Flied Lice, the ultimate Chinese comfort food

My boyfriend, his eyes light up when there are mashed potatoes on the table. Me, I don't see what's so great about potatoes. For my family, the staple was always rice. Good, fluffy, warm rice, eaten delicately with chopsticks (OK, in reality most Chinese people shovel in a rather undainty manner). There was always at least 20 pounds of rice in the house (less was considered a shortage), and we ate it every night.

Fried rice was the treat we always looked forward to, a step up from the quotidian plain rice. The dish begged for at restaurants, when my mother would hiss that it was a waste of money (fried rice is how Chinese families use up the week's leftovers). It was the first dish I ever learned how to make, and the staple of my uni years. Very impressive meal for all the non-Asians who'd only ever had the drab, soy sauce drenched, carrot-flecked stuff :)

It's still my comfort food - the one thing I don't have a recipe for, the one thing I could make blindfolded. Even the boyfriend loves it.

So...in honour of my comfort food, here's my attempt at a recipe (approximated - use what's on hand and experiment!).

Fried Rice

Oil (sesame best, canola/vegetable OK too)
1 onion, chopped
1 tsp ginger, minced
2 cloves garlic, minced
2 carrots
2 lap cheung (Chinese sausage), some chicken, shrimp or tofu, cut into bite-sized pieces
3 cups any combo of: snow peas, broccoli, bok choy, chinese cabbage, bell pepper, Chinese straw mushrooms, cut into bite-sized pieces
2-3 eggs, lightly beaten
4 cups of day-old cooked rice (just cooked rice works OK, but day-old is much better!)
soy sauce
hot sauce (optional)

1. Heat 1 Tbsp oil in a large frying pan or wok over medium heat. Add the onions, ginger and garlic and fry for five minutes.

2. Add the carrots and meat if using. (If using tofu or shrimp, see step 4 & 5.) Fry for 3-4 minutes.

3. Add the vegetables and cook for another two minutes.

4. If using shrimp: add now. Cook until pink.

5. Empty the mixture into a bowl. Add 2 Tbsp more oil and turn the heat up to medium-high. When the oil is hot, throw in the tofu. Fry on all sides. Empty the tofu, carefully, into the bowl with the veggies.

6. Scramble the eggs in the pan. When they are cooked, turn the heat back down to medium and add the rice. When the rice is warm, add the veggie mixture back in and stir. Add 2 Tbsp soy sauce and some hot sauce to taste, adding more soy sauce as needed (Though beware, you may be labelled a gwei low if you use too much!)