asian scrambled eggs & rice

are you tired of slogging through soggy cereal? do you quail at the thought of another slurpy yogurt and fruit combo?

my point is that these eggs are quick and simple and delicious and a little out of the ordinary. thus they are practically guaranteed to be a welcome respite from the doldrums of typical weekday breakfasts. you can also make them on the weekends - i just did!

this was a great quick breakfast on a rainy saturday morning. it would also be good on a dry tuesday morning. or with a nice salad for a quick lunch. it uses leftover cooked rice, eggs, onion, soy sauce, sesame oil, pepper (incidentally, this is just regular black pepper in a lemon pepper container, but lemon pepper would be good, too), and sriracha (or other hot chili sauce).

you can customize these in various ways - if i have cilantro, i will put it in. sometimes i use shallots instead of onion. if there are some scallions skulking around, i will put those in at the very end, or just snip them over the top of the finished eggs (you can also do the same with chives). so consider this just a basic template for whatever genius thing you come up with.

first i let the onion cook up a little. i used 1/4 of a small onion - probably like 1/4 - 1/3 cup once it was chopped. this is totes to taste, though. use however much onion you feel you deserve. i like to cook it in some butter on medium-high heat so that it gets some nice browned areas. brown is where the flavor is! although the flavor is also still in the regular white part. it is just a different flavor.

then add some cold cooked rice. i was just making this for me, so i used like 1/3 cup of plain white rice that has been hanging out in our fridge for a day or two. or three. i hope rice doesn't go bad. it seemed fine, though. let that cook together with the onions for a little bit. i usually turn the burner down a little at this point - to medium or a little below that.

while the rice and onion are getting better acquainted, mix two eggs with a tablespoon or so of soy sauce. you might want to start with a little less than a tablespoon - maybe two teaspoons or so. i really like salt, apparently. although i didn't feel like this was too salty.

then just add the eggs to the onion and rice mixture and cook until they reach the perfect scrambledy consistency. then once you plate them you can sprinkle on more soy sauce if desired, plus sriracha and a little smidge of sesame oil to taste. sesame oil is pretty strong, so be careful! this is also when i would put some chives or whatnot on there if i had any. a scattering of toasted sesame seeds would not be out of place here, either.

then eat it up and be glad you didn't settle for some plain ol' toast or sad instant oatmeal. this comes together in under ten minutes and is satisfying and delicious and happy-making. you could also try it with other cooked grains or different flavor profiles - quinoa/cumin/chili powder/salsa, brown rice/frozen peas/curry powder, etc.

*ingredients* (for eggs for one - can be doubled, etc)

1/4 - 1/3 cup onion, chopped (sweet onions are particularly good in this, but you can use any kind)

1/3 cup cooked rice

2 eggs

2 teaspoons - 1 tablespoon soy sauce

chili sauce

sesame oil

pepper

other toppings - chives, scallions, sesame seeds, etc.