I’ve decided that you make Breakfast Fried Rice when you order Thai food and they ask you if you want a side of rice and you say yes, even though you already ordered like 4 other things and one of them actually already came with rice but they didn’t tell you that over the phone because they decided to play on your fear that you wouldn’t have any rice. So, there’s that tiny little takeout container, that is only used for rice, in your fridge the next morning–completely untouched, still with those little steam beads on the inside of the flaps.
The only reason this is called breakfast fried rice is because it has bacon in it, then furthermore, because I think it’s best with a 7 Minute Egg on it. There may be an adjustment period for those of you that do not equate rice with morning time but don’t knock it until you try it. The only downside is that the first couple times I made this, while testing the recipe, it didn’t kind of feel like dinnertime and made me even more cranky that I had to go to work afterwards. You’ve been warned.
- 2 cups brown rice, cooked
- 2 pieces of bacon, coarsely chopped
- 1 shallot, finely diced
- 2 teaspoons low-sodium soy sauce
- 1 teaspoon rice vinegar
- 1/2 teaspoon sesame oil
- 1 tablespoon cilantro, coarsely chopped
- 1 tablespoon chives, coarsely chopped
- Cook bacon. In a large non-stick skillet over medium heat, brown bacon until crispy, about 5 minutes. Remove from pan and place on a paper towel. Discard bacon grease from pan.
- Sauté shallot. Lower heat and add shallot to the same pan where the bacon was crisped. Cook until soft, about 2 minutes.
- Pan fry rice. Raise heat back to medium and add cooked brown rice to the pan along with the soy sauce, rice vinegar, and sesame oil. Pan fry, stirring frequently, until rice has developed a crisped texture, about 8 minutes.
- Serve. Top with chopped herbs.
- This dish is perfected, in my opinion, with a soft-cooked egg. Search “7 Minute Egg” for the recipe.