Re-discovering an old favorite...

One of the great things about keeping a food blog is that we are able to easily scroll back to see what we have made in the past (especially useful during the holiday baking season!). Besides bringing back fond memories, it also reminds me of recipes that we've done and forgotten about! Just like these Peppermint Kisses we made almost two years ago. We did a different variation on them last year, but I especially liked how these turned out the first time - dressing up the kisses was fun and added a whimsical twist.

For tonight's dinner, Shrimp Fried Rice, I used a new (to me anyway) technique to cook the rice I needed for it. We've always prepared rice with the method of using slightly less than 2 parts liquid to 1 part rice - however, tonight's recipe prepares the rice like you would pasta in lots of boiling salted water. I used brown jasmine rice, hence the long cook time - you could use a white basmasti if you like, but shorten the cook time to 12 to 14 minutes. I thought the rice cooked this way was a little less fluffy, but much less fussy. Just be sure to check the rice earlier than you normally would to make sure it is tender, but still has a slight bite to it - we usually cook brown rice around 35 minutes or so and ours was done around 28 minutes using the boiling method.

We've only made fried rice a few times now and there seems to be two ways that recipes call for adding the eggs - they either have you add beaten raw eggs once the rice has been added or they have you cook the eggs ahead of time, slice them up and then add them. This recipe uses the former, but I don't see much point to it as it adds an extra step. It does not dirty another pan or anything, but I guess if you want to see the big egg-y pieces, rather than having the egg more dispersed into the rice, then this would be a good way to ensure that. Before the rice and cooked eggs go in, shrimp, thinly sliced carrots, scallions, garlic and fresh minced ginger are tossed into the pan and quickly cooked just until the shrimp are done. When the rice is added, it is moistened and seasoned with salty soy sauce and tangy lime juice. I left the shrimp whole, but feel free to coarsely chop it if you want pieces instead. Jeff quite liked this, especially since it used shrimp - the only thing I would do differently is to make the rice a few hours ahead (or the day before) and chill it before using so the grains stay more separate.

Recipes
Peppermint Kisses
Shrimp Fried Rice