In the Midst of Finals...

Two finals down, two to go. That means I get rewarded with a blog post! I figured this recipe would be appropriate during finals week because it is a great example of a very quick and easy meal that can be thrown together in the middle of a crazy week--something that really comes in handy when I have 4 huge tests in 4 days.

Fried Rice topped with Crispy Garlic and Ginger
Adapted from Humble Bean, via Mark Bittman in The New York Times, originally a Jean-Georges Vongerichten recipe

Ingredients:
1/4 cup canola oil
3 Tablespoons garlic, chopped
3 Tablespoons ginger, chopped
Salt
1/2 Yellow onion, chopped
6 Stalks green onion, chopped
4 Cups day-old cooked rice (It won't be near as good if it's not day-old! Fresh rice is just too moist to fry. Oh, and I used White Jasmine Rice.)
1 Large egg
2 Teaspoons sesame oil
4 Teaspoons soy sauce

Directions:
In a large skillet, heat up the oil over medium heat. Add the garlic and ginger. Cook, stirring occasionally, until they are browned. With a slotted spoon or spatula, take the garlic and ginger out of the oil and place onto paper towels. Salt lightly.
Reduce the heat of the skillet to medium-low and add the onions to the leftover oil (which is now deliciously infused with garlic and ginger). Cook abut 10 minutes, until very tender. Season with salt.
Meanwhile, in a separate pan, scramble the eggs and cook until fairly dry. Mushy eggs and fried rice just don't go together.
Raise the heat to medium and add the rice, eggs and green onions. Cook until the rice is heated up. Add the soy sauce and sesame oil around the edge of the pan. Stir to combine.
Serve the rice topped with a sprinkle of crispy garlic and ginger.

This is my favorite fried rice I've tried. It was very light since the only sauce consisted of a conservative amount of soy sauce and sesame oil. The crispy garlic and ginger were delicious! I was skeptical since you're usually supposed to avoid letting garlic get brown, but the flavor was perfect paired with the rice. This was extremely simple and I was very happy with the result.