Chinese cooking – Linda Nelson

Fried Rice is one of my favorite dishes to order out or for take-out. Lately, I haven’t had the time or the extra cash to eat out so I needed to learn to make this since I love to eat Asian food. I should have learned to make this years ago. It is so simple to make.

Don’t forget the secret ingredient: Oyster Sauce

I have a friend who hates eating fried rice that has green peas in it. Me, I love my veggies, peas are not a problem with me. With this recipe, you can add any kind of vegetable you want and it will still come out tasting great. We used chopped carrots, peppers, and scallions. For meat, we used Chinese sausage with the casing removed. I believe that we will use a chopped pork or beef tenderloin coated in red pork sauce next time.

The seasoning packet mentioned in the recipe was found in the Asian food section at my local supermarket, near where the Soy Sauce is located.

Ingredients
3 cups of cooked white rice – cold
1 package of fried rice spice – found in a packet just like taco seasoning
1 cup of chopped vegetables
1 lb of cooked meat – pork, beef, or shrimp
2 tablespoons of Soy Sauce
1 or 2 tablespoons of Oyster Sauce
2 scrambled eggs
oil for cooking

Instructions
Cook rice. Rice can be either white or brown but it needs to be precooked and chilled.
Cook/Saute meat and set aside with rice.
Cook/saute diced vegetables.
Cook scrambled eggs.
Add all ingredients together in a wok and stir-fry with a bit of oil to the pan to prevent sticking to the pan and add Soy sauce, Oyster sauce and flavor packet. Probably could use Asian five spice in place of seasoning packet.
Eat and enjoy!

I love this recipe. It took me a couple of tries to perfect it to the point where it tastes like authentic Chinese restaurant egg rolls. The first time I made this recipe, I didn’t have any Oyster Sauce. You have to have Oyster Sauce to make these taste anywhere near what you find in a restaurant. Leaving out the Oyster Sauce is like eating a burger or hot dog without ketchup.

We made the Fried Rice too, seen in the photo. That recipe is coming next.

Egg roll wrappers are found in the produce section of your local supermarket. I found coleslaw mix in the bagged salads makes for an easy peasy short cut. You can use a whole head of green cabbage, or any kind of cabbage, and cut up carrots in matchsticks size.

Oyster Sauce and the Asian Five Spice Seasoning can be found in the ethnic food aisle along with the Soy Sauce.

I did try baking these the first time but didn’t have good results. I found frying was the best method.

Ingredients:

1 package of egg roll wrappers
1 lb of meat – preferably pork, beef, or shrimp or 2 can of tiny shrimp
1 package of coleslaw mix
3 green onions (scallions) thinly sliced
2 tablespoons of oyster sauce
1 tablespoon of soy sauce
1 tablespoon of powdered ginger
Asian Five Spice to taste
oil for cooking

Instructions:

Coat cooking pan with oil to prevent food from sticking to pan.
Saute meat unless using a can of tiny shrimp, then remove from pan, set aside.
Saute over high heat in a wok the coleslaw mix and green onions (scallions) until it cooks down. About 2 – 3 minutes.
Add Spice, Oyster Sauce, Soy Sauce to the pan. Cook for another minute.
Mix vegetable mixture with cooked meat.
Use one sheet of egg roll wrapper at a time, lay on surface in diamond shape, (Corner Points are North, South, East and West).
Place 1 heaping tablespoon of mixture in the center of the wrapper.
Fold bottom point halfway up (making an envelope).
Fold each side halfway in.
Fold top down and roll. Seal the top down with a finger dipped in cold water.
Place sealed side down on plate.
Fry in 350-degree oil, until golden brown. About 2 – 3 minutes.