Fried rice is my comfort food, my heritage. I grew up eating egg fried rice for breakfast, which my mom would make frying up leftover white rice with heavily seasoned scrambled eggs and a handful of bright green scallions. I still remember waking up for school, hearing the sizzle of rice meeting hot oil, smelling the fragrant odors wafting from the kitchen, and eating the piping hot bowl at the kitchen table while watching my mom prepare my lunch.

Nowadays, my fried rice recipe has evolved a bit, but not much. It’s still easy to throw together, uses up any leftover vegetables you might have, and extremely forgiving. The marinade is all James, and adds a delightful, complex flavor to the meat and the rice. Secretly, I think James makes this fried rice better than me.

Now, let’s talk ingredients. If you scroll down to the recipe, you’ll see that I tell you to include a generic “2 cups of vegetables.” Is that exasperating? Please hear me out. The truth is, when I first sat down to write this recipe, it was hard! We never measure the vegetables, and we often end up using whatever looks fresh at the market or whatever’s left in the fridge. So I thought about what ingredients we both liked the most, and most frequently include. The original recipe, instead of the 2 cups of vegetables, consisted of a 1/2 pound of snow peas or sugar snap peas (or 1 cup fresh or frozen peas), 1 (8-ounce) can of bamboo shoots, and 1 (8-ounce) can of water chestnuts. However, I sat on this recipe for a long time because it didn’t feel truthful. These might be the most common vegetables we put in, but they appear in this exact combination maybe 20% of the time. The other 80% of the time, we forget water chestnuts at the store, we forget the bamboo even though they’re right there on the counter, and we have bell peppers and baby carrots that have been hanging around in the fridge foreeeeever… and so you get what you see in the pictures. Honestly, James and I make this fried rice differently almost every single time.

So then I realized – and this is a revelation I had on the bus coming home from work – why hide the exciting and empowering possibility of an eminently modifiable recipe? And who am I to dampen your creativity and your own preferences? Thus the “2 cups of vegetables,” and I think that the way it’s written now feels a lot more honest, a lot more truthful to my process. By now, James and I have made fried rice every which way – with the peas, bamboo shoots, and water chestnuts described above, with the diced bell peppers and carrots shown in the photos, or in combination with many, many other things – diced zucchini, chopped broccoli, corn, green onions. And it’s come out delicious every single time. (The onion – I kept in. Because onions are magical)

So don’t be afraid to experiment! You can also try it with beef instead of chicken. You can substitute tofu for a vegetarian option – still marinade it the same way, but leave out the fish sauce (Don’t forget to press and drain the tofu first to get rid of excess moisture!). If you’re using vegetables of different hardiness and cook times (for example carrots and bell peppers), add the hardier vegetable such as the carrot first, cook for two minutes or so, then add the other vegetable. Quantities are also not set in stone – don’t worry if you’re a bit low on vegetables, or have too much chicken. It will all come together in the end, as fried rice invariably, inevitably, uniquely does. And then let me know what you did in the comments!

A note about Shaoxing wine: it is a rice wine with a translucent amber color, made from fermented rice. It contains anywhere from 15-20% alcohol, and has a complex flavor that’s slightly sweet, spicy, and nutty. It can be drunk as a beverage – try some! Mostly, though, I use it to flavor the protein in everything Chinese I make (and probably some non-Chinese dishes too) – most often in marinades, or if I get lazy, I just add a splash of it when I’m sautéing chicken or beef. Like using red or white wine in cooking, Shaoxing wine adds a wonderful depth of flavor to the resulting dish. You can buy Shaoxing wine in any Asian supermarket, and I really hope you’ll seek some out! It’s not expensive, will last many months, and really does make a difference in Chinese cooking. There are lots of varieties, most of which are probably fairly similar. However, DO NOT buy Shaoxing “cooking wine” (like how you shouldn’t buy any other “cooking wines” to cook with either) or any Shaoxing wine that contains salt – these will be inferior, low-grade versions that taste terrible. If you can’t find Shaoxing wine, dry sherry makes the closest substitute.

