Hunger Pangs...

My wife and I had an early dinner tonight. When I got back from work, she had already cooked some rice and was about to have rice with fried eggs. I was feeling hungry too so I decided to skip gym and we headed straight to dinner. I decided not to have any starch tonight and she had a simple noodle soup as her throat was slightly sore. 

We were back in our room before 9:00pm. When we got back, we watched Man vs Food Nation on TV... pretty soon we were feeling hungry again after watching all the delicious food on TV. I remembered the rice my wife had cooked earlier and we decided to have some fried rice.

I raided the pantry and refrigerator to determine what I could use for our fried rice. There was no meat in the freezer. We only had ikan bilis (dried anchovies), eggs, onions and garlic. If I had some cili padi it would be perfect but these ingredients will have to do.

These are the three essentials for fried rice.

This is how I cook my fried rice...

1. Chop the garlic and dice the onions. Set aside.

2. Wash the ikan bilis and drain water. Set aside.

3. Heat some oil and deep-fry the ikan bilis till garing (crispy). Drain oil and set aside. I set mine onto a paper kitchen towel to absorb the excess oil.

4. Heat some oil in the frying pan and when hot stir-fry the eggs briskly till it looks shredded/super scrambled. Drain the oil and set aside.

5. Add some oil to the frying pan and sweat the diced onions. The amount of oil you add here is entirely up to you based on your preference. Some people like an oily fried rice. My wife doesn't, so I use very little oil. Sweat the onions over a low heat till it gets fragrant then add the chopped garlic and continue till fragrant. The key here is not to allow the onions and garlic to brown unless you like your fried rice bitter.

6. Add the rice and the eggs. Toss the ingredients in the frying pan if you have the skill, otherwise just stir with a spatula. Season with salt and pepper to taste. I add some sweet soy sauce for some balance and colour. Voila! Simple fried rice done.

Serve with the crispy anchovies...

A simple fried rice in a jiffy... and it disappeared just as fast and in time for us to start our 10-hour fast for our blood test tomorrow morning.