Shrimp and Edamame Fried Rice & Garlic butter Spread

Fried rice is super easy to make especially when you always have leftover rice on hand. You can pretty much throw anything into your own customized version; just remember to pay heeds to the following tips:

1. Aromatics: Always have some aromatic ingredients in your fried rice, such as garlic, onions, green onions, carrots, and so on. 

2. Cold steamed rice: Do not use hot, soft, and steamy rice. A overnight-refrigerated batch of rice might be the best. Using hot or warm steamed rice could result in a gummy texture. 

3. Special treatment of the main protein: Marinate your main protein thus give it an extra punch of flavor. I use shrimp here as my main protein. Shrimps here are de-veined, peeled, and marinated with a few drops of soy sauce, some corn starch, and a pinch of black pepper (or white pepper). Keep the marinate simple so that it does not overwhelm the natural flavor of the protein. 

4. In most cases, make the scrambled eggs separately: Eggs are one of the traditional ingredients of fried rice. Making the scrambled eggs beforehand and then assembling it with the main body of the fried rice at the last stage of cooking would keep the neatness of the entire dish. 

So here is how to do it: heat up oil and saute your aromatics (mine are chopped garlics, red pepper flakes, green onions, onions, and carrots) and add edamame and shrimps. Add a tablespoon of Chinese BBQ sauce (沙茶醬)and about a tablespoon of soy sauce (you can omit the Chinese BBQ sauce if you like). Finally add the cold steamed rice and the eggs. Mix them well. Enjoy!

I also enjoy making my own garlic spread. It's very simple (serve about 6 slices bread of a regular loaf): prepare a cube of unsalted/salted butter (well, I forgot the measurement; A stick of butter usually comes with some measurement on the wrapper. Take one unit of that!);  a pinch of salt (you may omit it if you use salted butter); a clove of fresh garlic; a teaspoon of sugar; herb (either some fresh parsley or some dried Italian herb mix). Put all of the above ingredients into a food processor till the spread appears smooth and well-blended. Spread this mixture on bread and toast it till perfection. It's great for soup-dunking! If you're like me, who likes the taxes roadhouse's cinnamon butter spread, try this very simple cinnamon-butter-spread recipe at home. Just mix cinnamon powder, a pinch of sugar, and unsalted butter together in a food processor. Adjust the seasonings according to your preference. You might try to put some nutmeg into the mixture (I haven't tried so yet since nutmeg is a bit too expensive for my budget now). Spread it on dinner rolls or on a hot, oven-baked sweet potato, yum!