OHHH! A good topic! To all the Asian people here! (Food!)

Oh yeah...I only used about a quarter pound of shrimp in the processed mix, then I coursely chopped another quarter pound and folded it in with the green onions. I wanted to have some shrimp "texture" in the mix, and that's how I got it.

 

The secret to get ur hands on some good asian fried rice and dumplings are.....



get some dough and go to Ocean Palace

 

Fatty,

You're single right?

The secret is....


Mail order bride !!



DD

 

really? and that's after frying it, right? or after frying and steaming it? Then what would you do, mix up ingredients with the cold rice and bake shortly like a paella? I've never made it, closest i've come is a jambalaya/paella...which you fry first, too, then steam/bake.

now that you've pointed out the drying thingie (which is one of the reasons I don't usually like fried rice, and the other is it's usually just filler), makes me realize that jambalaya and paella are more clumpy than fried rice...which seems odd since out of the 3, fried rice is the hardest to eat with chop sticks. lol

so, any Pad Thai tips? I made some at the spur of the moment, once. Good tasting, but not the right texture.

 

Steam it first, fluff it, then let it cool completely. Then put it in the fridge overnight, then take it out the next day and break it up a bit with your hands...then heat a little peanut oil and fry it, add egg (if desired), scramble, etc...

Fried rice either sucks or is amazing, depending on how it is done. What you probably don't like is the mass-produced, "after-thought" kinds at restaurants that have been in a heating tray for most of the day. If done well and freh, it is not really the dry you are thinking about. Also, it is not really hard to eat w/ chopsticks if eaten in a bowl, as it should be.

Big wok, very high heat, very fast cooking (all ingredients in separate bowls, ready to be thrown in). Most people mess it up by being too slow/cautious or not having a big enough wok.

Beyond that it is a matter of experience, preference, etc...

 

You are so far off.

You boil the rice. After it's done, you leave it in the fridge to cool down and harden (If you use soft rice, stir frying it will make it mushy and soft).

Then, the next day, you take it out and "declump it" and try to get the rice as "loose" as possible.

Then you stir fry it.


Next time I'll invite you to my place and you can taste the worst fried rice ever made.

 

Heypartner....if you like paella, then you probably hate how expensive saffron is. I needed some in a hurry a while back, and I bought it at the big new HEB in Friendswood. It was only 18 bucks for .021 ounces. Not even a half teaspoon!!!!!

(actually....it was around Valentines Day when you and I were exchanging recipes and you decided against bouillabaisse, and I made it instead)

Needless to say, I was not amused by the price, so I "stocked up" on it online. Now I'm pretty much buying all of my spices from www.spicebarn.com I got a full ounce of saffron for less than $40!

I also bought five lbs of their "habernero rub" that totally puts Tony Chacheres to shame.

If you ever make crawfish, you can spend more on the spices than on the crawfish themselves.....not if you get your spices at spicebarn though.

I highly recommend them.

 

man, so you steam then fry. no wonder you have to dry it out. I never woulda thunk it.

so, what is the consistency of a "real" fried rice? Is it about equal to paella, or does it have a slight el dente (for lack of a better word) coating that has no equivalent.

rimbaud: yeah, I tried to do Pad Thai in my iron skillet, which does main dishes fine. Guess I've got to go ahead and admit defeat and get the wok, cause there's no equivalent pan to spreading out the noodles to fry them properly.

Pole: thinks for the tip. I've been getting spices at the Farmers Market, but I do get saffron online, when I can't get my friend to bring me some from Spain. I've found that it does keep for awhile in the frig, at least for paella purposes...don't know about baking desserts.

btw: hmmm...something's seriously wrong with that $18 for .021 oz. I thought $8-10 for a gram was easy to get, and that's .038 oz. And I think I got a gram for <$5 once at HEB.

So, did you get the $40/oz saffron, yet? Man, that just doesn't seem possible. That price seems criminally low. They do price it based on whether the stamins are fully intact, and all red or some yellow.

You know the pickers in La Mancha get paid in saffron?

