Having left Taiwan nearly 10 years ago, I'm always tinkering around in the kitchen to find the special flavors that are reminiscent of home. Over the years, this fried rice has secured its place as my go-to comfort food. In fact, it's become my friends' and roommates' comfort food, too. Countless people have stood over the sizzling wok to learn this dish. Many are surprised that it takes less than 10 minutes on the stove. <br /> <br />There are three key points to a good fried rice: <br /> <br />1) Use the right amount of oil. Too little and the rice won't break into individual grains. Too much and you end up with greasy take-out fried rice. The trick is to drizzle the oil around the wok and rice slowly, adding more as needed. <br /> <br />2) Maintain a dry, hot wok and work quickly. If the wok isn't hot enough or if there's too much liquid accumulated at the bottom, you end up steam cooking the rice and everything turns soggy. This is especially important before adding the rice. If you don't have a wok, you can use any large, shallow pan. Just avoid overcrowding the pan as it will steam the contents. <br /> <br />3) Aromatics. They give the rice its fragrance, so pick what you like and don't skip them. I like to use sesame oil, wine, and white pepper, but ginger, garlic, scallions, and onions are fine, too. Some people like to add soy sauce at the end, but I find that it can overpower the other aromatics--use with extreme caution. <br /> <br />Everything else is very flexible. You can use whatever you have in the fridge, though the vegetables mentioned in this recipe are simple and accessible options. <br /> <br />NOTE: For simplicity, I included only included cooked meat in this recipe. If you want to cook raw meats, just add it after the aromatics and before the vegetables. There's no need to remove from pan after cooking. Typically pork, chicken, shrimp, or beef is marinated in a bit of sugar, some soy sauce, and a bit of rice or sherry wine for 10-20 minutes prior to cooking. <br /> <br />I hope you will enjoy this as much as we all have.

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