Willie's Fried Rice with Tat Soi

Willie's Fried Rice with Tat Soi

This recipe is for when you find yourself with extra white rice that is getting cold and hard, extra proteins that need to be used up ASAP, and extra vegetables.

In a large pan (or wok), fry up about four slices of bacon, diced. Remove the bacon, but keep the bacon grease in the pan. In the bacon grease, fry up half an onion, diced. Get out your cold, old white rice and start crumbling it into the hot bacon grease and onion mixture. Make sure the rice gets coated all over. Willie also adds chicken stock to rehydrate the rice and to add a layer of rich flavor. Next, mix in your diced extra meats, and don't forget the bacon! What works well: leftover spam, chicken, pork, shrimp, beef, and even hot dogs. Throw in other vegetables you may have around, like frozen peas and carrots or scallions. This time around, we used tat soi. That wilted in nicely. Season the mix (which should have grown substantially by now) with dashes of shoyu, sesame oil, and a hot sauce like sriracha or sambal oelek to taste. Salt and pepper to taste. Optional sauces to add in are mirin and hoisin.

The fried rice tastes even better the next morning, with a fried egg on top.

The tat soi was also delicious raw. I ate it with a simple balsamic vinaigrette dressing (but I would love to have it with Minato Restaurant's pineapple dressing). The tat soi has a bitter, arugula taste when you first bite into it, but it also has a subtle, perfumy taste as you swallow it.