Seafood Fried Rice

This recipe was inspired by the seafood fried rice at Ruby Foo's in New York City. I was missing the American Chinese food over here in Grenada, so I decided to make my versions of a few of my favorite dishes. I kept it quite close to the original, except I used imitation crabmeat instead of real crabmeat like the restaurant uses. Finding good quality crab meat here is difficult, and I do like the flavor of the imitation crabmeat once in a while. 

Ingredients:
3 cups of cooked jasmine rice, at room temperature
Handful of asparagus stalks, sliced into thin rounds
1/2 pound of shrimp, any size you like, shelled, cleaned and deveined
3/4 cup of imitation crab meat, sliced (or 1/2 cup of real crab meat, drained)
3 eggs
1 garlic clove, minced
1/2 teaspoon of minced ginger
1/2 teaspoon of sesame oil
1/2 teaspoon of sugar
salt to taste
5 tablespoons of vegetable oil for frying

Heat the oil in a wok, and add the ginger and garlic. Fry over medium to high heat for a few seconds until aromatic, and then add the shrimp. When the shrimp are just beginning to turn pink, add the crabmeat. Stir fry until the shrimp are fully cooked (opaque and pink), and then add the asparagus. 

Seafood and asparagus being stir-fried

Whisk the eggs together in a bowl, and add the eggs to the wok. Stir fry with the seafood and asparagus until the eggs are fully cooked. Next, add the rice, sugar, and salt. Stir everything together, and fry for 2-3 minutes. I like to fry over high heat and let the rice sit at the bottom of the pan for a bit before stirring so that it browns a little, but that's optional. Add the sesame oil and fry for another minute or so. Remove  from the heat, and serve. 

Tips: It is very important to be careful not to overcook the rice that you will use to make the fried rice, or it will not fry very well. Just boil the rice until it is just cooked, but still firm. Also, allowing the rice to cool before frying it prevents it from cooking too much and becoming mushy.