Day 197: Restaurant Style Ham Fried Rice

Summer is in full swing in central Utah.  When I was cooking last night, the thermometer on the house said it was 105°.  I think that's only 2 degrees cooler than Hades!  Now I'm wondering why I ever complained about cooking in the winter.  At least I could huddle over my dutch oven to keep warm!  Oh well, the only thing constant is change and in a few months I'll be lamenting the loss of the heat.  I'm just like a woman--never satisfied!  LOL!

For dinner last night we had Candied Chicken.  Usually I serve it with white rice, but I found today's recipe and thought it would be a nice change.  I love Asian food and I've wanted to make a good ham fried rice recipe, but I didn't have one and I've been too lazy to make one up myself.  : )  But lo and behold, as I was scouring food blogs to make this week's menu, I found this little gem.  Its from Favorite Family Recipes and was so easy to adapt to the dutch oven.  But then I'm finding that everything is easy to adapt to the dutch oven.  I just love these big black pots!!  I'm getting a little off subject... Here's today's recipe.

Restaurant Style Ham Fried Rice
10" dutch oven

2 c. uncooked long-grain white rice
4 c. water
1 Tbsp. sesame oil
2 Tbsp. vegetable oil
1 small onion, chopped
1 clove garlic, chopped
1-2 c. cubed ham (you can also use shrimp, chicken, or a combination of all 3)
Diced veggies or peas (optional)
3 eggs, beaten
soy sauce

Cook rice according to package directions.  I used a 10" dutch oven with a full spread of coals.  When the rice is cooked, remove from the DO and set aside.  In the same DO, heat sesame oil and vegetable oil over a full spread of coals and stir in onion. When onions become clear and light brown, add garlic. When garlic is lightly browned, add ham and cook for about 3-4 minutes or until ham is nice and hot. Add veggies (optional) and cook until veggies are tender. Stir in beaten egg and cook until egg is scrambled and firm. Add the rice to the dutch oven and mix thoroughly.  I just eyeballed it until I had the right rice/ham ratio.  Stir in soy sauce.  Use just enough to make the rice a light brown.  You don't want the soy sauce to overpower the other flavors. Serve immediately.  Serves 6-8.

The Finished Product

The Review

This was YUMMY!  My family loved it.  This is something that we've only had in Asian restaurants up until now.  It was really fun and very easy to make at home.  I think I'll make this again when we have another restaurant night and try some Cashew Chicken and Egg Rolls.  It would also go great with the Chicken Lo Mein I did a while back.  When you make this, be sure not to add too much soy sauce.  It will totally ruin the dish if you do.  We loved it and I'll be making this again.  Grade A.