[subego]

Saw it on the menu at a place in Chinatown. My years of searching have ended.

If you order a "plain fried rice", without fail, they dump a lot of vegetables in it.

What you need to order is a "fried rice with only green onions and egg".

[BadKosh]

Yeah, veggies are really bad..... But I find your solution to be brilliant.

[mattyb]

There's also 'Special' fried rice with egg and little bits of unidentifiable meat (probably pigeon if you ate at a Chinese restaurant in London up until the late 90s).

[Stogieman]

Steamed rice FTW.

[subego]

Then the quality of the rice comes into play. Safer to just grease it from orbit.

[mindwaves]

Kind of related, but I just bought a claypot and looking forward to cooking some rice and rice dishes inside.

[subego]

Later today, the Star of Bethlehem shall lead the Three Wise Men to an open Chinese place.

[ghporter]

That sounds like the "Spanish Rice" conundrum. Where I live, most Mexican restaurants here serve something called "Spanish Rice" that has tons of veggies, scrambled egg, and other stuff in it - which my friends and coworkers of Mexican descent say is absolutely not traditional. I mean what's with the peas? Not in Northern Mexican cuisine.

Local Chinese places' "fried rice" differs from this "Spanish Rice" pretty much only in adding bean sprouts and celery. I've pretty much given up on this stuff. When I order, I ask for steamed brown rice or just mixed veggies. If I want both, I can mix 'em together.

[subego]

"Spanish rice" in Chicago has peas, carrots, and some type of pickled celery thing. The carrots and celery are diced such that the pieces are roughly the same size as the peas.

The ratio of the veggies sound much different though. I'd say only 5% of the dish, total.

This is more of the type of thing they give you with every entree though, not something you order on its own.

[The Final Dakar]

Originally Posted by Stogieman 

Steamed rice FTW.

I like my rice, like I like my women, white and plain.

[ghporter]

That's pretty similar to what I've seen here with Spanish rice. Mostly rice, some veggies, and seasonings, cooked together in a big pan. And yes, it is usually a default side dish here as well.

What kind of Chinese places are you visiting? Chain restaurants or local mom-n-pop places? If the latter, you will almost certainly be able to ask for what you want...as long as you can communicate with the staff effectively. (I find that is true with any ethnic-specific restaurant; if I can communicate, I can get pretty much anything I ask for...tried that in a Vietnamese place and wound up getting by with bad Spanish - both mine and the waiter's! Pho with extra veggies and less broth on a chilly day is right good!)

[subego]

It's exclusively mom and pop places.

That's the thing. They're totally willing to work with me. Now, if I ask for green onions and egg, they're happy to fry it up. The issue has been I didn't have a descriptor for this other than "plain", which for whatever reason translates to "lots of veggies".

[mattyb]

Originally Posted by ghporter 

which my friends and coworkers of Mexican descent say is absolutely not traditional. I mean what's with the peas? Not in Northern Mexican cuisine.

I'd love to know what was considered traditional. I recently watched an interesting documentary about the "Americas" before Colombus. No wheat, barley, oats or rye. No peaches, pears, plums, figs, olives or bananas. No beasts of burden. No horses, no cows, no pigs, sheep, mules, goats or hens. All were brought over by the Europeans.

[subego]

Tomatoes are pretty rad, though.

[mattyb]

Originally Posted by subego 

Tomatoes are pretty rad, though.

Tomatoes AND potatoes FTW.

But you guys don't know how to pronounce tomato.

[subego]

You say "erb", we say "herb"... because there's a ****ing "H" in it.

- Eddie Izzard

[The Final Dakar]

Originally Posted by subego 

You say "erb", we say "herb"... because there's a ****ing "H" in it.

- Eddie Izzard

These are the same people that add a slight 'r' sound to end of words that end with 'a'. They have no leg to stand on.

[mattyb]

Originally Posted by The Final Dakar 

These are the same people that add a slight 'r' sound to end of words that end with 'a'. They have no leg to stand on.

Yes, its well known that Brits say pandar instead of panda.

[subego]

Isn't it more like "pander"?

And then, once you actually get an "R" sound, you want to replace it with an "A" sound, so you get "pander beah".

[The Final Dakar]

Originally Posted by subego 

Isn't it more like "pander"?

And then, once you actually get an "R" sound, you want to replace it with "A" sound, so you get "pander beah".

Check mate.

[mattyb]

Originally Posted by subego 

Isn't it more like "pander"?

And then, once you actually get an "R" sound, you want to replace it with an "A" sound, so you get "pander beah".

This is nearly correct.

Originally Posted by The Final Dakar 

These are the same people that add a slight 'r' sound to end of words that end with 'a'. They have no leg to stand on.

This is not correct.

Originally Posted by The Final Dakar 

Check mate.

It's checkmate, one word.

[The Final Dakar]

Originally Posted by mattyb 

This is not correct.

I've watched my TNG. I've seen the later seasons where Patrick Stewart gets lazy and calls him "Dater."

[mattyb]

Example :

I wondah whethah the panda beah shits in the woods.

[mattyb]

Originally Posted by The Final Dakar 

I've watched my TNG. I've seen the later seasons where Patrick Stewart gets lazy and calls him "Dater."

He's spent too much time in the US. Even Hugh Laurie's accent has softened.

[andi*pandi]

Originally Posted by subego 

Isn't it more like "pander"?

And then, once you actually get an "R" sound, you want to replace it with an "A" sound, so you get "pander beah".

Are we talking England, or New England? Because we got that covah'd, son.

[subego]

Wicked!

[andi*pandi]

Shoah 'nuf.

[ghporter]

Originally Posted by mattyb 

I'd love to know what was considered traditional. I recently watched an interesting documentary about the "Americas" before Colombus. No wheat, barley, oats or rye. No peaches, pears, plums, figs, olives or bananas. No beasts of burden. No horses, no cows, no pigs, sheep, mules, goats or hens. All were brought over by the Europeans.

Well the folks I know don't go in for human sacrifice, and they don't expect the losing football team to be executed after the game either. The "traditional" stuff they're talking about is Northern Mexican food, based on ground corn, rice, peppers, and a variety of meats. I guess the timeframe for "traditional" is important here...

[mattyb]

Sorry if that came across badly. Didn't mean it to.

[mindwaves]

Don't have the link right now but there is strong evidence or proof that some South American Indians had chickens.

The New World also had many animals/veggies important to use today. Some examples are potatoes, squash, corn, tobacco, tomatoes, and peppers to name a few.

[ghporter]

They had fowl, but not what we'd call "chickens." There are a couple of varieties of chicken that were developed in Mexico that seem to come from much earlier birds than European chickens.

History and archeology are intimately linked, and our knowledge of what the area we call Mexico was like before the Spanish arrived is based on a complex mix of written history (Inca, Maya, etc., as well as others, along with what the Spanish wrote about the locals) and pre-written evidence. Much of "modern" traditional Mexican food comes from much earlier traditions that were evolved by the addition of European items. Maize, a variety of peppers and other local foods (since evolved into more substantial and easier to cultivate items) with the addition of newly imported items gave the local foods their character.