NEW RECIPE: Breakfast Fried Rice

© Constantine William Spyrou

I have to give the inspiration for this recipe to my older sister. She told me to come up with some kind of fried rice. Fried rice is awesome in that the rice and egg combination actually makes a great canvas to soak up several other flavors, and can work in lots of different cuisines, not just Asian-based. Friends of mine have made hot dog fried rice and spam fried rice, and I even made steak fried rice once as a leftovers treat for me and my dad. I decided to do an American-style fried rice, but for breakfast. In Asia, lots of people will eat rice for breakfast, so why not combine the concept with American classics like eggs (scrambled, of course) and sausage (made from scratch)? I chose to make a scratch-made chicken apple sausage for this dish because it's my sister's favorite sausage. I felt like it needed some pork, though... so it's more of a chicken-pork apple sausage blend. But it's still tasty! 

Serves up to 8.

For the Sausage:

- 1 pound ground pork
- 1 pound ground chicken
- 1 medium apple, peeled and grated (This allows for the apple flavor to really penetrate through via osmosis but it will disintegrate, leaving it not too visible in the finish product but adding a nice tartness to the sausage.
- 1/8 cup sage leaves, finely chopped (this is the predominant flavoring to the chicken apple sausage)
- 1 tablespoon ground fennel seed
- 2 teaspoons garlic powder
- 2 teaspoons ground nutmeg
- 1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
- 1/4 cup minced onion
- Salt and pepper to taste for seasoning

For the Rice: 

6 cups cooked Jasmine rice
4 eggs, beaten
2 tablespoons crushed garlic
1/4 cup chopped green onion
1/4 cup diced bell peppers (any color works, try using yellow, red, and green!
1 1/2 tablespoons soy sauce
1 tablespoon white pepper
2 teaspoons ground ginger
2 teaspoons sesame oil
2 tablespoons canola oil
1 splash of Mirin (Japanese rice wine vinegar)

Cooking: 

- Combine the ground pork and chicken into a mixing bowl.
- Peel and core the apple, then grate it into the meat. Mix thoroughly.
- Add onion, seasonings, and sage leaves. Mix well.
- Place the canola oil in a hot pan. When it starts to smoke, drop in the sausage and let it cook most of the way through.
- Add in half of the chopped green onion, the bell peppers, and the garlic, and stir.
- Deglaze the pan with the Mirin. Add the ground ginger, stir, then add in the eggs.
- When eggs are mostly cooked, add in the rice.
- Mix the rice complete in and add the sesame oil and soy sauce, mixing in well.
- Just before taking the fried rice out of the pan, add the rest of the green onion. Remove from pan, and serve.

I hope you enjoy this fusion of Asian cooking and American breakfast! If you choose to make it, let me know how it turns out! Enjoy! =)