Meal #2: Shrimp Fried Rice

My second attempt at making elaborate, tasty meals every Sunday was another solid entry. This week I went back to the well of Jaden Hair's The Steamy Kitchen Cookbook and went after her recipe for Shrimp Fried Rice. Given the dearth of quality Chinese restaurants in Anchorage, it seems like it'd be a good idea to learn how to make some quality chow for myself. I'm pretty sure it was already the best fried rice I've had in town (file that one under "sad but true").

I learned a lot on this recipe though. I chose to go with brown rice instead of white rice that the recipe asked for. Brown rice is a healthier alternative, but it comes with one major negative: it takes a long time to cook. To quote Jay-Z, I got no patience and I hate waitin', so brown rice and I have a tendency to not get along. My desire to make the meal go faster goes very poorly with the 50 minutes you likely should wait for brown rice to settle properly. Somewhat predictably, it ended up not combining with the water perfectly and led to some less than perfected rice.

Given that it's shrimp fried rice, that's an important misstep. While all of the flavors throughout combined very well, the undercooking of the rice and not putting enough green onions in there led this meal to not reach the peaks that it could have. Still, a tasty meal that was incredibly filling to eat while watching Shaun of the Dead this evening.

How's that for a slice of fried gold?