This column generally follows a you-ask-I-tell approach, meaning readers ask for recipes and I find someone to tell us how to make them. This means that some of my own favorites never see print.

So in a personal indulgence, I chose to open the cookbook "By Request 2: The Continuing Search for Hawaii’s Greatest Recipes" with a chapter called "Dinner at My House." Here you’ll find my family’s favorite Kim Chee Fried Rice, my mother’s Chinese-Style Steamed Fish, my mother-in-law’s Chicken Estufao, my husband’s Barbecued Chicken and my sister-in-law’s Cola Cake.

In other words, no one made a request for these recipes, but I’m giving them to you anyway.

This recipe is the dish I think my son would ask for if the world were ending tomorrow. As with any fried-rice preparation, feel free to throw in whatever’s in the fridge — only the kim chee, oyster sauce and chili sauce are basic. Even if you’ve had similar concoctions, this one has been repeatedly tested on my family to be something special.

SPICY KIM CHEE FRIED RICE

2 slices bacon, chopped
1 egg
1/2 cup chopped onion
2 cloves garlic, minced
1/2 cup diced bell pepper or corn kernels
1 cup diced cooked meat (chicken, ham, teriyaki beef, whatever you have left over)
1/2 cup chopped kim chee, or more to taste
4 to 5 cups leftover rice
2 tablespoons oyster sauce
1 tablespoon Thai chili-garlic sauce or kim chee base
2 stalks green onion, chopped

Fry bacon until cooked but not crisp. Push to side of pan. Beat egg and add to bacon fat in pan. Fold until mostly cooked. Push to side. Add onions and garlic to pan and stir-fry until softened. Add bell pepper and stir-fry a minute longer (if using corn, stir in later).

Push bacon and egg into center of pan and fold into vegetables. Add meat and kim chee (and corn, if using), folding until well combined.

Add rice, breaking up any clumps (it’s easiest to do this with your hands). Keep folding ingredients together until evenly mixed. Be sure to scrape pan and mix in any browned, crispy bits from bottom.

Combine oyster and chili sauces; add to pan and stir-fry until rice is coated and heated through. Sprinkle with green onions. Serves 4 as main dish.

Approximate nutritional information, per serving (using chicken, bell peppers and 4-1/2 cups medium-grain rice): 450 calories, 10 g fat, 3 g saturated fat, 100 mg cholesterol, 350 mg sodium, 48 g carbohydrate, 2 g fiber, 3 g sugar, 20 g protein

Nutritional analysis by Joannie Dobbs, Ph.D., C.N.S.