Dishing It Out
Among the dishes art advisor Kelly Sueda grew up eating was his mom’s fried rice, which he has since learned to make himself and hopes to pass on to his children.
“I made this when I was in college and my wife was finishing her last year in college, and we would have all these people come over and it’s a great meal when you’re kind of cooking for a lot of people,” says Sueda. “They’d come over to our apartment in Colorado and I’d make the fried rice. Now, whenever we go out to a beach house or someplace like that, I’ll do the fried rice.
“It’s a little time consuming because you have to pre-cook and chop every- thing, but it’s just kind of good comfort food. I was just talking to the kids the other day that this is something I want them to learn, so that way when they’re away, they can have a sense of home when they’re out.”
Sueda notes that the original recipe uses bacon and Portuguese sausage, however, it can be substituted with other types of meat, such as Spam or leftover chicken or steak from the night before. You can also make a vegetarian version (which he makes for his daughter) by replacing the meats with additional vegetables, such as frozen peas, and using a butter and olive oil mix instead of the bacon fat/grease.
Sueda Family Fried Rice
Serves: 6 to 8
Ingredients:
• 3 or 4 cloves garlic, minced
• 1 large round yellow onion, chopped
• 3 or 4 carrots, chopped
• 3 bell peppers, chopped to 1-inch slivers
• 1 package bacon, cut into 1-inch squares (save bacon fat)
• 1 Portuguese sausage, slice and quarter (spicy)
• 10 eggs (6 scrambled for fried rice, rest cooked over easy per individual)
• 4 cups of day-old refrigerated rice
• 4 stalks green onion, chopped
(for garnish)
• pinch parsley, to taste
• 1/4 cup oyster sauce, to taste
• 1/4 cup shoyu, to taste
• salt and pepper, to taste
• 1/2 tablespoon of extra-virgin olive oil
• 1 tablespoon butter
• Sriracha (optional)
Cook bacon, set aside and pour bacon fat/grease into a bowl. Cook Portuguese sausage, set aside and drain fat/grease. Pour bacon fat/grease into a wok, and add garlic, onions and a pinch of salt and pepper to taste. Cook on medium high for a few minutes until slightly brown. Add carrots and bell peppers, and cook until slightly charred, stirring occasionally. Add bacon and sausage, and stir. Add rice, then oyster sauce and shoyu. Mix together until even. Spread rice out along the sides of the wok to crisp.
On a separate skillet, add olive oil and butter, and soft scramble six eggs. When finished, add eggs to rice and stir evenly. Spread rice out along sides again to desired crispness. Transfer to a large bowl/ plate. Garnish with green onions and parsley. Serve with an over easy egg with runny yolk on top. Drizzle with Sriracha for added spice.
Enjoy!