 

Msg may lead to early blindness, thinning of the cornea. See the newscientist.com. I've stopped using it.

 

Yes, but I haven't opened it yet because I haven't made the time to cook something with it (and I didn't want to open it until I used it)

This is the one I got:

Syren Saffron
Pure Superior Whole Saffron

 

i was getting my stamen and stigma mixed up.

btw: there's a test for saffron. the highest quality comes intact in a three-threaded stigma. Drop some threads into milk, and if it colors the milk immediately, then it has been dyed. The best saffron should take longer to start coloring liquid.

I guess if they don't get tariffed over the Internet, the best would come through at $40.

Also, I'm thinking you bought a lifetime supply. If it's as good as they say it is, I'll buy some it off yeah...how about that?

 

Really.....that bouillabaisse recepie called for a whole teaspoon. My wife LOVES bouillabaisse. And she's been screaming for paella.

I was just thinking I had about a year's worth.

 

one teaspoon of saffron
Yeah, and the recipe you gave me for V-Day called for 4 sticks of butter...

the general measure is 2 1/2 teaspoons/gram.

How do you measure it out? I don't really powder it, just crumble between a 1/4 tsp and 1/2 tsp measure, trying not to touch it. Crumbled, I then measure a heaping 1/4 tsp per paella. That's plenty powerful, especially the next day, as the saffron flavor gets stronger.

there's a tip where you steep your saffron overnight in your wine/chicken broth to make it stronger for less.

so, at 1/4 tsp per paella, we are talking 10 paella's per gram or 283 per ounce. that's one helluvan amazing spice...no?

btw: I do have a Spanish cookbook from 1999 that says saffron is sold like gold, that it can be as excensive as $6000/pound. That's $375 per ounce. I don't know where she gets that number comes from, though, but the stuff at HEB that you bought would have been $13K for a pound at that price. hmmmm.

oh, I have one tip for a paella...get a pimiento to cut in strips for ganish on the top. it really makes it look festive.

 

thanks for saffrom tip pole...ive been wondering where i could get some for relatively cheap.

fatty fat fat bastardo...use the the dried hard sweet pork sausage in your fried rice that you can get at most any oriental market.

 

Sorry but had to chime in here.

If MSG really did cause early blindness to a high degree, all of China, Japan, and many other Asian countries would be blind. Not knocking your source but not sure what the rate of blindness is and especially to all populations. We use this stuff as much as we use salt especially in Japan. The major problem with MSG is that it has glutamate (chemical known to excite neurons/brain cells) which can cause headaches (migraines) for many people who are susceptible (many non-Asian people). Hence, it should be used sparingly.

However, for really good fried rice, using generous portions of MSG with soy sauce makes a WORLD of difference. Not to be too science geeky but the tongue does have glutamate receptors meaning you or at least your tongue and brain can taste the difference with or without MSG.

For fried rice:
My tip is use dried rice (a day old rice is perfect).
Use MSG and soy sauce (or better yet there is a perfect seasoning packet that Japanese people use called "Chuka-nomoto" which you can find at all Japanese grocery stores and many Chinese ones). I use soy sauce quite sparingly but use according to taste.
Use lots of scallions (if you like onions, they definitely help - I use maybe one whole bunch for 2-4 servings)
Eggs eggs eggs (scramble a little bit, yolk is still yolky and then add at the end and stir it all up, 1-2 large eggs for 2-4 servings)
Ground pork or beef or use precooked flavored pork (cook meat first; drain if health conscious if not leave the grease to cook your rice in)
Shrimp or any other to taste

Anyway sorry for being a tad long.

 

btw, I thought one of your steps to finding a girlfriend was to promise a great meal, then burn it. Why did we waste our time helping you?

 

sure Fatty, sure.

btw: Pole, after checking with wholefoods on the last batch of saffron I got...my saffron measurements are off. Looks like you can only get 4 paellas per gram. kinda depends on how you crumble it to determine teaspoons.

Make a paella and let me know if you think you might want to sell some.