Fried Rice was one of those dishes I could never master, or even figure out adequately. The rice always came out a bit mushy and wasn’t the fluffy mix that I’d gotten at restaurants. But after several failed attempts, I was given a couple golden tips that I wish I’d thought of before!
The first tip is that rice cooked the day before and refrigerated overnight is ideal. Refrigeration helps dry out the rice and makes it easier to break apart and mix well with the other ingredients. The other tip is choosing the rice itself. Jasmine rice or other long grained rice are best. I’d tried using japanese rice before and that did not turn out well at all. Reason is that the long grained rice tends to be on the drier side as well and doesn’t stick together quite as much as the japanese rice.
Then, I also found a great recipe on Rasa Malaysia, one of my favorite food blogs, that was closest to the versions that I’ve had at many restaurants and homes.
With these tips (and recipe) in hand and a very grumbly stomach, I was able to create a modest copy of what you can get in most Chinese restaurants…enjoy!
Fried Rice
Serves 4-6
35 minute prep, 10 minute cooking
Ingredients:
- 4 cups cooked rice (refrigerated overnight)
- 1 boneless chicken breast, cubed
- 2 Chinese sausage (lap cheorng), diced
- ¼ lb medium shrimp, peeled, deveined, chopped
- 1 tbsp fish sauce
- ½ tbsp light soy sauce
- ¼ tsp salt
- ½ tsp white pepper
- ¼ tbsp dark sweet soy sauce (Ketjap Manis)
- ½ cup frozen green peas/carrots
- 1 medium onion, chopped
- 2 tbsp canola oil
- 2 cloves garlic, minced
- 2 eggs, beaten
Method:
1. Heat a wok with the canola oil. Toss in garlic, sauté until aromatic.
2. Add chicken and shrimp, stir fry until more than half cooked. Season with salt, add the Chinese sausage and the onion.
3. Add in cold rice and stir well with the ingredients. Add in the soy sauce, fish sauce, sweet soy sauce, white pepper and toss well.
4. Quickly add in frozen peas/carrots, toss well with the rice
5. Clear some space in the middle of the wok and add in the beaten eggs. Wait for about 30-45 seconds, and then begin tossing the rice with the egg to get it spread out and mixed with the rice.
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