When I was a kid, I was part of a Girl Scout Troop. Every year, we’d go to a winter camp, where we’d go up to the snow and stay in cabins.

There was this big lodge where we would gather for meals, but we would also play games, play pool, stuff like that.

One year, my troop was in the lodge playing games, playing pool, you know, having fun, and my troop leader had brought her entire family that year. So my friend’s older brother, mom and dad, everybody was there.

Everyone else in our troop was playing games, obviously having fun… and there’s me, sitting under a table, just watching.

After a while, my friend’s older brother comes over and peeks under the table and is like… “Are you okay?”

“Oh, no, I’m fine. Everything’s fine. I’m just watching.”

“Er… can you smile for me? Are you having fun?”

He was seriously concerned about if I was having a good time or not, and I’m just over here being an introvert, being like “no, this is great. I just want to sit here and observe and not have to deal with people and I’m having the time of my life.”

He was so worried about me. Yeah… I’m an introvert.

This is one of those recipes that honestly looked a lot more interesting than it turned out. I think, from that bright yellow color, I just expected it to be more flavorful – my mind probably thought “curry”.

BUT we still easily scarfed it down, so I wouldn’t say it was truly a fail either.

The flavors definitely felt very Japanese in that subtle sort of way, so it wasn’t bad. But I recently saw another golden rice recipe from an actual Chinese source, and that one looks waaay more promising, so I may have to try that sometime when I end up with leftover sushi rice again.

Golden Fried Rice with Salmon and Furikake

from Bon Appetit

Ingredients

• 4 large eggs
• 4 cups chilled cooked short-grain white rice
• 5 tbsp vegetable oil, divided, plus more for drizzling
• kosher salt
• 1 12-oz skinless, boneless salmon fillet, cut into 1″ pieces
• a 1″ piece ginger, peeled, finely chopped
• 1/2 small onion, finely chopped
• 1 tsp sugar
• 4 scallions, white and pale green parts finely chopped, dark green parts thinly sliced, separated
• 3 garlic cloves, finely chopped
• furikake (for serving)

Cooking Directions

1. Separate egg yolks from whites, placing yolks in a medium bowl and whites in a small bowl. Add rice to bowl with yolks and mix to break up any clumps and coat each grain with yolks (take your time with this as any clumps will cook together); set aside. Stir 2 Tbsp. oil into egg whites and season lightly with salt.
2. Heat a dry large nonstick skillet over high. Add egg white mixture and cook, pushing around constantly with chopsticks or a heatproof rubber spatula, until gently set, about 30 seconds. Transfer to a plate. Wipe out skillet if needed.
3. Heat 1 Tbsp. oil in same skillet over medium-high. Season fish with salt and cook, undisturbed, until golden brown underneath, about 2 minutes. Turn and cook just until lightly browned on the other side and opaque throughout, about 1 minute. Transfer to another plate. Wipe out skillet.
4. Heat 2 Tbsp. oil in skillet over medium-high. Cook ginger, stirring, until very fragrant, about 20 seconds. Add onion and season with a pinch of salt. Cook, stirring, until onion is translucent, about 1 minute (remove from heat if onion starts to go past golden brown). Add reserved rice mixture, sprinkle with sugar, and season with salt. Toss to combine, then cook, undisturbed, until rice is beginning to warm and crisp underneath, about 1 minute. Push some of the rice to the side to clear a few inches in skillet. Drizzle a bit of oil into the clearing. Add scallion white and pale green parts and garlic and cook, stirring, until just softened and fragrant, about 45 seconds. Toss into rice mixture and cook, tossing occasionally, until warmed through and rice is crisp and chewy, about 3 minutes. Return cooked egg whites to pan and cook, tossing and breaking up with spatula until distributed. Return salmon to pan and toss once to combine.
5. Divide among plates and top with furikake and scallion greens.

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