George's fried rice

George learned how to make fried rice from his dad, and we've spent quite a while playing with the recipe until we came up with a combination of ingredients that we really like. It's a little bit of work to get all of the ingredients ready (I should know, since I always do it for George), but once they're lined up next to the stove, the actual cooking goes pretty quickly.

• 5 cups cooked white rice (Cook's Illustrated swears by cooled rice, but we find that rice just out of the rice cooker works beautifully)
• 1/2 lb. ground pork
• 1 teaspoon minced or crushed garlic
• 2 eggs
• salt and pepper to taste
• 1 cup raw unsalted cashews
• 1/2 lb. jicama, sliced into pieces about 1 inch square and 1/4 inch thick (you can also use water chestnuts, a more traditional ingredient, but we like the extra crunch of jicama)
• 1/4 lb. snow or sugar snap pea pods
• 3 green onions, sliced about 1/2 inch thick
• 6-8 white button or cremini mushrooms, sliced about 1/4 inch thick (an egg slicer works incredibly well for this)
• 1 cup bean sprouts
• toasted sesame oil
• soy sauce

Cook the rice. Scramble the eggs in a small frying pan with a little salt and pepper, use a spatula or wooden spoon to break them into bits, and set aside. Break up the pork with a spatula or wooden spoon in a frying pan and cook until browned, adding the garlic when the pork is almost done.

Heat a teaspoon or so of the sesame oil in a large wok. Add the cashews and stir for about a minute until they're browned; remove the cashews into a bowl and set aside. Add a little more sesame oil to the wok; when it's hot, add the jicama and cook for 1 minute, tossing several times, then remove into a bowl and set aside. Add a little more sesame oil and do the same thing for the pea pods, cooking them for about 20 seconds before removing.

Now add a tablespoon or so of sesame oil to the wok, and then add the rice, the pork/garlic mixture, and soy sauce to taste. Once the rice and pork are heated through, add all of the remaining ingredients: eggs, cashews, jicama, pea pods, green onions, mushrooms, and bean sprouts. The last three ingredients are added raw; when they've been added with the rest of the stuff and have cooked just a little, you're done. Taste and adjust the seasoning with a little more soy sauce, if necessary, and serve.

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Last updated 17 February 2004.
All text and photographs © George Mitchell and Margaret Johnston, unless otherwise noted
Comments, questions, suggestions to margaret@lonelymountain.net.