Year of the TIGER House Special Fried Rice

I first had house special fried rice at Ollie’s on the upper west side of Manhattan, then my sister in law turned me on an amazing hole in the wall on Bayer Street in the Heart of China Town in NYC, and now we cross the George Washington Bridge over to Fort Lee for incredible Chinese Food, but I never stray far from the House special fried rice, scallion pancakes or soup dumplings. 

It was 6 months after the COVID shutdown when we finally got to eat Chinese again. Since we live over an hour away, delivery was out of the question, jumping in the car, we ordered online as soon as we hit the GWB, arrived, fist pumped our long lost friends and grabbed our take out and headed over to bridge park in Fort Lee.

Oh was it good, but I couldn’t wait another 6 months to eat my favorite rice again. What’s a girl to do... well attempt to make her own. Here’s my Asian inspired house special fried rice. 

2 cups day old or left over white rice - It is important to use leftover rice for any and all fried rice dishes. (If you use freshly cooked rice, the end result will be a mushy and soft fried rice.)Cook rice the day before, let it cool and then store in the fridge overnight.

1 diced onion

1/2 cup cubed/diced ham

2-3 tablespoon safflower oul

1/3 cup frozen peas

6-8 precooked shrimp

10 fresh basil leaves julienned 

3 diced/slice scallions

1 egg, beaten 

1. First, prep all the ingredients. Beat the egg, add a sprinkle of salt. Warm oil in the pan, and scramble the eggs until just set. Slide the egg into a bowl and set aside.
2. In the same pan, fry the ham in one tablespoon oil over medium heat until the ham pieces are crisp. This takes about 3-4 minutes then set aside.
3. Saute the chopped onions in the pan (there should still be some oil left in the Pan. Saute 3-4 minutes over medium heat until the onions are soft and lightly golden.
4. Lightly salt the shrimp. Then add the shrimp to the pan (with the onions still in the pan). Saute for 2 minutes over medium-high heat, until the shrimp is just cooked. Pour into a bowl and set aside. 
5. Add 2 tablespoons oil to the pan and stir fry the rice until the rice is heated through (and all the large clumps of rice have broken apart).
6. Add the peas (thawed), scrambled eggs, ham, onions and shrimp to the pan. Mix together and stir fry for another minute until everything is evenly mixed.
7. Add basil and scallions, mix and stir fry for another minute. 
   
   

Serve with your favorite dumplings, sautéed spinach and cucumber salad.