No, I'm not becoming a professional chef. I just had to laugh at how many makers - self included - start to experiment with more than just their chosen materials. Every now and then, I start experimenting with cooking. 

This one was just the latest example, and the wife said I should make it again, and document what I did.

Okay, what does “Pantry Raid” mean? Well, every now and then, my wife and I are lacking in dinner plans, but full up on stuff in the fridge/freezer. So I started conducting what I called “Operation Pantry Raid”, whereas I would just find random stuff in our pantry/fridge/freezer, and throw it together. This usually did okay, and was a way for us to use up a lot of the extra stuff we had been accumulating.

The most recent occurrence of this was shortly after I’d been watching a lot of Chef Chris Cho’s videos on Tik Tok and YouTube. He’s a Korean-American chef based in Philadelphia. And he does a lot of “poor boy” versions of recipes. So I thought I’d see what I had to make this work WITHOUT going to the store for more crap. So, I present to you my list of ingredients

• 1 cup dry sushi rice
• A handful of pre-diced, pre-cooked frozen chicken
• Roughly 2 Tbs. of soy sauce
• 1-1.5 Tbs. of sesame oil
• Bulgogi/Kalbi marinade
• A splash of peanut oil (I would use vegetable oil, but I didn’t have any)
• Two stalks of scallions
• 4-300 eggs
• Carrots

Cookware that you’ll need

• A rice cooker – If you don’t have one, get one. I used an Instant Pot with a rice function. If you have neither, you can do this with a pot, but takes a LOT longer. Seriously, even Asian chefs tell you get a rice cooker. If you get a dedicated rice cooker, you can get one for about $20-$35
• A large pan – You can get away with doing this all in a single pan; you’ll just have to wipe it out after cooking the chicken
• A sharp knife for slicing the scallions and carrots, and a second one for dicing the chicken, if necessary.
• Stirring spoon, spatula
• Small bowl (see directions/pictures as to an idea of the size)

Directions:

1. Rinse your rice AT LEAST three times, pouring the water out each time. The water will start out very cloudy and become much clearer as the starch is washed out.
    
2. Soak your rice for 30 minutes. Just let it sit covered in water for half an hour and pour the water out.
3. Put in the water for cooking your rice. If you do not know how much water to use, you can either put in 1.2x the amount of dry rice or put the rice and water into the cooker and stick your finger in there. The water should come up to half-way to your first knuckle. This isn’t my method. Ask any Asian chef like Chris Cho or Uncle Roger. They’ll tell you the same thing.
   
4. Put on the lid and turn on your rice cooker. While that is cooking, move on to the chicken.
5. In a pan, cook the chicken on medium high heat, and stir in the bulgogi sauce. Once it is cooked through, remove it from the heat and set aside. If using the same pan, wipe it out at this time.
   
6. Slice the scallions into thin discs; as thin as you can, but don’t cut yourself!
   
   
7. Slice the carrots into thin sticks, about an inch long (we had pre-sliced carrot strings, like what one might get to make a large salad)
8. Once rice is cooked (or if you cooked it the night before like many do), take it out of the cooker
9. Lower the heat to medium and give it a splash of vegetable/peanut oil. Put in about a quarter of the scallions and cook until fragrant (only takes a few seconds!)
   
   
10. Pour in your rice and stir completely. Also pour in the soy sauce, sesame oil, rest of the scallions, carrots, and add the chicken back in. Stir to combine them well for about 3-5 minutes
    
11. Push the mixture to one side of the pan. Crack four eggs (or more, if you like) and dump them into the now-empty side. Begin stirring immediately to scramble. Don’t worry if you catch some of the rice mixture at this time; it won’t matter (see next step).
     
12. Once the eggs are scrambled but still mostly liquid, start mixing it with the rice and continue stirring. They will finish cooking. Once finished, remove from the heat and/or pan and set aside. If using the pan for the next step, wipe clean.
13. Take the small bowl, and pack it with the fried rice mixture tightly all the way to the brim. Turn it upside down on the serving plate, leaving a small mound of fried rice.
    
14. Back to the pan, leave the heat on medium and crack an egg into it. Don’t scramble; just let it cook through the white, so the yolk stays liquid as much as possible. Once it reaches this point, use a spatula to pull the egg out of the pan and top the rice mound. If you have sesame seeds, you can sprinkle some on top now. I don’t have any.
     
15. Serve and enjoy. And be prepared to have your significant other ask you to make it again.