Shrimp Fried Rice

Let me start this post by saying that I am not a big chinese food kind of girl.  Why?  Because I am not a big veggie eater.  I don't do sprouts and snow peas.  ICK!  I don't like sweet stuff in my main course so I hate sweet and sour anything.  EEWW!  Sweet stuff should be reserved for dessert foods.  I know, I know, I'm weird.  It's just one of my many freaky weird things.  Anyway, one of the few things I will eat is fried rice,especially shrimp fried rice.  YUM!  Okay, I do sometimes pick out the peas.  I. HATE. PEAS. 

We have a favorite drive through chinese place in town that we all love.  It's delicious and cheap.  Two of my very favorite things.  Problem is, they are open really weird hours.  Last time we had a hankering for fried rice, they were closed so I looked up a recipe, which I found here and got to cooking.  I copied Jaden's recipe below, but you might want to click on this link and read his four rules of fried rice.  Check out Jaden's other recipes at Steamy Kitchen.

Shrimp Fried Rice Recipe


Serves 4



8 ounces small uncooked shrimp, shelled and deveined

1/4 teaspoon salt (or 1/2 tsp kosher salt)

freshly ground black pepper

1/2 teaspoon cornstarch

2 tablespoons cooking oil (divided)

3 eggs, beaten in a small bowl

2 stalks scallion or green onion, minced

4 cups previously cooked leftover rice, grains separated well

3/4 cup frozen carrots and peas, defrosted

1 tablespoon soy sauce (use gluten-free soy sauce if you are making a gluten-free version)

1 teaspoon sesame oil



In a bowl, toss the shrimp with the salt, pepper and cornstarch. Let the shrimp marinate for 10 minutes at room temperature. Heat a wok or large sauté pan on high heat. When the pan is hot enough for a bead of water to instantly sizzle and evaporate, add only 1 tablespoon of the cooking oil and swirl to coat pan.



Now add the shrimp, quickly spreading out around the pan so that they are not overlapping. Let the shrimp fry, untouched for 30 seconds. Flip over and let the other side fry for 30 seconds, or until about 80% cooked through. Remove the shrimp from the pan onto a plate, leaving as much oil in the pan as possible.



Turn the heat to medium and let the pan heat up again. Pour in the eggs, stirring in a quick motion to break up and scramble the eggs. When the eggs are almost cooked through (they should still be slightly runny in the middle), dish out of the frying pan onto the same plate as the cooked shrimp.



Use a paper towel to wipe the same wok or sauté pan clean (no need to wash) and return to high heat with the remaining 1 tablespoon of cooking oil, swirling to coat. When the oil is very hot, add the green onions and stir fry until fragrant, about 15 seconds. Add in the rice and stir well to mix in the green onions throughout. Spread the rice all around the wok surface area and let the rice heat up, untouched until you hear the bottoms of the grains sizzle, about 1-2 minutes. Use the spatula to toss the rice, again spreading the rice out over the surface of wok or pan



Drizzle the soy sauce all around the rice and toss. Add the peas and carrots, the cooked eggs, shrimp and sesame oil, tossing to mix the rice evenly with all of the ingredients. Let everything heat back up again, until the rice grains are so hot they practically dance! Taste and add an additional 1 teaspoon of soy sauce if needed.

Sorry I don't have a better picture, but I scarfed it all down before I thought to pick up the camera.  It was really good!  It definitely would've been easier with a wok though. 

Have a great day!