Pork (and Chicken) Fried Rice

Being able to replicate an authentic Chinese pork fried rice is just not possible, at least in my opinion, especially if you don’t have access to the requisite Chinese BBQ pork (cha siu).  However, it is still possible to make a delicious and satisfying version at home.  I have been experimenting with pork fried rice for years now and have finally “got it down” according to my husband and kids.

While it is best to use cold leftover rice because it doesn’t clump up, if you don’t have leftover rice or don’t feel like making it the day before you can just make it earlier in the day and put it in the fridge for a few hours. I have a rice cooker so making rice is not really a big deal for me since I don’t have to monitor it.

I always make pork fried rice whenever I have leftover pork loin or pork chops.  This time I had two pork chops from dinner the night before.  I included some chicken this time only because I had some left from a grocery store rotisserie chicken I bought on impulse shopping while hungry earlier in the day.  Adding some carrots and snow peas made it a hearty and balanced meal.

Ingredients

6 cups of cooked rice

1 cup of shredded cooked rotisserie chicken

2 raw pork chops cut up in small pieces

1 small yellow onion diced

2 green onions chopped

1 carrot diced

1 clove of garlic diced

1 cup of snow peas

1 teaspoon of grated ginger

5 tablespoons of soy sauce

3 tablespoons of rice vinegar

1 tablespoon of sesame oil

1 teaspoon of sugar

2 eggs

*How to prepare fresh ginger.  Cut a small piece off the root and peel with the back of a spoon, knife or vegetable grater and then grate.

Directions

Blend ginger, soy, rice vinegar, sesame oil and sugar in a small bowl and set aside.  Heat a large skillet and when hot add a few tablespoons of oil.  Sauté the diced raw pork for several minutes until no longer pink.  Then add the yellow onions, carrots, snow peas for a few minutes and then the garlic for thirty seconds before slowly adding the rice.  You may need to unstick some of the rice with your fingers before putting it in the pan. Next, toss in the scallions and chicken and add the liquid-soy mixture.  After combining thoroughly the soy mixture and making sure the rice is nice and hot, the final step is to scramble the eggs.  Push the rice over to one side making room to pour the beaten egg mixture; cook quickly and stir through the rice.

*Yes, Alec is drinking Coke, but only because it was leftover from his birthday party

Results

Everyone thought the rice was fantastic.  Alec had two bowls and was going for a third until I had him reconsider.  I thought it was delicious-though maybe not the best I ever made-but very tasty.  A few things I would reconsider for next time.  For one, even with the largest skillet I own it is still not quite big enough for all of these ingredients.  Either I may consider purchasing a wok or cooking the ingredients separately (for instance, the meat, the vegetables and the rice) and then combining them.  Also, I want to continue to experiment with the soy mixture.  A typical fried rice has a combination of soy and something to balance the saltiness like honey, sugar, hoisin sauce, oyster sauce, etc.  I usually use a mix of soy, hoisin, and sugar though this time I found a recipe that used rice vinegar so I tried that instead with the soy and sugar. Even though both worked well,  I am not ready to settle on the soy mixture because I think it could be even better.