Ginger Garlic Shrimp Fried Rice

Ingredients

¼ cup vegetable oil
10 ounces shrimp (peeled and deveined, optional)
2 ounces ginger (minced)
1½ heads of garlic (minced, about ¼ cup)
5 cups cooked white rice (cooled)
1 teaspoon soy sauce
1 tablespoon Shaoxing wine
⅛ teaspoon ground white pepper
4 eggs (beaten)
3 scallions (finely chopped)

Directions

Heat your wok over high heat. Add 1 tablespoon of oil to coat. Quickly stir-fry the shrimp until they’re just cooked. They should be pink, but ever-so slightly translucent. Avoid overcooking them (you will be adding them back to the wok later). Transfer them to a bowl and set aside.

Add ¼ cup oil to the wok and heat over medium-high heat. Add the ginger and fry until fragrant (the color will darken, but the ginger will not necessarily become crisp). Next, add the garlic. It should be lightly toasted; if it’s still white in color, it needs more cooking time. In total, it will take about 10 minutes time to cook the ginger and garlic.

Next, turn the heat up to high and add the rice to the wok. Stir-fry the rice so the ginger/garlic mixture is evenly distributed. Spread the rice out in one layer so it can evenly toast. Occasionally stir-fry the rice and re-spread it. Next, season the rice with the soy sauce, Shaoxing wine, and white pepper. Continue to stir-fry for another 3-5 minutes.

Next, pour the eggs evenly over the rice, and stir-fry quickly to distribute. The egg will coat the grains of rice, and you’ll have egg throughout instead of large clumps. If you’d prefer to pre-scramble the eggs and then stir them in at this step, you can do that too.

Add the shrimp and the scallions, stir-fry to combine, and serve!