Escape Thanksgiving with Curry Fried Rice

With Thanksgiving only a few days off, many of us have been buried amongst stacks of cookbooks and magazines testing recipes for the big day. If you've ever cooked a Thanksgiving dinner, you were probably sick of turkey and mashed potatoes, long before the family gathered around the table to devour your feast.

That's why I thought you might appreciate a change of pace with this quick, fragrant fried rice. It's the perfect way to use up last night's rice, and make room in the fridge for all those leftovers you're about to have.

With glistening grains of fried rice, redolent of Indian spices, it may sound like an Indo-Chinese hybrid, but karei cha-han (curry fried rice), is actually a Japanese favorite. In a land where convenience stores carry everything from curry potato chips, to curry flavored soda, you might say that the Japanese have an obsession with curry.

As with any stir-fry, fried rice is cooked over high heat, so it's very important to have your ingredients prepped and organized so you can add them quickly, otherwise you risk burning the other ingredients in the pan.