Rock shrimp fried rice

Here's another quick and versatile weeknight recipe. Get out the prep bowls - fried rice is all about the mis en place. Additionally, prep bowls just make me happy.

I use rock shrimp in my fried rice for some reason I can't remember. Allan loves them, and that's all that really matters, so I continue to use rock shrimp in my fried rice. Needless to say, you could use regular shrimp, diced raw or cooked chicken, pork, yadda yadda.

Vegetally, I happened to have a quarter of a red bell pepper left over from something or other as well as a few baby carrots and handful of sugar snap peas from the garden. The only trick is to group together items that cook at the same pace and start the ones that take the longest first. So! Let's fry some rice.

1/2 cup raw white rice, cooked and cooled (obviously if you have leftover rice from a day or two ago, this is an ideal application for it - say, a cup to cup and a half of cooked rice)

vegetable oil
sesame oil

half an inch of ginger, minced
2 cloves garlic, minced
pinch of red chili flakes
quarter of a small onion, diced
5 or 6 baby carrots, finely diced1/4 red bell pepper, diced
handful of sugar snap peas, diced
1/2 lb of rock shrimp, peeled and deveined
2 eggs, lightly beaten
~ 1/4 cup light soy sauce
dash or two of mirin

handful of finely sliced scallions

Before you begin, make sure all of your vegetables are chopped and, most importantly, sorted into a variety of adorable little bowls according to the time they require to cook. In this case, carrots and onions take longer than peppers and sugar snaps, hence the grouping strategery. When ready, heat a couple of tablespoons of vegetable oil with a drizzle of sesame oil in a large nonstick skillet. This will go quickly. When the pan is hot, fry your ginger, garlic, and chili for a moment, until aromatic. Then add the onion and carrots and allow to cook for another minute or two. Next add the bell pepper and sugar snaps, along with the rock shrimp. If your pan is too crowded, you probably should have used a bigger one. But you can just remove the vegetables to a bowl and add them back in after your shrimp have cooked. Alright, rice time! If the pan is seeming dry, add a little more oil and then your rice. Fry fry fry! Once the rice is coated and getting toasty, scoot everything to one side of the pan and pour your eggs into the other. Scramble! Fry! And be sure you mix thoroughly!! Pour on the soy sauce and mirin! Mix! Taste! Adjust seasoning if necessary!! Fry!!

Garnish with scallions and mange.

Serves 2. Is quick.