Fried Rice Da Kine

My grandpa on my father's side was half Portuguese and lived in Hawaii for most of his life. And although he was kind of a dick and I didn't really learn as much from him as my wonderful Irish maternal grandmother who taught me how to bake and paint and crochet (among other artsy things), he did pass down this tasty Hawaii fusion fried rice da kine.

Modern Hawaii style food is a wonderful mish-mash of cultures and based largely on ease of preparation and creativity, so substitutions are always encouraged. Don't have oyster sauce? Use some hoisin! Don't have that either? Just go with some soy and a splash of sesame oil! If you don't have any of those things, I highly recommend getting sesame oil and soy sauce ASAP because they are very versatile and fried rice is one of the best and most wonderful leftover conglomeration. If you can't find linguica sausage, andouille is an acceptable substitute. 

Fried rice breakfast da kine

3 cups cooked rice from yesterday
2-4 TB oil (coconut, peanut, grapeseed are my faves, but canola works too)
1 small onion or shallot, minced
1 carrot, diced (optional, throw in some peas too if you like!)
1 jalapeno or poblano, diced
3 cloves garlic, minced
1 linguica sausage (or andouille)

2-3 tsp soy sauce
2-3 tsp hoisin or oyster sauce or sesame oil
1/2 -1 tsp kochujang or sriracha or any sort of hot sauce you have around*

3 green onion, sliced

opt. garnish:
4 TB cilantro
1 lemon or lime
2 eggs per person (I like to top with an over easy egg instead of scrambling it in)


Cook onion in a preheated wok  with 1-2 TB oil on high heat, stirring constantly. Add carrot and jalapeno. Stir until softened, then add garlic. Add a tsp or so of oil whenever things look like they need to be lubricated.

If veggies are starting to get too cooked or pan too full at this point, remove from pan until later. Add sausage and stir until cooked through. Remove everything from pan, add 1 TB oil, and then finally the rice. Stir vigorously until well coated with oil, and add all the remaining sauces.

Add all cooked veggies and sausage back to pan and stir until well incorporated. Remove from heat and stir in green onions, cilantro and squeeze half the lemon on top to give it a bit of a yummy zest.

Stir one more time and enjoy!


*NOT Tabasco. Leave that to haole cooking like buffalo wings and such.