Barbequed pork fried rice バーベキューポークの焼き飯

We used to make fried rice チャーハン炒飯 all the time but it’s been a while since I last made it. The last time I posted fried rice was in 2009. I am sure many people have their own secret recipe for making the best fried rice such as mixing a beaten egg into the rice before frying etc. Some consider it important to keep the rice from not sticking together but, in my opinion, if that is what you want, just use long grain rice. I am inclined to stick to my old-tried-and-true method of making fried rice. One innovation I have made is to use frozen rice. (I keep any left over rice in Ziploc bags in the freezer). Freezing reduces the moisture and making it much easier to make fried rice.


Today, we had an end piece of hot smoked pork loin which we barbecued last weekend in the Weber grill. Since I also had blanched broccolini, I added that, too.



Since this was a lunch, I also quickly made "nameko" mushroom なめこ and tofu miso soup.



Ingredients (2 small servings):
Rice: about 1 cup, previously frozen, thawed by microwaving for 40-50 seconds, crumbled.
Barbecued pork: This is the end piece of hot smoked pork loin. I sliced and then cut into half inch squares (amount arbitrary).
Onion: Half of large onion, finely chopped
Garlic: 3 fat cloves, finely chopped
Ginger: Tip of pinky sized, sliced and finely chopped
Shiitake mushroom: 2 large fresh, cut into small pieces.
Broccoini" 4 stalks, blanched, the stalks cut into small pieces, the flowering end just separated.
Egg: one beaten and seasoned with salt and pepper for scrambled egg.

In a non-stick frying pan on medium flame, I added vegetable oil (2 tsp) and dark sesame oil (1 tsp). I added garlic and ginger and slowly fried until fragrant and added the onion. I kept sautéing for a few more minutes. I then added the shiitake mushrooms, the stalk of broccolini, and the pork, sautéed for a few more minutes and seasoned with salt and pepper. I set it aside on a plate, wiped the pan clean, added vegetable oil (1/2 tsp) and made scrambled egg and set it aside.

I again wiped the pan clean, added vegetable oil (2 tsp) and dark sesame oil (1/2 tsp) on high flame. I added still cold but thawed  (kernels separated) rice into the pan and started stir frying. After all the rice kernels got coated with oil, I flattened the rice to have some browning on the bottom and then stir fried again until rice was thoroughly hot and cooked, I added the vegetable/pork mixture and the flowering end of the broccolini, seasoned with salt and pepper. At the last moment, I added soy sauce along the edge of the pan (so that the soy sauce first hit the hot metal surface of the pan before getting mixed into the rice, which adds more flavor from the soy sauce) and stir fried some more.

I put the fried rice on the plate, garnished with roasted white sesame seeds, fried "aonori" 青海苔powder and the scrambled egg. For the miso soup, I used granulated instant "dashi", canned nameko mushroom, chopped scallion and tofu. Although "akadashi" 赤出し味噌 is most proper for this soup, we do not particular like akadashi (too bitter) and I used regular "awase"miso 合わせ味噌 (between red and white miso).

For a weekend lunch, this was pretty good. I particularly enjoyed the miso soup with the fried rice.