Stir fried rice lovers, you will remember this one!

If you are a rice lover, that's one thing; however, if you are a stir fried rice lover, this recipe creation propels this grain to a whole new level. And if you follow the preparation to a tee, this dish will take your taste buds to what they may consider taste bud heaven!

Let's face it, things don't get much better to the palate than a dish of fried rice when prepared to perfection and the Chinese have been one of the Masters of this dish since time began. And then along comes this cocky Frenchman (yours truly) who dares step into their culinary territory and try his hand at perfecting something that has already reached its pinnacle. Mais pourquoi, one might ask, would anyone dare stick his or her neck out and try to beat the Champions at their best game? It is perhaps because he loves the challenge.

This creation of a stir fried rice has now been tested by a handful of people and their verdict has been two thumbs up so far. So now you be the judge and jury. Prepare it and see for yourself. Is it worthy of a place at your table?

Precook your rice:

1 cup of brown jasmine rice (uncooked)
2 cups of water
1 or 2 pinches of salt
1 teaspoon of vegetable oil

Follow the directions on the package, bringing the water to a boil in a medium pot. Then add the oil and the salt. Rinse the rice well, drain, and add to the pot. Cover and reduce heat to low and simmer for 45 to 50 minutes. You can use 1/4 cup less water if you cook for 45 minutes and want your rice a bit firmer. IF you can't find the brown jasmine rice, the traditional white should work fine; however, remember, this dish was prepared with the brown.

While rice is cooking, prepare all the other ingredients:

1 large red bell pepper, diced
2 cups of finely shredded Napa cabbage
5 cloves of fresh garlic, finely diced
1 teaspoon of ginger root, finely diced
1/2 cup of Edamame beans (w/o pods, precooked)
2 lightly beaten medium sized eggs
3 tablespoons of vegetable or canola oil
1 teaspoon of sesame oil
1 medium shallot, finely chopped
1 teaspoon of sesame seeds
3 tablespoons of Mirin (kind of like a rice wine)
2 teaspoons of Hoisan sauce
1 tablespoon of oyster sauce
1/4 cup of hot water
10 shakes of the table salt shaker (about a teaspoon or less)
7 shakes of black pepper

Please note: wait until the final step to add the salt and pepper so that you can taste and judge now much you want. Some people like more salt and others less.

In a medium glass, add the 1/4 cup of hot water, Mirin, Hoisan sauce, and oyster sauce together and stir until well diluted, set aside.

Prepare all your vegetables per the preparation above, chopping and dicing, etc. Place the Edamame beans in a microwavable dish, along with 2 tablespoons of water. Cover tightly, and microwave on high for about 3 minutes and 30 seconds. Set aside and uncover after a minute. Most of the podded Edamame will come frozen, for your information, and it can be found in the frozen vegetable section of your grocery store.

In a large (10 inch) fry pan (or wok, if you have one), add half of the vegetable oil and heat on high, but don't allow the oil to start smoking. Once the oil is hot, add the diced red bell peppers and saute while stirring for about 90 seconds. Next, add the garlic, ginger, and shallots and continue stirring for another 90 seconds.

Reduce the heat to medium high and add the cabbage. Toss and stir so that all ingredients are well mixed together and continue to saute for another 2 minutes. You may, at this time, add 5 shakes of the salt shaker and the ground pepper. Stir, then remove from the pan into a bowl.

Make sure the pan has been scraped with a metal spatula, then add half of the remaining vegetable oil, and quickly saute the 2 beaten eggs over medium high heat. Don't overcook the eggs, Chop and stir with your spatula for about 45 seconds and remove eggs into a small bowl.

Again, scrape the bottom of the pan well, then add the rest of the vegetable oil and the sesame oil into the pan and heat at medium high heat. When oil is nice and hot, it will easily coat the bottom of the pan when you swirl the pan around. Now, add your cooked rice to the pan and stir, scraping the bottom frequently as you stir. Fry the rice for about 2 minutes.

