Crispy Carbonara Fried Rice
Carbonara pasta basically has the same base components as fried rice: starch and eggs. So there’s no reason why this dish wouldn’t work. I may argue that it’s actually better than the original. We get to use up the whole eggs rather than just egg yolks, we get the same creamy sauce, while also adding a crispy layer on top (inspired by the crispy bottom layer you’d get from a claypot rice dish).
RECIPE
Feeds 1-2
250g Instant jasmine rice
3 eggs (separated)
1ea lap cheong (Chinese sausage)
1.5tbs Emerald
1.5tbs Scarlet (just the oil)
¾ cups grated parmesan
INSTRUCTIONS
crack 2 eggs and separate out yolks for the sauce, beat the whites with the remaining egg until homogenized (will use for fried rice)
for the sauce - mix 2 yolks with ¼ cup of grated parmesan, add ¼ cup of hot water while mixing to prevent eggs from scrambling
roughly dice lap cheung into 0.5-1cm cubes
in a wok or large non stick frying pan, fry lap cheong with scarlet oil on medium high heat until fragrant and translucent
turn to high heat and add the beaten eggs in the pan to cook until semi-scrambled, before the eggs are fully cooked (should look half cooked and half runny), quickly add the instant rice to the pan and break apart any clumps with a wooden spoon or spatula.
you want the rice to soak up the runny eggs, it will result in a fluffier fried rice
keep stir frying on high heat until all the eggs are cooked and rice is fluffy. All the grains should be separated
add emerald and stir fry until fragrant, then remove fried rice from pan and set aside
turn to low heat, sprinkle ½ cup of grated parmesan to cover the bottom of your pan and cook until golden brown
gently loosen the edges of the parmesan crust from the pan with a spatula
return the fried rice to the pan on top of the parmesan and pour the carbonara sauce to evenly over the rice
gently loosen the parmesan crust from the pan again to make sure it is not stuck, place a plate upside down on top of the pan, and flip the pan over to remove
let cool down slightly for the crust to crisp up, drizzle with scarlet crunchy bits