The Mystery of Fried Rice

 

 

It gives me pleasure that I got a request to write about something that I think is second nature to me – how to cook Fried Rice?!

As far as I remember, I have been cooking fried rice for eons – I can do it with my left hand, I can do it with my eyes closed, I can just do IT without too much thinking!

It took me by surprise, of course, when I needed to chronicle everything in order to write my blog, that after all, making a great dish of fried rice is actually not as simple.  I just find it no big deal because I have been doing it forever.

So for the beginners, if you see all these fancy pictures – don’t panic.  I am introducing here a more “advanced” level of fried rice.  You see, I have certain standard to keep, right?  If my pictures are not colorful enough, I might be scolded by Fun junior.  To cook a dish of fried rice can have just three to four basic ingredients, or you can add as many as you can assemble in your fridge.

Now to start this dish, it is with the basic understanding that you already know how to cook rice.  If you don’t know how to cook rice on stove top, don’t ask me, because even I just cook rice with a rice cooker.  You can get a decent rice cooker for as low as 20 bucks.

The best rice to use for fried rice is old rice you store in the fridge, you can store rice for up to 4 or 5 days in a closed container.  You can even freeze cooked rice and reserve for later use.  I normally keep each night’s left over rice in a container, and after a few days, I might have enough old rice to cook a dish of fried rice for lunch.

The other two recommended basic ingredients are eggs and green beans.  They are nutritious and add just the right color to the rice.  If you eat scallions, dice them and it will add a special flavor too.  However, I knew this little girl who would pick out each and every piece of green beans and scallions before she consumed the rice, so you have to know your audience before you prepare.  The bottom line is: you can add whatever vegetables and meat, finely diced, and egg is a must.

Here in the picture, I have garlic, scallions, bell peppers, celery and ham.  I will only use frozen green beans or frozen mixed vegetables when I run out of fresh ingredients.  Use oil to prepare the wok and stir fry the garlic, bell peppers and celery just so they are somewhat cooked and tender.  I will withhold the ham and scallions as ham is already cooked and scallions only need very little cooking time.  However, if you are using frozen veggies and frozen rice, you should stir fry them first.  Put these all aside.

Beat the eggs slightly as if you are preparing scramble eggs, oil the wok and pour the eggs in, do not stir them.  Meantime, you should use a fork to loosen the old rice.  If you are slow in doing this process, loosen the rice before you do the eggs.  You must loosen the rice because old rice tends to stick together.  Do not add water to separate rice because you do not want the dish to become mushy.
This is probably the most important process for a successful dish, so pay attention.  When the eggs are half cooked, pour in the rice over the eggs, now stir and mix the eggs and the rice.  In doing so, you are doing two things – coating the rice with the uncooked eggs and cutting up the cooked eggs into small portions.  Pay attention to the heat setting, if you are working not as fast as me, you might want to use a low to medium setting to allow yourself more time.  Otherwise, the eggs will become over cooked.  I generally keep the heat to medium or medium high because I work very fast.

After the rice and eggs are mixed and cooked through, pour in all the rest of the ingredients, stir fry some more and add soya sauce, salt & pepper, and maybe garlic powder and ginger powder.  The seasoning process is really up to you, if you need to watch your salt intake, the ham already gives you enough.  Some people will add fish sauce, some will even add ketchup.  

This is my home cooking version and is pretty time tested.  When you eat out, you may come across different kinds of fried rice.  Pineapple and ham are a good combination, but you have to watch that the pineapple is drained of excess water.  If you want to use tomato, make sure you take away the seeds and the liquid inside.  The main key to a successful dish of fried rice is to keep it as dry as possible.  The more liquid content you put in, it will change the consistency of the dish.  One more thing, if you are vegetarian, a good substitute for ham is fried bean curd or marinated bean curd.  Diced them and add to the fried rice.

Garnish with cilantro or as you can see in my picture here, I have some cute mini red bell peppers.  Fried rice can be a simple lunch, or if you serve with soup & salad, quite a satisfying dinner.  Let me know if you have success, or what other variations you come up with.  Till next time!