As a final note, this makes an incredible amount of fried rice. We eat it with a side vegetable – some sautéed Napa cabbage or spinach, and the rice will last at least six meals. If that’s too much for you, just halve the recipe. If you do find yourself a bit short on chicken (or whatever your chosen protein is), still use all of the quantities specified in the marinade, as all that sauce will help season the final dish.

We served this with a side of sauteed Napa cabbage, and it was warm enough to eat dinner outside on the patio! A win for my sunshine-starved self AND for getting one photo in the last rays of natural light!

Total time for dinner: 1 hour 20 minutes

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Chicken and Shrimp Fried Rice

Ingredients

Fried Rice:

• 1 pound chicken breast or boneless, skinless chicken thighs
• 3/4 pound shrimp, rinsed, peeled, and deveined
• 3 cloves garlic, minced
• 2 tbsp minced or finely chopped ginger
• 1 onion, chopped
• About 2 cups vegetables of your choice, cleaned, trimmed, and diced or cut into bite-sized pieces
• 6-7 eggs, scrambled
• 5 cups cooked white rice
• Vegetable or canola oil
• Salt and black pepper

Marinade:

• 2 tablespoons soy sauce
• 2 tablespoons Shaoxing wine or dry sherry
• 1 tablespoon sesame oil
• 1 tablespoon hoisin sauce
• 1 teaspoon fish sauce
• 3 cloves garlic, minced
• Black pepper
• Pinch of crushed red pepper flakes

Instructions

• Marinade the chicken: Cut the chicken against the grain into flat, thin strips and mix with all of the marinade ingredients. Let sit while you prep the vegetables and scramble the eggs, or at least 15 minutes.
• Put 1-2 tbsp vegetable or canola oil into a large frying pan, skillet, or wok (make sure it is at least 4 quarts to fit all the ingredients! You can even use a Dutch oven) and heat over medium-high heat. When oil is hot, add the garlic and ginger. Cook for about 30 seconds until the garlic and ginger are fragrant. Add the chicken to the pan with all of the marinade sauce. Cook, stirring, until chicken is cooked through, about 7 minutes.
• Remove the chicken and all the juices from the pan and set aside. Tip: keep the chicken in a large bowl, so that you can add the other cooked ingredients to this bowl later. 
• Heat 1-2 tbsp of oil over medium heat in the pan. Add the shrimp and season with salt and pepper. Cook, stirring, until the shrimp is just pink and cooked, about 2-4 minutes, depending on shrimp size. Transfer to the chicken bowl.
• Add 1-2 tbsp more oil to the pan. Don’t worry if there’s chicken or shrimp bits stuck onto the pan. The moisture from the onions and vegetables will deglaze the pan. Add the onion, some salt and pepper, and cook over medium-high heat until translucent, about 5 minutes. Add the vegetables, staggering them in 1-2 minute intervals if some are hardier than others. Cook until vegetables are tender, then scoop up vegetables and set aside. You can place them in the same bowl as the chicken and shrimp. I do this, and then try to toss the shrimp up so that they’re not cooking under the hot vegetables. It seems to work okay, and doesn’t result in overcooked shrimp. If you’re worried, use a separate bowl for the vegetables or the shrimp.
• Cook the eggs. If the pan you’re working with isn’t non-stick, I would use a separate nonstick pan to cook the eggs. You’ll have an additional pan to wash up, but it’s just easier and less fuss. Heat 1-2 tbsp of oil in the pan over medium-high heat, then add the eggs. Season with salt and pepper. Scramble until the eggs are cooked, then transfer to the bowl with the chicken and vegetable mixture. 
• In the original pan, heat 1-2 tbsp of oil over medium heat, and add the rice. Season with a few dashes of soy sauce – just swirl it loosely over the rice like you would drizzle chocolate sauce on ice cream. Toss so that all the rice is seasoned. The rice might sizzle and stick to the bottom of the pan – don’t worry! Just continue to toss and fry with the soy sauce, so that the rice itself acquires some seasoning. You’ll add the other ingredients soon enough, and the chicken and vegetable juices will magically mix with the rice to make an amazingly flavorful combination.
• Add the chicken, shrimp, vegetables, and egg into the pan with the rice, and turn heat down to medium-low. Toss well to combine. Taste and add more salt, pepper, or soy sauce if needed. I like to finish my fried rice with lots of dashes of white pepper and a drizzle of fish sauce and sesame oil (again, a light drizzle, like topping ice cream), but this is optional. The sesame oil will give it a nice earthy, umami taste. The fish sauce – although it smells terribly fishy – actually adds a nice tang and saltiness to the resulting dish. White pepper is my absolute all time favorite pepper. Feel free to scoop out a small bit of rice and experiment with seasonings!

