The problem lies in deciding what new stuff. Familiar things are easy to remember; new things are harder to name, unless it's something with a popular name, which usually means it's well known because it's not very easy to make; the sort of thing you only get at restaurants, because who the hell makes it at home? Once, when I was pretending to be a nurse, my aunt asked me what I wanted for dinner. She did this often during that period: delivering a meal about once a week because she knew how much it helped. I started running out of ideas, and said something ridiculous, never thinking she'd actually make it. "Chicken Kiev," I told her, figuring it would be like the items I put on my Christmas list and never expected to see (the Red October sub; a yellow sports car; a penguin who could make me waffles for breakfast). Then she went and made it. I had no idea how laborious it would be. Hell, I didn't even know what it was until she showed up with a baking dish full of dinner. It was just some words I'd heard used together. After that, I went back to casseroles for all of my requests. I felt guilty.
Lately, I've started to feel burnt-out on texture. I wanted something crispy, but when you look for recipes using the word "crispy," all you get is fried chicken and kale chips, and half of those recipes are attempting to rip off The Colonel, whose work never impressed me that much anyway. Then we went out for Thai food, and I saw fried rice on the menu, and felt inspired, even though it's not crispy. At least it was something I'd never (successfully) done.
I used this recipe, but I changed it a little. I didn't use prepared (parboiled) rice because I didn't want to take up valuable space in my kitchen cabinets with a third kind of rice. I just cooked 2 cups of brown rice the way I usually do, and continued from there. That was my first mistake. Not the brown rice--using 2 cups of it. My second change was of necessity. I couldn't find roasted pork at the grocery, and I couldn't find an Asian grocery near our place, so I chopped the three chicken thighs I had in the freezer into little pieces and threw them in the skillet to cook before adding the veggies.
The egg cooked beautifully, just as suggested in the directions. I'd tried making omelets for breakfast Sunday morning, and they didn't turn out half as well as the big disk of egg I used in dinner Tuesday.
I was halfway done adding the rice when I realized I needed more space. A lot more. If you're making this meal in your trusty 12" Lodge cast iron skillet, switch to something larger (got a Combo Cooker?) as soon as possible. Once I'd dumped one big pan into an even bigger pan, I gave it all a good stir and decided two things. First: I did not need the second half of the rice. Second: I might need a little more sauce.
Lesson learned: Fried rice is a great way to use up yesterday's leftover steamed rice. Adjust quantities of all other ingredients to suit.
On the plus side, the Chief Taster really liked it, even declaring "it looks just like the real thing!"
...even if it wasn't crispy.
