Seafood Fried Rice

Smell the sesame oil.

For fried rice, I pretty much follow Emeril's recipe. My only modifications are generally leaving out the ham and adjusting the vegetables to whatever I have in the house. It has really great flavor - sesame oil and ginger come through, and I have a knack for overdoing it on the garlic, so the garlic flavor tends to be predominant as well. I love the complexity of flavor that this recipe has, without being too salty or greasy like take-out fried rice.

I had a helper today. He cooked the eggs and the shrimp, and then he took over the final mixing process because I wasn't getting the clumps of plain rice broken up to his liking.

Showing me how it's done.

The Recipe:

1 tb canola oil

1 tb sesame oil

5 cloves garlic, minced

2 tb fresh ginger, grated

4 green onions, chopped

1 tsp red pepper flakes

1 onion, chopped

2 c cabbage, chopped

2 ribs celery, chopped

2 carrots, chopped

1/2 lb shrimp, sprinkled with cajun seasoning and sauteed

1/2 lb crab meat

3 eggs, scrambled (cooked)

8 cups cooked rice

3 tb soy sauce

1 tb sugar

black pepper, to taste

Heat the canola oil and sesame oil over medium heat. Add the garlic, ginger, green onions, and red pepper flakes, and stir 1 minute.
Add the onion, cabbage, and celery. Turn heat up to high and stir until vegetables are softened.
Add the carrots and stir to combine.
Add the rice, soy sauce, sugar, and black pepper. Stir to combine.
Fold in the cooked shrimp, crab meat, and egg. Serve.

The Verdict:

Overall grade: B+

Overall reason: Not the healthiest, but tasty. Also a great way to use up veggies.

Time to prepare: 40 minutes

Husband quote: "The rice still has clumps. There's still clumps of rice to break up. I still see clumps. Do you want me to mix it?"

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