'Deconstructed' Ginger & Garlic Fried Rice

Right now, I am eating while blogging. This is a first for me. Usually, I think, "Dood, there's no way I would interrupt quality time with my food. Writing comes after eating." But no, at this very moment, I'm practically licking dribbling creamy egg yolk from my bottom lip (and a little piece of rice) because I shoveled a bite in my mouth while the previous sentence was being created. I am so insanely excited about this recipe that I want to share it with the world ASAP.

Patience is needed though - I need to preface this recipe by first giving credit where credit is due. I first saw this thumbnail of culinary magnificence on a blog that my blogger buddy Matt Litman reminded me of: Smitten Kitchen. I love this blog because her recipes are so approachable and her photography is absolutely beautiful. She could probably make my mouth water simply with an elegant photo of a green onion - my least favorite food ever. Anyway, I was flipping through her beautiful photography, and I came across one with a sunny side up egg over rice..........c'mon really? A fried egg. over white rice. with soy sauce? That was me and every asian kid's staple breakfast and dinner in college. So - naturally, I had to see what all the fuss was about and it led me to Mark Bittman's version of a Jean-Georges Vongerichten recipe. I watched Mark Bittman's video, and he referred to the final masterpiece as something like a "Deconstructed fried rice". Here's my second....."c'mon really?" Not everything needs to be deconstructed - this is chinese food, not a michelin star rated restaurant that also includes molecular gastronomy in their menu.

So tonight was the night that I would set my doubts aside and test greatness. My boyfriend is gone for a bachelor party weekend, and I'm cooking for one - perfect recipe for it. The verdict: Oh BOY do I stand corrected. This is a staple college dinner on steroids, and you can call it deconstructed or not.....it's FABULOUS. What makes it is the fried ginger and garlic crisps, along with the savory leeks and chewy sweet rice, mixed with creamy egg yolk. It's an amazing balance of flavors and textures - and it's SO easy to do. Before I go into the ingredients and everything else...I'm frying up another egg and going for seconds. Oh heaven.

Ingredients
1/2 cup peanut oil (Jean-Georges apparently uses chicken fat......ummm...next time?)
2 tablespoons minced garlic
2 tablespoons minced ginger
Salt
2 cups thinly sliced leeks, white and light green parts only
4 cups day-old cooked jasmine rice
4 large eggs
2 teaspoons sesame oil
4 teaspoons soy sauce

Add half of the oil into a medium pan over medium heat and add garlic and ginger. Swirl the pan around occassionally until the bits are crisp and brown. Using a slotted spoon, transfer the garlic and ginger onto a paper towel. Reserve the oil.


In another pan, add the remaining oil over low-medium heat, add leeks, a pinch of salt and cook until tender and lightly brown. Add the rice and stir until heated through. To add more flavor, drizzle a bit of the reserved oil from the ginger and garlic and stir well. Salt to taste.

In a nonstick skillet over low-medium heat, fry the eggs sunny side up. To serve, scoop 1/4 of the rice on a plate, top with one egg, drizzle sesame oil and soy sauce over the dish, and finish with a generous sprinkling of crisp ginger and garlic.

Masoor Daal

Happy 2010!!! ("Twenty Ten"....NOT "Two Thousand Ten"....for those who are still trying to figure out what to call it). So the holiday season of 2009 has officially come to an end..and over the time frame of approximately 2+ months, I've been busy eating, and eating, and eating...oh and eating. I ate A LOT. No exaggeration here. Between work and my birthday and my family and my boyfriend's family, and friends, there was constant consumption of a whole lotta food - eaten with joy and happiness, of course. But between the holiday dinners, lunches, parties, and unsuccessfully trying to eat light when meals were eaten at home (of course due to all the holiday cookies and treats that were shared), it's definitely time to change up the diet a little bit....at least for the time being. That said, week one of 2010 will be all healthy vegetarian. This will be hard because every time I open the freezer, a big tupperware of leftover ginormous juicy meatballs in homemade marinara sauce that had simmered over night (courtesy of my boyfriend's aunt) will be staring straight at me. Also - I need to add "healthy" in the first week of vegetarianism...because frankly, I could define vegetarian as gorging on cheese and chocolate all day.


Kicking off healthy vegetarian week, I decided to go the Indian food route. Daal - lentils - are such a great source of both carbs and protein. They're easy to make and you can make a big pot of it and eat it throughout the week. I LOVE making indian food because the spices add so much flavor, it's ultra satisfying without needing to add a lot of fat. I need to take some time here to caveat though - I didn't follow a recipe of any sort, I just kind of know a general process for making it, and added various spices that I personally like in indian cooking. I used red lentils - masoor daal - and added various spices to it.

Here's the combination of flavors I used starting from the upper left going clockwise: Mustard seeds, Cumin Seeds, Coriander Seeds, Garam Masala, Turmeric, Ginger (didn't have fresh ginger on hand so I used ground), Chili Powder



Ingredients
2 Cups of Masoor Daal
1 tsp Turmeric
6 Cups of water, plus more
4 Tbs Vegetable Oil or Ghee
1 onion, thinly sliced (clarified butter)
4 cloves garlic, minced
1 tsp mustard seeds
2 tsp whole cumin seeds
1 tsp whole coriander seeds
1 tsp garam masala
1 tsp ginger (ground...but fresh ginger is preferred: ~1 inch piece, grated)
1 tsp chili powder
2 Tbs salt (more or less to taste)
1 Tbs pepper
1 bunch fresh cilantro, chopped

Rinse the lentils well and pick out any little rocks, etc...that might be hiding in the lentils. Cook the lentils w/ water and Turmeric in a big pot over medium high heat. Stir occasionally so the lentils don't stick to the bottom and continue to add water to desired consistency.

Meanwhile, use a pestle and mortar to grind up all the spices together. Sautee the onion in a pan with the oil or ghee (make sure not to burn the onions!!!) - add the ground spices and garlic and cook over a medium heat until the the mixture is fragrant. The onions and garlic should be soft and the spices lightly toasted.

Once the lentils are soft and cooked through, add the onion, garlic and spice mixture into the pot and stir. Simmer for another 5-10 minutes, stirring occasionally until all the flavors are blended together. Add salt and pepper to taste. Before serving, stir in the cilantro. Serve over rice or with naan.