This recipe can be changed up according to what you have on hand. It’s made with 3-cups of leftover, cooked rice. If you cook 1-cup of dry rice, then you’ll wind up with 3-cups cooked rice. My kids like it best made with pork bacon, but I prefer turkey bacon and a tablespoon of vegetable oil. If you have leftover meat or tofu you want to use up, then you can add pretty much any type you have on hand. I’ve made it with 4 slices of chopped baloney, a couple of sliced hot dogs, leftover chicken, half a block of tofu, or a couple of beaten eggs. It’s good with SPAM too. In this case you can leave out the bacon since SPAM is pretty salty all on it’s own. Half a can of SPAM is plenty.
Fried Rice
Ingredients
- 4 slices turkey bacon or pork bacon, cut into small pieces
- 1 medium onion, finely chopped
- 3 cups cold, cooked rice
- 1-1/2 cups frozen mixed vegetables
- 1/4 teaspoon black pepper
- 1/2 teaspoon salt or 1 or 2 tablespoons soy sauce
- Optional: 2 eggs-beaten or tofu, chicken, beef, pork, ham, sliced hot dogs etc., about 1-cup chopped into bite-sized pieces.
Directions
Cut the bacon into small pieces. Place in a very large skillet or wok. Add onion. Fry until the onion and bacon are both lightly browned. Add the rice, frozen veggies and black pepper. Stir-fry until the rice is coated with the bacon fat and the veggies are thawed. Add salt or soy sauce and if desired any combination of the optional ingredients. We usually add 6 to 8-ounces of cubed tofu because the kids both like it. (I don’t know why my kids like tofu, but they do.) Adding the eggs is traditional, but we don’t always do it. If you do add the eggs then move the rice mixture to one side of the pan. Pour the eggs into the empty side of the pan and scramble as desired. After cooking them a minute or two, stir them in with the rice and veggies.
Continue to fry everything together until piping hot. Serve in bowls with chopsticks or a spoon. If you’re kids are veggie-friendly then a pound of frozen stir-fry veggies may be substituted for the mixed veggies. This isn’t as popular at our house, so I usually use mixed veggies instead. If you’re avoiding bacon then feel free to omit it and use 3-tablespoons of vegetable oil instead.
Makes 3 to 4 servings.