Monday

Bacon Fried Rice

YUP - Bacon fried rice
How do you make bacon fried rice you ask - oh ever so easy.
You all know I have to share when I've made something I hadn't made in a long time.


3 c. cold leftover SHORT GRAIN rice
1 med. onion, chopped small
1/2 lb. bacon [about 5 strips] cut strips into appx 1 inch pieces
the equivalent of 1 large bell pepper, diced

you can use red, yellow and orange bell peppers in addition to green
1 beaten egg or 1/4 cup eggbeaters
1/2 c. soy sauce
3/4 cup frozen carrots/peas [use the small square-cut carrots]
[I like to add snow peas and sometimes green beans as well, the more veggies, the merrier]
bit o` salt, pepper


In a large frying pan or wok, cook bacon,
Do not let it get crispy.
Remove from heat, set half bacon grease aside, leave half in the pan.

Put the bacon by itself on a plate to be added later.
You're going to fry in the bacon grease.
See, it's kinda sorta like a Texas fried rice what with bacon grease... right?


Saute half the onion and bell pepper[s] in the bacon grease until tender.
I make this for large groups often and it looks all the nicer to have more color.


Add half rice in the same pan and fry about 4 minutes, stirring in gently, and flipping a few times.
Add a few dashes of pepper to it.
Make sure to stir it so rice grains are all separated.
Add in half the chopped bacon and half your carrots/peas, and half any other veggies you'd like to add. Fresh carrots of course can be used. but I recommend the peas be frozen.

Gently mix the veggies in.
Pan should be on med heat now.

Add the soy sauce to the beaten egg.
[I don't like to see hunks of gooky egg in the rice, but can't omit the egg, because it gives the dish a nice texture so we blend it in the soy sauce]

Add HALF the soy/egg mixture SLOWLY to the still frying rice and veggie mix,
stir well.

You are adding slowly because you may not need it all.


You don't want the rice drippy, just moist.


Once it's all mixed, cover and let it cook [so the egg cooks] for at least 5 minutes. Stir [spatula flip] once and cook a few minutes more
Repeat the process with the second half of bacon grease, onion, bell pepper, rice, etc ... ... ..
Unless you have a VERY large wok I do not recommend cooking all three cups of rice at once because once you add the other ingredients it will take up so much room in the pan it has been my experience that it may overflow, resulting in spillage. lost rice. wasted bacon. no bueno.

You can keep it warm in the oven if necessary.
and amounts can be increased to accomodate larger groups
. . .


You can always substitute grilled chicken for the bacon and cook the entire process using canola oil for a lighter meal. We just make it less often to enjoy the bacon.