Sesame Seed Fried Rice

We interrupt this Subtropical Christmas series to bring you the latest breaking news: ReBekha can cook!

Now before you get too excited, you should know that I am starting slow. So far, it has only been simple recipes except where heavily assisted by others (such as the surprising turkey success), but I am doing pretty well.

Now, if you haven't known me for longer than a few months, you might not know that I have never considered myself capable of really cooking--aside from top ramon, that is. It isn't that I horribly mutilate everything I touch, I simply don't attempt it that often. Recipes tend to terrify me.

The exception is pancakes. I love to make strange pancakes. I even submitted my baked

apple & cinnamon recipe to the JET newsletter. :P Simple, but yummy.

Well, since I moved to Japan, and have this nice apartment to myself, and a huge assortment of strange foods to choose from, I decided to give the whole cooking thing another shot. My fantastic coworkers, Max and An Yang, come over to my place semi-regularly for a little cooking party, and that has definitely helped. An Yang is a walking cookbook of Japanese and Chinese recipes and makes it all seem so easy. One of the first things we cooked was cha han, or fried rice.

What I love about cha han is that it is so simple, so versatile, and so delicious. All the time.

Well, today, I made my own variation of cha han that I want to share with my other cooking-challenged friends. :)

Sesame Seed Fried Rice

It's easy.

1. Prepare the rice ahead of time. I use white rice in a basic rice cooker. Wheat rice would probably work just as well.

2. Combine diced chives, green peppers, yellow peppers, and tomatoes in a frying pan with seasame seed oil, sesame seeds, salt and pepper (to taste) in frying pan.

(I would also usually add fried egg, but I didn't have the energy today.)

3. Fry until veggies are crispy and oil is hot.

3. Add the rice to the frying pan, mix it with the other ingredients, and cook until fried.

I think the most important thing about this is to fry the veggies in sesame seed oil before adding the rice. It makes a major taste difference.

I've learned that I am not very good at measuring when I am cooking for myself, but I don't think exact measurements are necessary in this case. The beauty of cha han, for me, is being able to just toss ingredients together. So far, this is the best combination I have come up with. :)