Next, add the sauteed vegetables to the rice and stir so that all ingredients are very well mixed. Add the Edamame beans and continue to saute for another minute. Add the liquid mixture you had set aside and stir until all ingredients are well coated. Finally, add the cooked eggs and do a final stir so they are well distributed throughout the dish. Give yourself one last taste for flavor and add a bit more salt and pepper if needed.

Transfer the fried rice to a heated large serving bowl and sprinkle the sesame seeds over the top. Serve hot all by itself or with your favorite meat. This preparation will yield 6 servings if accompanied by a second item or about 5, if served by itself. Enjoy your creation and please feel free to critique it as you seem fit.

I Couldn't Help Myself ... And Neither Could Joey

There are days when you just crave something and you can't get it out of you head until you get it in your stomach. For a week, I craved something sweet and I just continued to postpone the inevitable until I finally broke down the other night and rushed to the store for a container of Haagen Dazs Chocolate Peanut Butter Ice Cream. Nothing tasted so good that night. I didn't eat the whole thing but it was like being on auto pilot. Spoon in container, spoon in mouth. A third into it I realized I needed to stop this and I threw it in the freezer. I've got to admit I felt a bit guilty.

Then this evening, I had another craving for French fries this time. When you live alone, you've got lots of time to crave. I had taken a nice thick little filet mignon steak out of the freezer earlier in the day and was thinking about having steak and salad; however, I saw the bag of Russet potatoes and the craving hit me.

The little steaks come in these sealed plastic pouches and you have to cut one end and then slide the meat out. I don't know how it happened because it happened so fast, but the next 5 minutes was spent chasing my damn dog, Joey with my meat in his mouth. Somehow, when I was taking the steak out of the pouch, it slipped through my fingers and my Min Pin was right there waiting. That dog must have been waiting months for a jackpot like this. I finally cornered him and grabbed it out of his mouth. He had only bitten into it, so that was good. I rinsed it well. One of these days, I'll have to tell you my salmon story, but that's for one of those days.

Anyway, I want to share with you my recipe for Steak Frites today. I came up with a new recipe for the frites and I don't care what anybody says, I'm going to make them again like this. They were good. I used my ginger paste as a seasoning. Let me tell you what I did. Here are the ingredients you'll need:

1- 6 ounce filet of beef steak
1 small Russet potato, skin on
1 small red bell pepper
1/2 teaspoon of black pepper
Salt (for the steak)
2 tablespoons of ginger paste (basically comes in a jar like crushed garlic does)
2 tablespoons of water
3 tablespoons of flour
2 tablespoons of olive oil
Enough vegetable oil to cover a 10 inch frying pan 1/2 inch deep with oil

First of all, slice your pepper and potato into 1/4 inch thick shoe string slices. Set aside. In a  bowl, add the ginger and water and mix well. If you need to you can add another tablespoon of water to the mixture. Now add the pepper and potato shoe strings into the bowl along with the black pepper. Mix well so as to completely coat the pepper and potato. Now heat your vegetable oil on high heat so that oil reaches 350 degrees. You can usually tell when the oil is ready by dropping a little flour into the oil and it foams and bubbles. Put your pepper and potato shoe strings into the bag, add the flour, and shake well so that all pieces are covered. You should have a starchy, pasty coating. Carefully add the shoe strings to the hot oil, spreading them evenly across the pan. If the oil gets too hot, turn your burner down a tad.

While the potatoes are frying, heat the olive oil in a small frying pan on high heat. Fry your steak for about 3 minutes on each side for rare. The steak I had was 1 1/4 inch thick, so keep that in mind. Once you turn it over to the other side, salt and pepper it. In the meantime, keep an eye on the potatoes and with a spatula, turn them over. Continue to fry until they get golden brown, which should not take  long. When ready, remove them from the oil and let drain on paper towels. You may sprinkle salt while they are still very hot, but taste one first to see if you really need to.

Steak should be done about the same time. Remove from pan and set on your plate and add your shoe string frites on the side. I can tell you, these were the best fries I made. They were crispy as were the red pepper strips and the two together had a great combination of flavors. There was a nice subtle flavor of the ginger that was not at all overpowering. Just look at the photo. Does that look like Burger King to you?? NO ! Enjoy this meal.