Good morning (afternoon?) friends. Good whatever-time-of-day it is wherever you are. This particular dish will work at any time of day, and all I can say is that I have been so excited to share this with you.
This is one of those finds that I may love a bit too much. Ever since I wrote in Honest Cooking about my love of fried rice at any meal, at any time of day, my obsession has only grown.
I was in the midst of cooking up a batch for lunch one day, when I suddenly remembered what was perhaps the most unusual fried rice I have ever had. Bacon Fried Rice, as served at Masa 14 in DC.
Masa 14 is a restaurant that boasts Latin-Asian fusion food which struck me as unusual at first, but just like the Bacon Fried Rice, turns out to make perfect sense.
One bite of this dish and I no longer felt any need to identify where it was from or what the origin of the flavors might be.
It just works. That's all I needed to know.
Bacon Fried Rice
Ingredients
- 4 slices of bacon
- 2 Tbsp. vegetable oil, dividied
- 2 eggs
- ½ a whole onion, finely chopped
- 2 Tbsp. soy sauce
- 1 teaspoon Siracha (optional)
- 2 cups rice, cooked and cooled to room temperature
Instructions
- In a large wok over medium heat cook the bacon until crisp, turning to evenly cook both sides. Transfer cooked bacon to a plate covered with a paper towel to drain.
- Gently pour all but a thin coating of the bacon grease to a glass bowl to cool. (Leave a small amount of bacon grease in the wok to flavor the eggs and rice.) Add 1 Tablespoon of the vegetable oil and heat until you can feel the warmth of the pan if your hand is held about 6 inches over the pan. Crack the eggs gently into the oil and fry until the whites are cooked through. (I prepare these sunny-side up, but fry the eggs in any way you like.) When the eggs are cooked, transfer each one to its own plate for serving.
- Add the final 1 Tablespoon of oil to the hot wok. Add the onion and saute until it softens, about 1 minute. Add the soy sauce, Siracha, and rice. Stir-fry the rice until it is evenly coated in soy sauce and begins to sizzle on the bottom of the pan. Crumble the bacon and add it to the rice, tossing to combine. Turn off the heat and spoon the fried rice evenly on the plates next to the cooked eggs. Serve immediately.
Notes
Elizabeth
Oooh, yum! You know, in New York we have this restaurant we love going to that's Peruvian-Chinese. Very unusual. Delicious fruity drinks and GREAT fried rice as well!
jessica
You New Yorkers - you've got everything out there! Peruvian-Chinese?! I love it!
Prontip
Being a Thai girl married to a redneck Missouri boy, bacon fried rice became a staple in our home. I had no idea anyone else did this!
Julie Smith
Sounds ooooh so yummy!! Regular fried rice has the egg cooked in it - I'm thinking I will cook the bacon, brown the onions and other veggies w/some avocado oil and some of the bacon grease. Once veggies are where I want them, I will throw in the rice, cook quickly adding the bacon then lastly the eggs, breaking the yolks and cooking till they are 'almost' done, not completely. Wonder if that wouldn't be 'almost' as good as serving the eggs on the side. Easy for left over heat up as well...?!! Oooh, serve with a couple slices of avocado, maybe a dolep of sour cream or cream cheese! Thanks for the idea - can't wait to make it!
Jess
Julie - GREAT idea to fold the eggs right in and will definitely make for better leftovers to reheat. Hope this turned out to your liking. And avocado - I like where your head is at - I'm going to try it that way next time! I just posted another fried rice recipe that also uses bacon - it's another favorite. But, let's be real, it's hard to go wrong with bacon. 😉