Chicharon (pork crackling) fried rice

It was a clean-out the fridge operation that resulted in this fried rice made with the rind and meat salvaged from soup bones and leftover chicken stew. See, a couple of days ago, I made a huge pot of soup with pork knuckle bones with all the rind, litid (ligaments, sinews, tendons) and meat intact. And I had this idea. Why not make chicharon — pork cracklings to you who don’t speak Filipino — and use them to make a noodle dish?

I was already boiling a pot of water in which to cook the noodles when Speedy asked if I was making fried rice for lunch. Huh? Fried rice? And he said we had so much cold rice. Oh, okay. So I turned off the stove and figured we might as well have some coffee — we already had hot water, didn’t we? And so the pork cracklings and cold rice became a fried rice dish.

So it all started with these soup bones — rinds and litid and meat already very tender after several hours of simmering.

I discarded the bones and cut the edible portions into small pieces.

Into a hot oil-free non-stick wok they went where they cooked until they were nicely brown and crisp. The step takes several minutes, the pork pieces will render fat and the fat will sputter so cover the wok loosely with lots of space for the steam to escape.

At around this time, while I was chopping a carrot and slicing some chives, Speedy joined me in the kitchen, rummaged through the fridge and found a container with a few pieces of chicken that had been cooked in balsamic vinegar and Worcestershire sauce. Shouldn’t we use them too, he asked. And he proceeded to debone the chicken and chop the meat.

Then, he brought out the cold rice. And there was so much! I looked at the pork cracklings which have shrunk and the amount of chopped chicken meat, and realized that if I was going to cook all the rice, I really didn’t have enough meat. And Speedy likes his fried rice meaty. After all, the fried rice was meant as a stand alone dish and that was all we were having for lunch.

So, I got some Chinese sausages, chopped them and added them to the pork cracklings in the wok.

Next, I added the chopped carrot and stirred the contents of the wok. The carrot bits and sausages would take a few minutes to cook…

… so, in a frying pan, I cooked two beaten eggs with a little oil.

Meanwhile, while the eggs cooked, the carrot and sausage bits got done. I threw in the chopped chicken meat and chives, and stirred everything.

Next, the cold rice that had been fluffed to separate the grains. And some toasted garlic bits.

Seasonings consisted of balsamic vinegar, Worcestershire sauce and oyster sauce. And salt and pepper, of course. I stirred everything and while waiting for the rice to get heated through, I rolled the cooked eggs and made thin slices.

When the rice was heated through, I added the eggs, stirred through, adjusted the seasonings and the pork crackling fried rice was ready.

And we had lunch. Oh, after I had taken photos, naturally.