By Rusty

Makes 4 servings

From the age of 12 until I was 16, I worked after school at the Pagoda, the most famous Chinese restaurant in Tulsa, OK. It was family run, and they started me as dishwasher. Over the years, I learned how to bus tables, de-bone chicken, grow massive quantities of bean sprouts, make egg rolls, cook perfect rice, and finally, cook a few main dishes in their giant woks, including fried rice. It’s been a staple in my kitchen ever since and occasionally Ren has a craving and asked me to make it for her.

It’s easiest to make with leftover rice from a previous meal, but not necessary. The vegetables I used here were what happened to be on hand. Feel free to substitute green bell pepper, broccoli, snow peas, or peas and carrots. I’ve also made it with a little garlic and/or ginger added to the onions. So it’s a very flexible dish.

Ingredients:

• 2 cups cooked white rice, at room temp
• ½ yellow onion, coarsely chopped
• ½ red bell pepper, coarsely chopped
• ½ cup snap peas, halved
• 2 Roma tomatoes, cut into bite-sized pieces
• 1 jalapeño, seeded and diced (optional)
• 2 eggs
• 3-4 scallions, sliced
• 2 Tbs grapeseed oil
• 1 Tbs sesame oil
• 2 Tbs soy sauce
• 1 Tbs dark soy sauce (or 1 tsp gravy master)
• 2 Tbs brown sugar
• Salt and pepper

Preparation:

Note that all of the vegetables are chopped into large ½” to 1” pieces, so that they are prominent in the final, prepared dish and large enough to be grabbed with chop sticks.

In your largest frying pan, bring the grapeseed (or other neutral) oil to heat and add the onions and jalapeño. Sauté on medium-high heat until translucent. Add the bell pepper and snap peas and sauté for another 5 minutes. Add the room temp rice and toss with the veggies. Allow the rice to crisp up and brown a little, then turn and brown some more. Continue this until there is a little crunch throughout. Add the soy sauce, using the gravy master if you don’t have dark soy sauce. Stir the rice, integrating the soy sauce throughout.

Then push the rice to the edges, creating an empty bowl in the middle, exposing the pan. Add a splash more of grapeseed oil to the “bowl” in the middle. Break the eggs into a bowl and beat. Pour the eggs into the “bowl” and coarsely scramble them. Once done, toss until the eggs are evenly distributed throughout. Make another “bowl” in the middle of the pan and add the sesame oil to the “bowl.” Allow that to come to heat, then add the brown sugar and stir it into the oil. Cover and allow the sugar/oil mixture to simmer for 2-3 minutes and begin to caramelize. Add the tomatoes, then gently stir all together. Taste and add more soy sauce, salt and/or pepper as necessary.

Serve it up in bowls or plates (we usually just eat it straight from the frying pan and save on the dish-washing). Garnish with the sliced scallions and have extra soy sauce, sriracha and/or sweet chile sauce on the side. Enjoy!