Recipes
INDONESIAN SHRIMP FRIED RICE
Indonesian Shrimp Fried Rice
Fried rice. When I was growing up, making fried rice is kind of like a college student making ramen noodles. It's something you usually have on hand because it's cheap, takes no time to make and you can add stuff to it to make a more filling meal. I grew up making fried rice as a way to use up leftovers because we always had rice available. Whatever we had leftover from the night before sometimes found it's destiny as a fried rice dish in a day or two. I rarely saw fried rice dishes as something special... always an after thought if anything. So when I saw this recipe for Indonesian Shrimp Fried Rice in a recent Cook's Illustrated magazine, I completely skipped it. I'm glad I read my magazine over again and the second time around, I skimmed the recipe. Granted, I didn't make it quite as written, but I did enjoy the flavors I got out of the recipe. A lot! Sweet and salty flavors came through while shrimp and vegetables studded this flavorful rice dish....
Rather than following the recipe as written, I simply used the Indonesian sauce that flavors the dish. I prepared the sauce first and then fried the egg which was added later to the recipe. When it came to making the fried rice, I made it the way I've always made it for nearly 30 years. I guess it was just my natural instinct to make fried rice the best way I know how. But the sauce... was wonderful. It was perfectly balanced with sweet and salty flavors. I omitted the use of chiles because at the time, we weren't in the mood for anything spicy but you could certainly add 5 fresh green or red Thai chiles or use 2 serranos or 2 medium jalapenos.
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