Fried rice from scratch in less time than it takes to get carry out.

Ingredients

• 2-4 tbsp oil

• 1 tbsp garlic (not dried garlic)

• 2-3 tsp ginger

• soy sauce for taste / color

• 1/8 cup frozen mixed vegetables

• 1 heaping tbsp diced onion for flavor (frozen is so convenient)

• 1-2 eggs

• one bag of instant cook-in-bag rice

• 1/8 - 1/4 cup of literally any kind of solid meat

Directions

1. (the eureka moment) Cook the instant rice in the microwave for about 6-7 minutes. You could easily cook the rice until the bag is bursting, but that will just become a sticky lump and ruin the fried rice. You want the rice to fluff up until it only fills half the bag. Don't worry, it won't be crunchy. Drain as soon as done.

2. Crank the heat to max under a non-stick pan (flat is better than a wok, see step 4).

3. Immediately add oil, garlic, ginger, veggies, onions and meat to the pan and fry until they just begin to sizzle.

4. Slide everything to one side of the pan, add the eggs in the empty side and stir them while in the pan until scrambled.

5. Now that the eggs are scrambled, mix everything together in the pan and add the rice. Fry for a minute or two to get the remaining oil evenly coating everything.

6. Add soy sauce to taste. A couple sprinkles at first and stir to see what color the rice is becoming. Look for that awesome tan color, not too light, not too dark.

7. Serve.

Notes

I had always made rice the day before and put it in a colander overnight in the fridge. Not anymore.

bon appetit