Here's what we do with left-over ham--make Choo Choo Train Fried Rice! David got this recipe while part of a cooking club while attending Albuquerque Academy. Everyone in the family loves it. Kristen seems especially happy when we have it. We pretty much always double this recipe. Don't worry too much about quantities in this recipe. Just do as much as you like. We like lots of eggs and ham. You can also use this as a refrigerator magnet to use up any meat or veggies you've got leftover in the fridge.
CHOO CHOO TRAIN FRIED RICE
1/2 teaspoon red wine vinegar
3 eggs
2 Tablespoons minced onion (I usually grate the onion. You can use dried minced onions if that's all you have on hand.)
4 Tablespoons cooking oil (use coconut oil or extra light olive oil)
3 cups cooked rice*
1 1/2 teaspoons salt
1/2 cup ham
1/2 cup green peas
Beat eggs with vinegar.
Pour oil in hot skillet over medium high heat. Stir in minced onion and the beaten eggs. Scramble the eggs into small pieces. Add rice, salt, ham and peas, and stir constantly for 8-10 minutes until the ingredients are well blended and heated. (I usually add the meat and veggies first and let them heat up, then the rice and salt.)
This fried rice is usually served on dining coaches in China. Green peas, diced ham and yellow eggs are so pretty with white rice. Every Chinese who travels a lot knows what the train egg fried rice is. I called it Choo Choo train fried rice to my children when they were young; they ate it better with this name. I don't know if any of that is true--it was just part of the recipe--which I have altered for our tastes (and eliminated the MSG).
*Do you need to know how to cook rice?
Bring 2 cups water to a boil, stir in 1 cup rice. Cover. (If you find your rice still a little crunchy and not right, you probably don't have a lid with a good seal. You want a good pan with a heavy bottom and a tight lid to cook rice. Or maybe a rice cooker, but I've never had one of those.) Reduce heat to lowest setting for 20-25 minutes, until all the water is absorbed. Doubling this recipe doesn't always work, but often I will do 3 cups of water with 1 1/2 cups of rice cooked for 25 minutes and it turns out okay. When the family was at its largest I would repeat that last process twice to make enough rice.
Of interest, this recipe was originally from Joyce Chen, who created the Joyce Chen Cookbook, had a restaurant in Boston and was a important exponent of Chinese food. Her daughter, Helen Chen, also has a restaurant and a cookbook and still demonstrates this dish. Choo choo train fried rice is quick and easy to make, tasty, and great for kids (it's a little bland, but can be bumped up in a variety of ways).
ReplyDeleteAnd, I meant to add, thanks for posting on your very nice blog!
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