Surf & Turf Fried Rice

Growing up, fried rice was a staple. My Mom made fried rice and served it with yellow radish pickles and kimchi, sometimes with a fried egg on top. It sometimes got fancy, stuffed inside an omelet. And my favorite... Fried rice stuffed inside inari age, seasoned fried tofu pouches. Fried rice comes from many regions in Asia. China, Japan, Korea, Thailand, and Vietnam to name a few... Each has its own flavor and cooking technique.

Although I cannot say that my fried rice is Korean, it certainly evolved from the Korean style and flavor with influence over time from my Chinese-Hungarian-American ex-husband and ingredients readily found in the United States such as leftover ham, jalapeño, and calabacita. This version of fried rice, Surf & Turf, uses shrimp to represent the surf and ham (pork) to represent the turf.

INGREDIENTS

one and a half cups of uncooked short-grain white rice, cooked and cooled

six ounces of shrimp, deveined, shelled and diced

five ounces of ham, diced

one bunch of green onion, diced

one jalapeño, finely chopped

a quarter cup of diced calabacita, aka Mexican squash

one egg, fork-whipped and seasoned with salt

one teaspoon of sea salt flakes

vegetable oil to drizzle

freshly ground pepper to taste

Heat a large nonstick wok over high heat and drizzle enough vegetable oil to coat the bottom. Add cooked rice and start to break up the rice using a wooden spoon. Add a half teaspoon of sea salt flakes and fold in rice to mix. Add prepared green onion, jalapeño, and ham. 

Reduce the heat to medium-high and mix the ingredients in the wok. Add the remaining sea salt flakes with prepared calabacita, a little squash in English. Continue to fold and mix for about 3 minutes. Make a well at the center of the wok and add prepared shrimp. Quickly stir the shrimp until slightly cooked and mix.

Once again, make a well and add prepared egg. Scramble the egg until nearly cooked and then mix all the ingredients again. Ground black peppers over the wok, three or four twists. Taste the fried rice. If you feel like it needs a little bit of something, add a pinch or two of sea salt flakes and ground black pepper to your taste. Continue to fold and mix for a minute or two before serving. Enjoy this Surf & Turf Fried Rice served with kimchi!