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04/16/08 |
                
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GGのチャハン (GG's Fried Rice) Yields about 6 c. 4 c. cooked rice (SEE NOTE FIRST!) 6 oz. raw scallops, thinly sliced 1/2 c. pineapple, medium dice 1/4 c. green onion, large bias cut 2 ea. eggs, beaten 2 T. vodka 2 T. your favourite cola 1/4 c. soy sauce oil for cooking
Mix vodka, cola and half of the soy sauce in a small bowl. Add scallops and allow to marinate for about 10-15 minutes. Drain scallops before cooking. Heat a wok (or a large saute pan if you have to) over supremely high heat until you just can't stand it. Breathe deeply and get ready to go. Add about 1/4 c. of oil (canola would probably work best), wait five seconds and add the beaten eggs. When that starts to bubble around the edges, add the rice and mash everything together using a flat wooden or high-temp rubber spatula. Toss everything constantly to incorporate the eggs into the rice as much as possible. After one minute, add the scallops and pineapple, cook for another 30 seconds, tossing constantly. Finally, add green onions and soy sauce, toss everything for about another 20 to 30 seconds or until rice is hot (don't worry about the scallops because they'll be done). Heap everything on a plate and maybe garnish with some toasted sesame seeds or something.
Note from GG: Once you get to cookin', this dish will be done in about two minutes from start to finish. Get EVERYthing ready to go before you start! Also, a note about the rice: it should be either undercooked and chilled or leftover from the night before. Properly cooked and warm rice WILL NOT WORK in fried rice. It has to be cool, and it has to be kinda crunchy. Fried rice is a skill that's taken me a while to get the hang of. Am I a "master" of it yet? Hardly. But after watching Chen Kenichi do his stuff on Iron Chef and reading more than a few books on the subject of Chinese cuisine, I think I can make some good stuff. My biggest problem was the rice, which I've tackled above. You're probably wondering why I decided to use cola in this recipe, huh? Well, it happened more on a whim than anything. I was futzing around at Rays and happened to have a Coke in my hand when I made the original marinade. Then I thought, "Hm. Coke is so acidic [pH around 2 or 3] that it'll partially cook the scallops before they get added to the mix. Plus you get some sweetness!" The results are fantastic, and it was only later that I found out that my old roomie, Pigeon, regularly adds a bit of sugar to her fried rice. Let's hear it for culinary intuition. You might think that the eggs would get burned by the excessive heat, but that's one of the reasons why there's a bit more oil in this recipe than you would usually find for sautéed food. It'll insulate the eggs for just long enough to get the rice in there, while still providing that yummy bit of brown color that makes fried rice taste like it does.
This site was last updated 12/20/06 |
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