This easy-but-elegant dish looks so fancy it could be "black tie,' too!
This fried rice dish is as easy as a typical fried rice but with that "wow" factor thanks to the dramatic color of the black rice. The following recipe is as simple as it gets, so feel free to add additional elements to satisfy your tastebuds, such as pickled ginger, pineapple, green peas, carrots, or cashews.
Essential equipment: wok or large nonstick sauté pan; dry and wet measuring cups; measuring spoons; box grater; wooden spoon or paddle
Ingredients:
2 cups cooked black Thai rice* 2 tablespoons vegetable oil, divided
3 garlic cloves, finely chopped 1 tablespoon minced ginger 1 bunch scallions, thinly sliced (white and light green parts only)
2 large eggs, beaten with a fork
8 jumbo poached shrimp, each cut in fourths 1 tablespoon soy sauce 2 tablespoons chopped pickled ginger (optional)
½ cup diced fresh pineapple (optional)
½ cup green peas (optional) ½ cup diced carrots (optional)
½ cup roasted unsalted cashews (optional)
1. Heat a wok over high heat and 1 tablespoon vegetable oil. Swirl the pan to coat the sides with oil and immediately add eggs. Shake the wok to cook the eggs quickly, stirring with a wooden spoon if necessary. Remove the eggs from the wok and set aside.
2. Return the wok to the heat and add the other tablespoon of oil. Swirl the pan to coat the sides with oil and immediately add the garlic and ginger. Stir fry one minute or until fragrant. Add the scallions and stir fry for another minute. Then add the cold, day-old rice and break the clumps with a wooden spoon. Stir fry for two minutes until the grains of rice are not stuck to one another.
“ILOC tip: Never ever use freshly made rice, whether it be steamed or pilaf, for fried rice. It is simply too moist and soft to make a proper fried rice, a dish whose marked characteristic is individual grains of rice that do not stick to one another.”
3. Add the soy sauce and toss well to coat. Add the shrimp and return the egg to the wok, breaking up the egg into pieces. Add additional, optional ingredients and incorporate.
4. Serve immediately.
Makes 4-8 servings, depending on course/use.
"The base for this fried rice is a day-old simple pilaf using equal parts light coconut milk to water. Pilaf, like risotto, is both a method and a finished dish of toasting rice with aromatics. It is not steamed rice studded with veggies, contrary to popular misconception. Sauté 1 tablespoon each chopped lemongrass and fresh ginger root in a bit of vegetable oil, approximately 1 tablespoon. Then add 2 cups of black Thai rice, stirring constantly, and toast the rice for about two minutes at which point add 1 can of coconut milk and a little more than 2 cups of water, totaling 4 cups of liquid. Bring to a boil, then cover and let it simmer for 24 minutes. Turn off the heat and remove the pan from that burner, leaving it covered for five minutes before fluffing it with a fork. Any leftovers can be stored in the refrigerator and used the following day for this fried rice recipe.
*Black Thai Rice from BD Provisions in Newtown, CT "where the food is in abundance, but the packaging is scarce."