Friday, March 11, 2011

Ham Fried Rice


This dish is SO easy to put together on a busy weeknight. Just cook your rice ahead of time like in the morning or night before (I throw mine on the stove the night before while I watch a recorded "What Not to Wear" show, which is awesome because I'm totally allowed to admit that I think Clinton is kind of hot because he's gay, but I don't care). Then your Fried Rice only takes less than 20 minutes to make. Score!! And it's SO good too!! I'm going to be honest here, this recipe is super simple, and might sound a bit boring. But I tried a few other fried rice recipes before creating this one, with ingredients like fresh ginger and garlic and sesame stuff, and the truth is: my family didn't really care for them. And I truly love Chinese food and all those ingredients I just mentioned, but I didn't like the fancy shmancy fried rice recipes either. There were just too many strong flavors going on and my whole family agreed this fried rice is just perfectly delicious. We LOVE this. I want to note here that this can be made with or without the ham. If I'm serving this as a main dish-which I often do-I put the ham in, but I leave it out when I'm serving it on the side of an Oriental meal like Asian Lettuce Wraps.

Ham Fried Rice
Print Recipe

3 Tablespoons Vegetable Oil, divided (I use pure olive oil, NOT extra virgin so it has a mild flavor and makes this super healthy)
2 cups Ham
3 Green Onions, white and green parts, chopped (or 1/2 cup white or yellow onion)
2/3 cup shredded Carrots (or slice very thin)
2/3 cup Frozen Corn
4 Eggs, beaten
4 cups cooked, cold Rice (if you forget to cook your rice ahead of time fresh cooked rice will also work.)
3 1/2 Tablespoons Soy Sauce, divided
1 teaspoon Sugar

Set out all your ingredients. If your rice is cold, break it up with a spatula some. In a small bowl, mix 2 1/2 tablespoons of soy sauce with 1 teaspoon sugar. Set aside. In a large wok, heat 1 tablespoon oil over medium-high heat. Add ham, green onions, carrots, and corn. Stir and cook until onions and carrots have softened. Add in beaten eggs. Your eggs will cook pretty quickly since the wok, meat, and veggies are nicely heated. Stir eggs in until they are scrambled. Stir in 1 tablespoon soy sauce. Remove egg mixture from your wok and set it aside in a bowl. Heat 2 more tablespoons oil in your wok. Add the rice in. Let it kind of "brown" on one side, then do your best to flip/stir it over to brown some more. Once it is browned (not all brown, just some of it nicely browned and flavored), add the remaining soy sauce and sugar mixture and stir in until well combined. Stir the egg, veggie, and ham mixture back into your rice, and combine all together. Serve!! Yum!!

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