Notes:

I tend to prefer short grain rice in my fried rice, because I like my fried rice on the dense and chewy side, but if you want a fluffier, lighter rice dish, you can easily substitute basmati.

About salting and oil: yes, the instructions are correct! A lot of salt and a lot of oil are what make restaurant fried rice so darn good. Be sure to salt all of the ingredients as you cook them. It’ll draw out the flavors of the individual ingredients, and make the finished product that much tastier. Same with the oil – yes, it’ll feel like you’re using a lot of oil, but remember that this makes an enormous amount of fried rice. The finished product won’t be too oily, I promise. The more oil you add, the more decadent and “fried” your resulting dish will taste.

About cooking the ingredients separately: Yes, it’s a pain, but doesn’t really take that much additional time, and doesn’t add too much to the dirty dish count, as you can spoon up all your cooked ingredients into one large bowl. If you’re feeling lazy, you can cook the chicken and shrimp together (add the shrimp after the chicken has been cooking for about five minutes), although this always runs the risk of overcooking the shrimp.

James first made some garlicky, buttery shrimp about a few months ago, just to go with some leftovers we had, and my first thought was, why don’t we eat this all the time?? And why don’t we eat this on a huge mound of pasta, with some bright green spinach to welcome spring and brightness and sunshine and feeling like we’re on the coast of Spain even though we’re stuck in Chicago, where spring is still sort of playing hard to get in MAY, and all of my anticipatory summer clothes sit collecting dust in my closet…

Luckily, James and I are going to Bermuda next week, which is a good substitute for a Spanish coast I think (bring on the rompers!), and so in preparation, I brought out the bright spring shrimp scampi! I used a recipe from the New York Times (yes, Melissa Clark. I promise I don’t get all my recipes from Melissa Clark, but – come on – just look at her pics!) Shrimp scampi is so easy, but after reading the readers’ comments and doing some additional research, I added a fussier step of simmering the shrimp shells in wine for about 5 minutes for more flavor.

And – you guys – I couldn’t believe how easy shrimp stock was to make. I’ve never done it before, so I didn’t know exactly what I was doing, as you can see from the pictures and the note at the bottom. But basically, you just simmer the shells in wine for five minutes, and you’re left with a fragrant, rich, undeniably seafood-y wine. Not good for drinking, but great for seafood dishes!

Anyway, I also upped all the sauce ingredients because some people complained of not enough sauce, and nobody wants that. We served it with linguine (I bet it’s also amazing with crusty French bread), and I added some pasta water at the end to thicken and bind the sauce to the pasta even more.

We had this with that bright green spinach, sipping the leftover wine, and dreaming of sunny days and balmy nights. Bermuda can’t come soon enough!

