For some reason, there are not many Chinese restaurants around our area. Plenty of sushi restaurants that also serve some hot entrée selections, and some of the take out type places are here and there, but there are not many options for upscale Chinese dining. We tried one such take out place a few months ago and were not impressed. When we lived in New Orleans we would venture into Gretna, LA and China Doll Restaurant and they are famous for their China Doll Fried Rice, it has crawfish tails, baby shrimp, ham, eggs, sprouts, pork, onions, green onions, baby corn and other ingredients, we miss them very much!

Therefore, I took it upon myself to brush up on my stir-fry techniques this weekend and read up some pages in The Thousand Recipe Chinese Cookbook, by Gloria Bley Miller. While most readers here know me as Cajun Chef Ryan, I am only limited to the flavors and tastes of mother earth’s bounty, and that includes ethnic flavors and worldly cuisines far beyond the reaches of our American borders.

Many times when I want to throw together something quick and easy and to use what I have on hand, I will make some stir-fry rice or vegetables with some meat. This time around, I decided to consult with those who know better and re-tool or hone my stir-frying skills and techniques. This recipe is adapted from the basic stir-fried rice recipe found on page 679 of The Thousand Recipe Chinese Cookbook and includes the options for meat, canned and fresh vegetables. A few notations and variations help explain why there are so many ways to make the same dish, and why each restaurant will have their own style of fried rice too.

I used a ½-pound of ham cubed for my meat, ½-cup of baby corn, ½-cup of water chestnuts for the canned vegetables, and 2 cups of shredded Chinese cabbage, 1-cup mung bean sprouts and ½-cup fresh mushrooms for the fresh vegetables. I also added 1 tablespoon of fresh minced garlic to this dish. Since we do not own a wok anymore I just used one of my large sauté pans for the stir-fry, and it works well, the advantages of having a wok is the ability to heat and cook ingredients quickly and with the speedy stirring technique, everything stays inside the walls.

My real first experience with stir-fry was during my culinary apprenticeship in the early 1980’s. Our class provided the food at a dinner party for the Louisiana State Legislature in Baton Rouge and we created a world cuisine menu, in that menu I developed and ran the service on a stir-fry vegetable station. I staffed a huge wok with portable heat, lots of thinly sliced Bok Choy, carrots, mung bean sprouts, and snow peas, black mushrooms with red and green onions and sesame oil with some soy sauce too. It was a hit to say the least. Many people were intrigued with the huge wok in the dining room and the stir-fry station giving off lots of heat and smoky sesame oil filling the dining room with that wonderful fresh aroma. Now you can recreate the same atmosphere in your home with this recipe. In addition, tomorrow I will share with you the accompanying entrée served with this stir-fried rice, the Stir-Fried Chicken.

NOTE: Click on images for a larger view.

Serves 6 to 8 portions.

Procedure Steps
1.	Break up and separate the cooked rice if it has been previously cooked and chilled.
2.	Dice or shred the meat, seafood and vegetables. Keep the fresh vegetables separate from the canned, and be sure to drain all liquids from the canned vegetables.
3.	Heat 1 Tbsp sesame oil in a large deep pan or wok. Add ½ the green onions and stir-fry a few times to evenly coat and heat. Then add the fresh vegetables and stir-fry to soften lightly.
4.	Add the canned vegetables and the cooked meat stir-fry to heat through and blend then remove all ingredients from the pan or wok.
5.	Heat remaining 1 Tbsp sesame oil to smoking, then add the rice and heat through completely.
6.	Return the vegetables and meat to the pan with the rice and fold in with a spatula to blend well and heat through.
7.	Quickly blend in the soy sauce, salt, sugar and sherry.
8.	Fold in the beaten egg with a spatula and turn off the heat just as the eggs begin to set.
9.	Serve hot with the remaining green onions and or chopped Chinese parsley (cilantro)

NOTES: When fried rice is eaten as a main dish, accompanied only by soup, allow about 1 cup cooked rice per person plus whatever ingredients are added. When the fried rice is served with other dishes, allow between 1 ½ to 2 cups of rice per person.

VARIATIONS:

For the oil, substitute lard or bacon fat.

For step 1, if the rice is cold heat the rice through first and remove from pan. Then cook the meat and vegetables and add the seasonings. Then return the rice to the pan and mix well to blend. Then add the eggs to finish.

Before adding the cold rice in step 5, combine it first with the beaten eggs, salt and sherry. Cook as in step 5 but over a medium-high heat, then continue with step 6, but omit steps 7 & 8.

In step 7, for the soy sauce substitute either 6 Tbsp oyster sauce and omit the sherry and sugar, or add 1 ½ Tbsp shrimp paste and omit the salt, sherry and sugar.

