Eggs over rice for a simple quarantine meal

First, you start to make the rice, which to me is the simplest thing in the world. People online complain about never doing it right. Friends swear by rice makers. Me, I can’t cope with the idea of confronting a machine with like 50 buttons on it and have that come between me and eating. I do have an old-school rice maker with only an on/off switch but the pot inside is aluminum and it gives it a weird taste.

So anyway, you make the rice. One cup of rice, two cups of chicken stock in whatever pot or pan you have that holds about double the amount that you will put into it, so it doesn’t boil over too much. Put it on high and let it boil. You have to linger nearby or you will forget it’s boiling and you really don’t want to deal with that mess. When it’s been boiling for a few seconds or so, turn the burner down to the lowest setting and put a lid on the pot. In 20 minutes, it will be done. Oh, I don’t bother with rinsing the rice. You want all of the stickiness on there. You don’t want to be chasing individual rice grains around your plate later.

When the rice has been going 15 minutes, splash some oil or melt some butter into your best frying pan that sticks the least. I have been using really fancy, expensive peanut oil that smells really peanut-y. I was making jambalaya a couple of weeks or so ago, right at the start of all this madness. The recipe called for peanut oil. So I thought, what the hell, splurge on the pricey stuff. I might be checking out of here in a week or so, so why not? It all goes on my Fred Meyer rewards card. Turn the heat on medium high and let the oil heat up.

Crack two eggs into a bowl. My brother-in-law, Carl taught me that. That has two advantages. First, you can pick out any egg shell pieces that have gotten in there. Just like wayward rice, you don’t want to deal with surprise crunchiness later. Second, you will be ready when the time comes to sluice them into the frying pan. It seems like with eggs, every second counts. If you are making this for two, use four eggs, obviously.

Now, back to the frying pan, put some water on your fingers and flick it into the oil. If there is a snap, crackle, and pop the oil is ready. If you are using butter, you will just know; don’t let it get brown and burn too much. Now, slide those eggs in there. Get a good amount of black pepper on them. Black pepper on eggs cannot be beat. After that, you are on your own. I like to leave the yolks half runny. It’s always hard for me to gauge though, because I always go into a spiral about undercooked eggs and then, sometimes it’s too late and the yolks are hard.

Check on the rice. Take a fork and eat some of it to see if it’s done the way you like it. Then, here’s the secret: let it go a couple of minutes longer. You will start to get some nice browning, almost like caramelizing on the bottom and that ish is good! You want that. Take it from me. I learned this at some community event I went to for my work. One of the organizers of the event let me have some nearly-burnt rice like it was some kind of World War Two contraband or something. I loved it. Some people just want to watch the rice burn (almost.) Those are smart people.

Shovel some of that rice into a bowl. Be sure to get some of the rice from the bottom of the pot. Throw the eggs on top. Throw on the hot sauce or whatever else you want. Enjoy!

Update, September 9, 2021: The New York Times wrote a similar sort of article, riffing on eggs over rice. It's a great starting point. Read it here: 

https://www.nytimes.com/2021/09/08/magazine/egg-rice-recipe.html