Saturday, May 24, 2014

Pork Fried Rice

What do you think of when someone mentions a one-pot meal? Is it soup? A stew? Chili?

Those are great one-pot meals when you've got time for them to simmer, but there are other one-pot meals that are perfect when you don't want to spend a lot if time in front of the stove.

Like fried rice.

It's also a great way to use up leftovers. This time, I used pork, but you could use chicken, beef, or a whole lot of vegetables - whatever you have on hand, and whatever sounds good to you.

If you make this, you really do want the rice to be cold and left over - if you cook rice and add it to this fresh, the rice will want to break up and turn to mush.

Pork Fried Rice
This is definitely a recipe where you want to have everything ready to go before you start cooking, because each addition comes pretty quickly after the one before. If you want to save yourself from washing one bowl, don't crack the eggs until the zucchini goes into the pan. You've got a little cooking time then, and you can use the bowl that you had the pork or zucchini in for those eggs.

1 tablespoon olive oil
1 cup roast pork shoulder, cut in 1/4-inch cubes
1 teaspoon 5-spice powder
1 small zucchini, cut in 1/4 inch dice
2 large eggs, lightly beaten
1/4 cup frozen green peas
1 14-ounce can bean sprouts
2 cups cooked long-grain white rice, chilled
2 tablespoons teriyaki or soy sauce
4 scallions, thinly sliced

Heat the olive oil in a large skillet or wok or similar pan. Add the pork shoulder and 5-spice powder and cook until the pork is lightly browned - you're working with a cooked leftover roast, so you just want to warm it and brown it just a little.

Add the zucchini and cook until it's cooked through but still firm. You'll see it change color from an opaque white to slightly translucent. This doesn't take long, but this is the longest bit of cooking in the whole process. There's enough time to stop stirring and crack those eggs and give 'em a little fork-beating. Hanging the stirring spoon on the side of the pan makes sense - that's where the pot clip came in handy.

Add the eggs and stir until the eggs are cooked.

Add the green peas and bean sprouts and stir to combine.

Add the white rice and teriyaki sauce. Cook, stirring, until the rice has taken on the color of the sauce and it it warm. You should have individual grains of rice and not clumps.

Taste for seasoning and add more teriyaki, if desired.

Add the scallions, stir, and serve.
Yum