In step 7, if the rice seems too dry, add 4 – 6 Tbsp stock or vegetable liquids with the seasonings.

In step 7, darken the rice as the restaurants do, by adding a few Tbsp of brown gravy or 1 Tbsp bottled gravy concentrate.

In step 7, add with the seasonings egg threads made with 1 or 2 eggs or scrambled eggs cut in pieces then omit step 8.

In step 8, instead of adding the beaten eggs, make and indentation in the middle of the cooked rice and break the eggs into it. Let cook a few seconds, and then stir the eggs into the rice until they begin to set.

Omit step 8, leaving out the eggs altogether.

For vegetarian fried rice, double the vegetables and omit the meat or seafood.

For the cold cooked rice, substitute fresh rice that has been cooked only 10 minutes after it reaches the boiling point. Add this in step 4 with the meat and vegetables and stir-fry briefly to reheat. Then cook, covered 10 minutes more over low heat and the rice will finish cooking in the liquids of the other ingredients and then omit steps 5 and 6.

Meats for Basic Fried Rice

Roast pork, beef or lamb
Roast duck or turkey
Boiled or baked ham
Bacon, pan-fried
Chinese sausage, steamed

Seafood for Basic Fried Rice

Crabmeat, flaked
Lobster, boiled and diced
Shrimp, cooked

The Fred Harvey Company operated restaurants, cafes and hotels along the Santa Fe railroad primarily in the western and mid-western states of North America. A total of eighty-four Fred Harvey facilities operated along the western routes of the Santa Fe and were located in strategic rail stops offering patrons a place to rest and dine a lavish meal such as the La Fonda Hotel. This dessert was a favorite of rail patrons for years and is adapted from the dessert section recipe found on page 300 in the book Dining By Rail, published in 1993 by James Porterfield. The original recipe is listed first, and then my updated version with a few minor changes. Combining my love of fallen flag railroads and cooking, here is another featured dining car recipe which originally appeared in my Food Buzz “24 Meals, 24 Hours, 24 Blog’s” for February 2009 entitled, Foodbuzz 24,24,24: Celebrating and Reliving A History of Fine Dining on North American Railroads.

The current La Fonda Hotel was built in 1922 on the site of previous inns. In 1925 it was acquired by the Atchison, Topeka & Santa Fe Railroad, which leased it to Fred Harvey. From 1926 to 1968, La Fonda was one of the Harvey Houses, a renowned chain of fine hotels. Since 1968, La Fonda became locally owned and operated and has continued a tradition of warm hospitality, excellent service and modern amenities while maintaining its historic integrity and architectural authenticity. The La Fonda Hotel is still in operation today in the heart of Santa Fe, New Mexico.

The Original Recipe

La Fonda Puddingⁱ

The Updated Recipe

La Fonda Pudding

ⁱ Porterfield, James D. (1993). Dining By Rail. New York, New York: St. Martins Press. p. 300

The third and final dessert that Monique and I made for the jewelry show on Monday night and these are some of the best fudge-like brownies; the caramel on top makes them a chewy chocolate treat. They also have that certain Halloween flair of ruddiness orange and cool darkness to them making them a perfect treat. The previous two desserts featured earlier in the week are Chocolate Chocolate Chip Cookies and Spicy Molasses Cookies.

For those following Weight Watchers points they are 4 points each when cut into 16 servings, we ended up getting about twice that many portions in our final product, so if you cut them into bite size pieces they should round out to 2 points each. This is adapted from the Weight Watchers Annual Recipes for Success 2003 edition as found on page 56. The original recipe also mentions that by substituting quartered chocolate-covered peppermint patties such as York brand for the caramels it turns into a fudgy mint morsel.

Fall Dessert Treats

This is the other recipe mentioned yesterday in the Chocolate Chocolate Chip Cookie recipe, and quite similar to the same cookie method utilizing the simple creaming of the butter and sugar then adding the egg and molasses and finishing with the dry ingredients. Tiny scoops of these baked for just 12 minutes and before you know it, you have about 50 tiny spicy molasses cookie morsels. There were about 10 more dough balls that baked on a separate sheet pan. You may need two pans to bake all of them simultaneously.

For those following a Weight Watcher plan they are only 1 point each. Again, Monique found this one in the Weight Watchers Annual Recipes for Success 2003 issue on page 54 in the Desserts section. These cookies were a part of the dessert treats at the hosted jewelry party Monday evening. The original recipe called for baking just 8 minutes but we found this too short a time for our oven, so we extended it another 4 minutes, your baking time may vary as well depending you your oven.

Raw dough	Baked cookies cooling
Click on images for a larger view.