There are a few foods I can’t stand and can’t make myself eat, like cantaloupe.
The other: bean sprouts. I don’t like ’em! I know I’m Asian, but I don’t like ’em cooked, and I don’t like ’em raw. But for some reason this fried rice is so delectable that I don’t mind ’em in this. And I can’t even remember where the combination of the shrimp and grilled pineapple came from, but wherever it came from, it’s delish and one of the fried rice trifecta at Button Mash . . . and I’m downright cool with that.
2–4 SERVINGS
2 large eggs
¼ pound uncooked, head-off, tail-off, deveined (U60–80) shrimp
1 tablespoon coarsely chopped garlic
¼ cup medium dice yellow or white onions
¼ cup shredded carrots
¼ cup bean sprouts
4 cups cooked, day-old jasmine rice
1 teaspoon mushroom bouillon
1 teaspoon kosher salt
1 pinch ground white pepper
1 teaspoon sugar
¼ cup Chinese light soy sauce
1 red Fresno chili, sliced into rings
¼ cup medium dice grilled pineapples
¼ cup chopped scallions, plus additional for garnish
5 sprigs cilantro, chopped, plus additional for garnish
BALLS OUT
40–80 SERVINGS
50 large eggs
6¼ pounds uncooked, head-off, tail-off, deveined (U60–80) shrimp
1½ cups coarsely chopped garlic
6¼ cups medium dice yellow or white onions
6¼ cups shredded carrots
6¼ cups bean sprouts
25 quarts cooked, day-old jasmine rice
8⅓ tablespoons mushroom bouillon
8⅓ tablespoons kosher salt
1½ teaspoons white pepper
8⅓ tablespoons sugar
6¼ cups Chinese light soy sauce
25 red Fresno chilies, sliced into rings
6¼ cups medium dice grilled pineapples
6¼ cups chopped scallions, plus additional for garnish
1 bunch cilantro, chopped, plus additional for garnish
1. Whisk eggs in a bowl, add a dash of salt, and set aside.
2. Heat a pan/wok on high heat with a little bit of oil. Sauté shrimp for 3–4 minutes, stopping short of cooking them all the way through. Transfer shrimp to a bowl and set aside.
3. In the shrimpy flavored pan, add 1 tablespoon cooking oil on high heat. Once the pan is hot, sauté garlic, onions, carrots, and bean sprouts one by one in that order, browning each one lightly before adding the next. Set aside in a bowl.
4. Keep pan on high heat, add and cook eggs for 15–20 seconds. Eggs should be runny. Set aside in bowl.
5. Keeping a high heat, add a little bit more oil and the day-old cooked rice. Mix until you get good color on the rice, breaking all the clumps apart. Be careful not to dry out. If you do, add less than a tablespoon more oil and stir-fry rice again.
6. Add sautéed garlic, onions, carrots, and bean sprouts. Mix in. Lower to medium heat and add mushroom bouillon, salt, white pepper, and sugar. Mix in well.
7. Add light soy sauce, and mix thoroughly.
8. Add shrimp and Fresno chilies while constantly mixing and moving the rice around the pan. Stir-fry for a minute to cook the shrimp through. Then add in the runny eggs, and mix with rice.
9. Add pineapples, scallions, and cilantro. Give all a quick toss, then immediately remove from heat.
Plate in a nice big family-style bowl, garnish with scallions and cilantro, and share or eat by yourself while reminiscing about how the kids movies of the 1980s, like The Goonies, E.T., and The NeverEnding Story, were so awesome.