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Shrimp Scampi with Linguine

Source: The New York Times

Ingredients

• 3 tablespoons butter
• 3 tablespoons extra-virgin olive oil
• 8 garlic cloves, minced
• 1 cup dry white wine or broth
• ¾ teaspoon kosher salt, or to taste
• ¼ teaspoon crushed red pepper flakes, or to taste
• Freshly ground black pepper
• 2 pounds large or extra-large shrimp, preserving the shells if desired
• ⅓ cup chopped parsley, or more to taste
• Freshly squeezed juice of 1 lemon
• ¼ – ½ cup cooked pasta water (if serving with pasta)
• Accompaniments: Spaghetti or linguine, or crusty bread

Instructions

• Optional but recommended: Rinse the shrimp shells under cold running water. Heat a saucepan over medium heat and add a drizzle of olive oil. When oil is hot, add the shrimp SHELLS (not the shrimp!) and toss for 30 seconds in the hot oil. Add the wine or broth and bring to a boil. Lower the heat and simmer for 5 minutes. After five minutes, strain the wine or broth for use. I had about 7/8 of the cup of liquid left after simmering.
• In a large skillet with a lid, melt the butter with olive oil over medium heat. Add the garlic and cook until fragrant, about 30 seconds. Add the wine or broth, salt, red pepper flakes, and lots of black pepper and bring to a simmer. Let wine or broth reduce by half, about 3-4 minutes.
• Add the shrimp into the liquid and spread them out in an even layer, then cover the pan. Cook, stirring occasionally, until the shrimp just turn pink and have curled up into a loose "C" shape ("C" stands for "cooked," "O" stands for "overcooked"), 2 to 4 minutes depending upon their size. Stir in the parsley and lemon juice. Toss with pasta or serve with crusty bread.
• A slightly fussier step for serving with pasta: Try the following and you'll have silkier, thicker sauce.

  First, DON'T add the parsley and lemon juice yet - cooked lemon juice can get a bit weird.

  About a minute before both the shrimp and the pasta are done, ladle the pasta water into the sauce. Add the pasta and toss, continuing to cook everything over medium-low heat, about 1-2 minutes, until everything is combined and the sauce has thickened. Add parsley and lemon juice and toss to combine.

Notes:

I clearly didn’t need to simmer all my shrimp shells! Ha! You only need about a cup or so. Freeze the rest for later use or discard.

If making the shrimp wine / stock – to skim or not to skim? That is the eternal question. I did not skim, and did not notice any off flavors.

If you’ve added some pasta water, tossed everything over the heat, and your sauce still looks watery, you might not have simmered off enough wine, or you may have more dilute pasta water (I tend to cook my pasta in as small a pot and as little water as possible). I would suggest you stop cooking, as if you keep going, you’ll overcook the shrimp and that would be sad. Sauce with starch in it also tends to thicken a bit more as it cools, so try to let it rest for a few minutes and it should get thicker.

I cooked one pound of linguine for the above quantity of scampi, and think it was a bit too much. In the future I would probably serve this with about 3/4 of a pound of dried pasta. I also should have added more parsley!

“A minute before the shrimp and the pasta are done”??! How on earth am I supposed to make this happen at the same time?? Yes, I know. The best food is often slightly annoying to make, but that doesn’t mean we should strive for mediocrity! You’ll see in my pictures that my shrimp are a bit overcooked – oops. I try to buy large or jumbo sized shrimp – they usually have a bit more wiggle room when you overcook them. But ultimately, if you want to serve shrimp scampi with pasta, the best way to get all that delicious liquid to adhere to the pasta (and why would you waste even a drop of that magical, buttery, garlicky goodness?) is to toss the hot pasta with the hot sauce immediately, so you’ll have to do some brain calculations to try to finish cooking both at the same time. But in the end – just do the best you can – it will be okay if one or the other is a tad bit overcooked, and nobody is judging you on a weeknight. I would recommend you err on the side of finishing the pasta first – you can drain it, keep it on the side, reserve some pasta water, and wait for the shrimp to be juuuuust about done, then toss everything together. It will be great!

Or, you can just serve the scampi with crusty bread.

Made this? Have some feedback? Let me know! Leave a comment below, or tag #trialbyfryer on Instagram!