Spicy Shrimp Fried Rice

I don’t love Chinese food.  There, I said it.  When Jerry and I are going out to eat and we’re trying to decide a location, he always throws out a Chinese restaurant first.  And I immediately shoot it down.

Jerry: “You hate Chinese food!”
Jenny:  “No I don’t, I just don’t love it.”
Jerry:  “No you hate it…just admit it”
Jenny: “I don’t hate it.  There are simply WAY more things I’d rather eat other than Chinese food.  Like pizza.  Or Mexican.  Or sandwiches.  Or pasta.  Or salad.  Or chicken wings. Or pizza”

Maybe I just don’t like the way I feel after I eat it.  It’s always super salty (and I LOVE salt) and I’m hungry again 15 minutes after I eat it.

Then Jerry declared on Friday “I’m getting Chinese food this weekend and you can either come with me or you stay home and find something to eat by yourself”.

Hmmmm, ok.  “Well how about I make us a nice stir-fry at home?  And I’ll make some healthier fried rice”.  (Jerry only ever gets fried rice when we get Chinese food.  Or Thai.  ONLY fried rice.  So he really doesn’t love Chinese food either…he just loves fried rice).  He reluctantly agreed…although he looked very defeated.

So I went on my favorite healthy foods blog, Skinnytaste, and there it was…Spicy Shrimp Fried Rice. And I had all of the ingredients on hand.  Done and done.

Note:  I find it is really helpful to stock up on a bunch of Asian ingredients to keep on hand.  You drop $30 in one shopping trip, but then you always have them to whip up a quick dinner and don’t have to run to the store for one thing.  My staples are soy sauce, toasted sesame oil, asian fish sauce, thai garlic chili paste, rice vinegar, hoisin sauce and oyster sauce.

I roasted up a big batch of veggies (season with toasted sesame oil, soy sauce, salt & pepper, 425 for 15 minutes) to go with it.

All I can say is WOW…it blew us both away.  I cooked up some brown rice earlier in the day so the whole thing came together in 20 minutes or so.  I followed the recipe pretty closely, but my sesame oil was just plain and it turned out just fine.

I may actually like Chinese food after all.