A few years ago I posted a recipe for Fried Rice Omelets. It was, and still is, one of our family faves.
Last week, when I visited my mom in Washington, she had a bowl of fried rice waiting for me. This is always the case when I take a trip home.
Every time she comes to visit, my kids ask her to make fried rice.
The best fried rice in our family is always at Grandma's house. When we can't have Grandma make it for us, we use her recipe to make our own.
Here are a few pics of our weekend together…
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| The second ship is the USS Kitty Hawk, which is the ship my dad was on when I was born. Fun to see this resting at PSNS when we pulled in town. |
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| Cute missionary studying. I could see him from my mom's home every morning. Same place, same time. |
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| After days of rain, the sun makes an appearance! |
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| These were one of my childhood favorites. Mountain bars. Made in the PNW, by Brown & Haley. |
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| A bit of outlet shopping. |
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| Hey Santa, We found Rudolph. He's in La Conner, WA |
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| The beautiful little town of La Conner, WA |
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| What's a trip to the PNW without a ferry ride. Or two. Or three... |
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| Had to try a few Top Pot Hand Forged Doughnuts… They supply Starbucks with treats. 1.3 million doughnuts. Per week. |
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| Looking for the tulips at the Skagit Valley Tulip Festival Mt. Vernon, WA |
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| Saw these crazy birds (geese?) while looking for tulips. Have you ever seen that movie THE BIRDS? Creepy. |
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| Yellow tulips? |
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| Daffodils. Not tulips, but still beautiful :) |
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| Next time, we will have to plan the tulip trek in mid to late April. |
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| Enjoying a little bento and ramen with mom. |
Mom's Fried Rice
ABK
print recipe
7 cups cooked sticky Japanese (pearl) rice, cooled completely (see tips below)
1/2 cup chopped onion (yellow or white)
1/2 lb chopped ham (about 1 1/2 cups or two thick deli slices)
2 cups cabbage, sliced thin
4 tablespoons butter, separated
2 tablespoons vegetable oil
salt
pepper
soy sauce
1/2 bunch green onions, chopped white and green parts
Using a large non stick pan, cook each of the vegetables, separately*, in a small amount of oil and butter. I use about 1 teaspoon for each vegetable/meat. Salt and pepper each vegetable.
Transfer to a bowl or plate. It's OK to let the vegetables and meat inter-mingle at this point :)
After cooking all of the vegetables and meat, add about 2 tablespoons of butter to the Teflon pan. Over medium heat, add the cooked and cooled rice a little at a time, breaking apart clumps with two wooden spoons until the rice is evenly distributed in the pan, and the butter is mixed in well.
Add all of the vegetables and meat to the rice. Toss lightly in pan. Season again with fresh ground pepper.
Add the soy sauce, a little at a time. We don't like to drown the rice in soy sauce, so I only use about 2-3 tablespoons to 7 cups of rice. Taste, add salt and more pepper, if desired. After heated through, add fresh chopped green onions. Turn the heat off. If you continue to leave the heat on, your beautiful fried rice will end up as gummy rice.
Tips:
-Make sure the rice is cooked and cooled completely before starting to make fried rice. It is best to make the rice the day before. If you use hot rice when making fried rice, your dish will turn out to be a sticky, gluey mess.
-Make sure to use Japanese, or pearl rice, which is short and plump, not a long grain rice.
-*It is important to cook the vegetables separately. I used to cook them all at once and then add to the rice. My fried rice was never as good as my mom's. This is one of her tried and true methods.
-When "mixing" the rice and other ingredients together, do not stir this like it's a cake batter- toss the ingredients, like you would a salad.
After cooking all of the vegetables and meat, add about 2 tablespoons of butter to the Teflon pan. Over medium heat, add the cooked and cooled rice a little at a time, breaking apart clumps with two wooden spoons until the rice is evenly distributed in the pan, and the butter is mixed in well.
Add all of the vegetables and meat to the rice. Toss lightly in pan. Season again with fresh ground pepper.
Add the soy sauce, a little at a time. We don't like to drown the rice in soy sauce, so I only use about 2-3 tablespoons to 7 cups of rice. Taste, add salt and more pepper, if desired. After heated through, add fresh chopped green onions. Turn the heat off. If you continue to leave the heat on, your beautiful fried rice will end up as gummy rice.
Tips:
-Make sure the rice is cooked and cooled completely before starting to make fried rice. It is best to make the rice the day before. If you use hot rice when making fried rice, your dish will turn out to be a sticky, gluey mess.
-Make sure to use Japanese, or pearl rice, which is short and plump, not a long grain rice.
-*It is important to cook the vegetables separately. I used to cook them all at once and then add to the rice. My fried rice was never as good as my mom's. This is one of her tried and true methods.
-When "mixing" the rice and other ingredients together, do not stir this like it's a cake batter- toss the ingredients, like you would a salad.
