Easy Pork Fried Rice

Running out the door one night last week on a mission to get ingredients for my must-have chocolate-peanut butter mousse tart, I needed to find a quick dinner idea. I flipped the March issue of Everyday Food to the one page I had dog-eared and found a recipe for pork fried rice. I added ginger, scallions, and ground pork to my shopping list and flew out the door.

In between making the components of the tart, I threw this dinner together with ease. I put some rice in the rice cooker and then prepped all the ingredients -- cracking the eggs into one dish and lightly beating them with a little soy sauce; filling another dish with minced garlic, minced ginger, and chopped scallion whites; chopping the scallion greens and setting them aside; and making sure I had the other ingredients at the ready.

Usually when I make fried rice, I just scramble the eggs and then stir the rice in, but this recipe has you make a little omelet, which you then cut into pieces and stir into the rice. It was kind of interesting having the larger chunks of egg in there.

Pork Fried Rice (adapted from Everyday Food, March 2011)

Ingredients

2 tablespoons vegetable oil
2 eggs
2 tablespoons plus 1/4 teaspoon soy sauce
1 garlic clove, minced
1 tablespoon minced and peeled fresh ginger
1 bunch scallions, white and green parts separated, thinly sliced (I did not use nearly all of the green parts)
1/2 pound ground pork
2 cups cooked white rice (about 3/4 cup uncooked rice)
2 tablespoons rice vinegar

Preparation

In large skillet, heat 1 tablespoon of oil over high heat. In a small bowl, lightly beat eggs with 1/4 teaspoon soy sauce. Pour eggs into skillet and let cook undisturbed until almost set, about 1 minute.

Fold the omelet in thirds with a spatula, and then transfer it to a cutting board and cut it in 1/2-inch pieces.

Add 1 tablespoon oil to the skillet, and swirl to coat. Add ginger, garlic, and scallion whites, and cook, stirring constantly, for 30 seconds.

Add the pork and cook, making sure to break up the pork, for about 3 minutes, or until no longer pink.

Stir in the rice, cooked egg, 2 tablespoons soy sauce, and rice vinegar. Cook and stir until rice is completely coated with sauce. Then let cook undisturbed for 1 minute. (The rice got crispy from cooking this way, which I liked but Jeff didn't. So if you don't like crispy rice, just keep stirring for this last minute.)

Top with scallion greens, and serve.

We tend to make stir fries and fried rice when we need a quick meal. What's your go-to?

Got any big plans this weekend?