bacon fried rice

fact: i grew up a rice-vore.  i used to eat rice at every breakfast, lunch and dinner.  growing up, my breakfast was mainly fried rice and fried eggs.  yes, rice for breakfast. it is completely normal. rice is fuel for us filipinos, we eat it at every meal.  and why not?  it is what gave our ancestors the energy to go out and work on the farm at the break of dawn. i may not eat it as often anymore, but fried rice for breakfast for me is bliss. it means i could go on for a long while without feeling hungry. on many days i dream of the wide variety of fried rice and egg combinations served in the philippines.  we call fried rice, sinangag and egg, itlog.  they are the two basic components to many creatively named combinations such as tapsilog (tapa-beef jerky, fried rice and egg), longsilog (longganisa-pork sausage, fried rice and egg), hotsilog (hotdog, fried rice and egg), tocilog (tocino-sweet cured pork, fried rice and egg) and bangsilog (fried bangus-milk fish, fried rice and egg).  i'm sure there are many more.

last saturday i decided to reward myself with a good breakfast- bacon fried rice and fried eggs.  ok, fine. plus another piece of bacon on the side.  basilog, or is it baconsilog?  anyhoo, i ate it in front of my husband who gave me weird looks. "rice for breakfast?"  but i didn't care, it was a delightful feast specially whilst enjoying a good cup of coffee. life is too short, indulge once in a while.

BACON FRIED RICE

2-3 cup day old rice (above, i used a combination of brown and white rice)

1 teaspoon chopped garlic

1/2 cup chopped onion

1/2 cup frozen peas

3 slices bacon, cut 1/2 inch long

2 eggs, beaten

1 tablespoon light soy sauce

1/2 teaspoon spanish smoked paprika

coarse salt and ground black pepper (to taste)

heat wok. add bacon and cook until browned.  discard all but 1 tablespoon of the oil.  

add onions and sauté until soft then add garlic.  

cook garlic, stirring, for about a minute.

add rice to the wok and toss, breaking the clumps in the process.  

add the soy sauce, black pepper and  smoked paprika.   

taste a spoonful and adjust seasoning as you prefer.  

move the rice to the sides and create a space in the middle of the wok.  pour the beaten egg in it.  

stir the egg gently as you would in scrambled eggs and when cooked, toss it with the rice

add the green peas and toss again.

remove from heat.

serve with a fried egg on top.

there is nothing like a spoonful of fried rice and runny yolk.

yumm!