First try at fried rice

Keep trying, mine seems too mushy if I crowd the pan. Below is a good thread about making fried rice. Read through all of the responses, especially with Thirdeye.

http://www.eggheadforum.com/index.php?option=com_simpleboard&func=view&id=627740&catid=1

I prefer shrimp fried rice. If you would like that, I'll post the recipe.

8 ounces Shrimp, small, shelled and deveined
½ teaspoon Salt, kosher
Black pepper, freshly ground
½ teaspoon Corn Starch
2 tablespoons Peanut Oil, divided
3 Eggs, beaten
2 stalks Green onions , minced
4 cups Rice, leftover, grains separated well (day old, kept in refrigerator)
¾ cup Peas and Carrots, Frozen, defrosted
1 tablespoon Soy Sauce
1 teaspoon Sesame Oil

METHOD
1 In a bowl, toss the shrimp with the salt, pepper and cornstarch. Let marinate for 10 minutes at room temperature. Heat a wok on high heat. When the wok is hot enough for a bead of water to instantly sizzle and evaporate, add just 1 tablespoon of the cooking oil and swirl to coat wok.

2 Add the shrimp, quickly spreading out around the cooking surface area so that they are not overlapping. Let fry, untouched for 30 seconds. Flip over and let the other side fry for 30 seconds, or until about 80% cooked through. Remove the shrimp from the wok onto a plate, leaving as much oil in the wok as possible.

3 Turn the heat to medium, let the wok heat up again. Add the eggs, stirring in a quick motion to break up and scramble the eggs. When the eggs are almost cooked through (they should still be slightly runny in the middle), dish out of the wok into the same plate as the cooked shrimp.

4 Use paper towels to wipe the same wok clean and return to high heat with the remaining 1 tablespoon of cooking oil, swirling to coat. When the oil is very hot, add the green onions and fry until fragrant, about 15 seconds. Add in the rice and stir well to mix in the green onions throughout. Spread the rice all around the wok surface area and let the rice heat up, untouched until you hear the bottoms of the grains sizzle, about 1-2 minutes. Use the spatula to toss the rice, again spreading the rice out over the surface of wok.

5 Drizzle the soy sauce all around the rice and toss. Add the peas and carrots, the cooked eggs, shrimp and sesame oil, tossing to mix the rice evenly with all of the ingredients. Let everything heat back up again, until the rice grains are so hot they practically dance! Taste and add an additional 1 teaspoon of soy sauce if needed.

I think it just gives it a more even cook, as opposed to it bunching and not getting uniformly cooked .... so the answer is probably, yes.

That looks pretty good to me. The great thing about Fried Lice is that there is no way to cook it wrong. Just add stuff you like and there she is.

Looks pretty derned good, cb.