Recipe - The Best Fried Rice (Claibornelee)

5 cup Cold cooked rice; (cooked at
least one day in advance)
1 cup Small raw shrimps**;
shelled, deveined, and
split in half lengthwise
1 teaspoon Baking soda
1 teaspoon Salt
5 tablespoon Peanut oil
Or vegetable or corn oil
2/3 cup Cooked ham; or cubed chinese
sausages
3 Eggs
One half cup Cooked fresh green peas or
frozen peas
1 tablespoon Salt; approximately
2 tablespoon Oyster sauce**
1 cup Fresh bean sprouts; (see
note)
One half cup Scallions; chopped and green
part included

1. Flake the rice so that the grains do not stick together. Set aside.

2. Combine the shrimps with the soda and salt and let stand 15 rninutes or
longer. Rinse thoroughly in cold water and pat dry on paper toweling.

3. Heat the oil in a wok or skillet until it is almost smoking and add the
shrimps. Cook, stirring quickly and turning them in the oil until they turn
pink, about 30 seconds. Remove them to a sieve fitted over a mixing bowl
and let them drain well. Return the oil from the drained shrimps to the
pan.

4. Add the sausages or ham to the pan and cook just to heat through,
stirring. Add the rice, stirring rapidly, and cook until thoroughly heated
without browning.

5. Do the following quickly: Make a well in the center of the rice and add
the eggs, stirring constantly. When they have a softscrambled consistency,
start incorporating the rice, stirring in a circular fashion.

6. When all the rice and eggs are blended, add the peas and the tablespoon
of salt, stirring. Stir in the oyster sauce and the cooked shrimps, tossing
the rice over and over to blend everything. Stir in the bean sprouts and
cook, stirring and tossing, about 30 seconds. Add the scallions and serve
immediately.

YiELD: 8 to 12 servings

Note: If you really want to be refined in this dish, pluck off and discard
the head and threadlike "tail" of each bean sprout. But whether plucked
over or left whole, there should be 1 cup to go into the dish.

**Note to me: try chicken in place of shrimp and soy sauce in place of
oyster sauce.

Source: The Chinese Cookbook, by Craig Claiborne & Virginia Lee, 1972 (the
authors say that, "This fried rice is a bit of a masterpiece."

Recipe by: Claiborne/Lee, "The Chinese Cookbook"

Posted to recipeludigest Volume 01 Number 452 by James and Susan Kirkland
kirkland@gj.net on Jan 04, 1998