onion.
Mix the green onion into the rice and now you are done.
Pour the rice into a large bowl.
Now repeat with the second batch.
The portobella mushroom is the star ingredient; it adds a very deep richness to the rice.
