Fried Rice Bowl

My husband is Chinese and I am Western. Between the two of us we came up with this recipe for fried rice that is actually a meal in a bowl. Now all my Chinese relatives make it this way and our Western friends have asked us to teach them how it is made. Optional ingredients include meat, salted fermented black beans, cashews, and chili oil. I can do this dish in well under half an hour, and that includes all the chopping. This dish is good for colds, depression, writer's block, stubbed toes, insomnia, heartbreak, religious crises and general crankiness. It can change your life. Yum.

• Preparation Time: 30 mins
• Cooking Time: 30 mins
• Total Time: 60 mins
• Calories: 539 Calories

Ingredients

• 4 eggs, beaten
• 2 tablespoons sesame oil
• 1 cup cubed carrots
• ½ cup thinly sliced green onions
• 3 ¼ cups water
• 1 cup chopped yellow onion
• 1 cup frozen peas
• 2 cups basmati rice
• 4 tablespoons minced garlic
• Fresh ground black pepper
• 3 tablespoons tamari
• 4 tablespoons minced fresh ginger root
• 3 tablespoons vegetable oil, or as needed
• 6 sticks dried bean curd
• 1 tablespoon shredded black fungus
• 7 dried black mushrooms
• boiling water
• 1 tablespoon butter or oil

Recipe Instructions

Step 1

Place the dried bean curd in a bowl, and cover with boiling water. In a smaller bowl, place the shredded black fungus and dried black mushrooms, and cover with boiling water. Allow the bean curd, black fungus, and dried black mushrooms to soak until rehydrated, about 20 minutes.

Step 2

Place 3 1/4 cups of water with rice in a saucepan. Bring to a boil over high heat, and let it boil hard for one minute. Cover with a lid, and turn heat to low. Cook on low for 5 minutes, then remove from heat (without lifting the lid). Let sit, covered, while you prepare the rest of the meal, or about 20 minutes. Do not at any time lift the lid.

Step 3

In a non-stick skillet, melt butter over medium-high heat. Scramble eggs to the dry instead of the creamy point. Dump them into a bowl, and continue to chop them into bits with the edge of a wooden spoon. You don't have to pulverize them, go for pieces about the size of your thumbnail.

Step 4

In one bowl, combine carrot, onion, garlic, and ginger. In another bowl, green onions and frozen peas. Now drain all the water off the bean curd, fungus and mushrooms. The bean curd might need some tough bits removed, and the remainder cut into quarter-inch rings. The mushrooms only need slicing and the fungus is pre-sliced so no worries there. Combine bean curd and mushrooms in a third bowl.

Step 5

Heat wok over high heat; let the metal get smoking hot, about one minute. Add three tablespoons of vegetable oil. Wait about 30 seconds, and tip in the bowl of carrot, onion, garlic, and ginger. Cook, stirring frequently. The garlic's going to brown first because it has the highest sugar content, so keep an eye on it, and turn the flame down if necessary. Tip in the bean curd, shredded fungus, and mushrooms, and cook and stir for one minute. Now look to see that your flame is set to maximum, and tip in the spring onion and the frozen peas. You don't need to cook them, just threaten them. Keep them moving, and mix in the rice. Stir in the eggs, and then season with generous, generous amounts of tamari and sesame oil, and a few twists of fresh black pepper.