Papaya Fried Rice

With Christmas just a little over  two weeks away, I am starting to feel the pressure to finish everything work-related before the break.  It doesn't help either when you hear "Only 'X' days till Christmas!" on TV every night.  As soon as September arrives, the entire Christian population in this country start the count down.  

Since I have pretty much been working non-stop, I haven't had much time to prepare any dishes with great thought or do anything spontaneous, both in and out of the kitchen.  For now, the closest I can get to "spontaneous" is preparing this papaya fried rice I concocted.

What  dish can possibly be more spontaneous and economical than throwing together a few random left over ingredients from your refrigerator and pantry that simultaneously allows you to experiment with textures, colors and flavors other than  a fried rice dish?

I apologize for the vague amounts provided in the recipe below.  As I've said,  they're just leftover ingredients I randomly threw in together. 

Anybody done with their Christmas shopping, by the way?  I haven't done any Christmas shopping in seven years now as I hate going to the malls here in Manila during this time of the year.  Take the volume of people in an average American mall during Christmas and multiply that by three or four and you now have an idea just how crowded the malls are over here.  I usually just bake cookies or cakes for the ones I like enough to make it to my Christmas list  as a way of avoiding the tidal wave of humanity that sweeps over this densely populated city during this time of the year.  Thankfully, my Christmas list isn't too long.

 

Papaya Fried Rice

Ingredients

finely chopped onions

minced garlic

chopped ginger

prawns, peeled and deveined

kani (imitation crab sticks), cubed

frozen peas

half of a papaya, cubed 

Leftover rice (about 2 cups)

1 makrut (kaffir) leaf, sliced into thin strips

light soy sauce

ground black pepper

Directions

1.  Saute onions, garlic and ginger.

2.  Add the prawns when onions turn transparent.  

3.  Add the kani, peas, papaya when the prawns change in color.  Cook for about 1-2 min.

4.  Add the rice and mix well with the rest of the ingredients.  Season with soy sauce and pepper.  Garnish with lime leaves.

Secrets to a successful fried rice dish:

1.  A good wok.  Buy a real one from your Chinatown or Asian shop, not the kind  made for the Western market under those fancy cookware brand names including the ones under Food Network celebrity chefs.

2. Old rice (at least a day old)  at room temperature.

3.  A well-oiled wok at a high temperature.