Restaurant Style Shrimp Fried Rice

 I love Chinese food and it is one of those cuisines where you can eat lots of it without feeling unpleasantly stuffed.  If you are like me, you love a good Chinese restaurant, or on those busy days you run into Panda Express to satisfy that hankering for Chinese food. The craving is never satisfied without fried rice. It is unbelievably easy to make great restaurant quality fried rice at home. But most of us would rather buy it. On those days when you feel like whipping up your own fried rice, you will be glad you did. I usually use small to medium shrimp, but jumbo shrimp make the rice more filling and it could easily be a main dish, rather than a side.

The trick to making great fried rice is using leftover chilled white rice. Rice that has been in the refrigerator for a day or two is perfect for making a tasty batch of fried rice. For the most fragrant rice, use freshly chopped onions.

A combination of white and green onions adds great flavor

Peas and Carrots add nice texture

The best foolproof way to make sure your rice is perfect is to cook some of your ingredients separately. Stir fry the shrimp until it just starts to turn pink and remove it from the wok or skillet. At this point it will be 80% done.  Cook the eggs seperately and put them back into the wok at the last minute when you put the shrimp back in to finish the last bit of cooking.

Ingredients

2-3 tablespoons vegetable oil

a small dash of salt

8 ounces large uncooked shrimp (shelled and deveined)

2 eggs beaten in a small bowl

1/2 cup chopped white onion

2 stalks chopped green onion

4 cups previously cooked white rice

3/4 cup peas and carrots

2 Tablespoons soy sauce

2 teaspoons sesame oil

Directions:

Heat oil until very hot. About 60 seconds. Add shrimp to a Wok or large skillet and sprinkle with a dash of salt. Stir fry shrimp until it begins to turn pink, then flip over and cook on other side for about 30 seconds and remove and from heat and place on a plate. Add beaten eggs to wok and stir until scrambled soft. Remove from heat and place on plate with shrimp.

Add  1 teaspoon sesame oil and  saute onions for a few seconds before adding rice. Add soy sauce to rice and stir until well combined. Add Shrimp, remaining sesame oil, eggs and carrots and stir fry to combine ingredients and finish cooking the shrimp and eggs. Add more soy sauce if needed.

Bon Appetit!