Favorite Recipes: Malia's Fried Rice

Malia’s fried rice:

Cook 5-7 cups rice in rice cooker. Mix half short grain brown and short grain white. No long grain!

Put 1-2c chopped ham in stir fry pan or wok with 1-2 tbsp oil (any kind you like). Add 1/2 onion chopped, 2 cups frozen peas and carrots (or frozen mixed vegetables if you like them - I don’t eat corn and I hate the Lima beans). Stir fry til veggies cooked.

Add 2+ tbsp soy sauce, plus ginger and garlic to taste (1/2 tsp dry or 1 tsp fresh?). Just remember this mixture will spread over all your rice so put more than you would for just the meat and veggies in the stir fry. Stir to meld flavors or if you used raw garlic/ginger, stir til cooked.

Optional - add 3-4 cooked scrambled eggs; green onion, or anything else you like. Can use different meat or veggies but pork (char siu or bacon or ham steak) and peas are traditional.

Keep pan on medium high while you add cooked rice and stir. Add 4 cups, then one cup at a time until it’s the right consistency for you. Don’t worry about too little soy sauce flavor - you can add more at the table. Don’t worry about frying the rice - just stir to incorporate and you’re done.

We love this recipe to use up holiday ham, and because it’s not greasy like restaurant fried rice, and because it uses half brown rice without anyone noticing.