Recipe: Southern Style Fried Rice

I wanted to make something different the other day so I started kind of throwing things in the pan. I had Hoppin' John in the back of my mind, but my favorite HJ recipe uses soy sausage which means I can't have it anymore. I still wanted the black eyed peas and rice so I started from there. I cooked rice in our rice cooker first then, while that was finishing, I chopped up some veggies and put them in the pan to saute. Then I remembered an old Cooking Light Weeknight recipe we used to make with chicken that also used rice and black eyed peas. I wanted that flavor profile so I dug up the recipe and used those seasonings to spice my dish. (Leaving out the chicken, of course.) As I was cooking I thought it would also taste great with egg thrown in, fried rice style, although I didn't actually make it that way. (I made the vegan version, egg free, so I still need to experiment.) Here's the recipe I came up with:

Southern Style Fried Rice

Ingredients:
Cooked rice, about 3 cups
Two cans black eyed peas, rinsed and drained

Olive Oil, about 2 tablespoons
Sweet onion, diced
Garlic, pureed (with salt on a cutting board with the side of a knife, Roger Mooking-style)

4 medium carrots, diced
Salt and pepper, to taste

Spice Mix:
1 tablespoon sugar
½ teaspoon, Old Bay Seasoning
¼ teaspoon paprika

Garnish:
Peanuts
Scallions, thinly sliced

Optional:
Egg, beaten (I haven’t tried this with egg yet so I’m not sure if it will need one or two.)

Saute the onion and carrots in olive oil until the carrots are soft and the onion is translucent. Season with salt and pepper to taste. Add the garlic and spice mix and cook for another minute or so. Add in the rice and black eyed peas and cook until warm.

If you are using the egg make a well in the center of the pan and scramble the eggs until cooked through then mix with the rest of the rice and bean mixture.

Throw in some peanuts and scallions before serving.