Per usual

I've really nothing of importance to relate today. Since peeling open my eyes, money and work have been on the mind and those things are rarely exciting. Perhaps the day also began with a bit of a surreal tinge - the sunshine a little too white, the ground a little too frosty, the air a little too quiet - but as of now, everything else seems to just be happening per usual. I suppose I ran into an old acquaintance this morning, which is outside the norm, but I struggled to even form proper words much less muster anything close to witty human conversation. No coffee, no bueno.

So, without further ado, here's a traditional Taiwanese comfort dish. It doesn't have the most attractive name (literal translation is Oil Rice or You Fan), but think of it as a type of fried rice. Although families all have their own variations, this dish always has the same base ingredients of soy sauce, shitake mushrooms, dried shrimp, and sesame oil. I've rarely ever seen it jazzed up, most likely because it's so good as it is. Taiwanese "fried" rice also quite vegetarian friendly; just omit the pork and/or bacon and be a bit friendlier with the umami mushrooms. This time around, I used bacon because I didn't have any pork in my freezer, but nevertheless, have included all options in the ingredients for your reference, so that you can swing whichever way you please.

Sometimes, I think there's just too much damn brown on this blog. I need to branch out to greens soon.

Taiwanese "Fried" Rice (油飯)

2 C raw sticky rice
2 C water*
1/4 C dark soy sauce
2 teaspoons sesame oil
1 TB canola oil
2 TB fried shallots
1 TB dried shrimp
1 teaspoon brown sugar
10-20 dried shitake mushrooms
1 TB shaoshing or rice wine
2 strips bacon, chopped or 8 oz. pork loin, sliced into small pieces (optional)
sambal (for serving)

*Cook sticky rice according to package instructions, however, use less water than usual. You don't want the rice to be super sticky. A good rule of thumb is to use two-thirds the amount of water usually required - the cooked sticky rice should be a little less sticky than usual.

Soak the dried shitake mushrooms in warm water until they are soft. Note hat if you are using pork in this recipe, use around 10 mushrooms in the recipe and lightly salt the pork strips. If you are going vegetarian, use up to 20 mushrooms.

Rinse the raw rice in water until the water runs clear (rinsing off any impurities and extra starchiness). Then add the proper amount of water (see * note), 5 TB of dark soy sauce, and 1 teaspoon of sesame oil to the raw rice and cook according to package instructions, either on the stove-top or the rice cooker. Once done, let rest while you prepare the other ingredients.

Once the mushrooms are soft, drain and squeeze out any excess water (save a bit of the water you squeeze out, approximately 3 TB) and slice mushrooms into strips. Mix strips with the reserved liquid, brown sugar, and rice/shaoshing rice in a small bowl and reserve for later use.

In a wok, heat up the 1 TB of canola oil and remaining teaspoon of sesame oil. Fry the dried shrimp, bacon and/or pork, and mushrooms until fragrant, then create a well in the mushroom pile and add in your fried shallots and remaining soy sauce. Quickly toss all the ingredients a few times to thoroughly mix. Then remove the wok from heat.

Add the rice to the wok and quickly mix together all the ingredients until the rice is coated evenly with the sauce and mushrooms are evenly distributed throughout the fried rice. Taste and adjust saltiness depending on your preference (more or less soy sauce). Serve with sambal.