Like the way I do…

Ever since that Uncle Roger, the Malaysian comedian residing in the UK, Nigel Ng’s persona, commented on the BBC video clip on how to cook egg fried rice, many have jumped on the bandwagon and came out with their own like this guy from the Singapore food series, Food King and his mum and this celebrated Malaysian masterchef who is no stranger to those who watch our local food shows on satellite TV.

There must be a thousand and one ways to fry rice and over the years, I have had a lot of posts on my own homecooked fried rice like our kampung fried rice with ikan bilis (dried anchovies) or udang kering (dried prawns) or belacan (dried prawn paste) and what have you and I may have something on Chinese fried rice using lap cheong (Chinese sausage) or chopped char siew (barbecued pork) or luncheon meat.

Well, the other day, I bought a big pack of smoked streaky bacon – it was not cheap at all (over RM30) but there were quite a lot of slices inside and it was very very nice. This one had that lovely fragrance unlike some that I had had the misfortune of buying and the displeasure of eating, the very lean ones especially that had neither that fragrance nor the taste of bacon, so bland.

My girl enjoys bacon (or ham or gourmet sausages) with eggs for breakfast so I would just roll the slices individually and arrange them nicely in a container to keep in the freezer. This way, we can just take out the number of slices we want, no need to thaw the whole lot over and over again each time we feel like eating it.

There was some leftover rice in the fridge that morning so I decided to fry it with a few slices of the aforementioned bacon…

I cut the bacon into thin bits and slices, chopped some garlic and cut a long bean very very thinly…

…and I also got ready a cube of chicken stock ( I used half only) and I was ready to roll!

Firstly, I fried the bacon in a wok to render the fat and to get it nice and crispy and pushing it aside, I fried the garlic in the oil till golden brown before I added the long bean…

I mixed them all together and after frying a bit, I added the rice…

They will tell you to loosen the grains before use but I never do that. Keep frying and the grains will come apart without you having to get the mess all over your fingers.

Lastly, push everything aside and add the eggs, one by one…

Scramble them well and scoop the rice, dump it over the egg and mix them well. If you watch the video clips, some may fry the eggs and put aside and mix them with the rice later and I saw one who added the eggs, beaten, after frying the garlic and the shallots. I wouldn’t do that as all those will be stuck in the egg – we need them in the rice to enhance the taste.

Finally, I added the chicken stock – you may just use salt and msg or whatever sauces you prefer.  Once done, I dished out the rice…

…sprinkled lots of chopped spring onion from my garden over it and served. I did add a bit of chili flakes and a dash of pepper but that is optional.

This is the way I do it – fry rice, with a bit of variations in the ingredients depending on what I feel like using. I wonder what Uncle Roger would say when he sees this – HAIYAR!!! or FUIYOH!!! LOL!!!