Fried Rice and How to Not Mess It Up

It’s a recipe blog so here is the anecdote about how my hubby/wifey/kiddos just LOVED this dish.

JUST KIDDING! The rice is the star here, and I hope you try it. And to be clear, I am not offering the ONE ULTIMATE SECRET THAT CHEFS DON’T WANT YOU TO KNOW ABOUT FRIED RICE. I have no pretensions about my fried rice being better than someone else’s. Food is an art, not a science. But what I can offer you is my own experience going from complete amateur to competent rice-wrangler. I should also clarify that this is not an “authentic” fried rice to any specific tradition, this is just dumb old me taking things I’ve seen in a couple different recipes and mashing them together.

This would be much easier with visual aids but unfortunately I didn’t plan this ahead, I’m just bored at work and thinking about RICE. Also this isn’t a recipe for you to follow step-by-step, this is an invitation to try some stuff out yourself. Be ready to mess it up a few times until you find what works for you.

What’s In A Fried Rice?

• The Rice, duh: I like to use long-grain rice like a jasmine or similar. The one tip you’ve probably heard before is to use leftover rice, and yes, it is a good idea. What I’ll do is simply make twice as much rice as I need for a given dinner and save half for fried rice the next day. If you forget to do this the night before, then I’d suggest making it in the morning and letting it cool before dinner. You can also speed up this process by spreading the cooked rice out in a single layer on a baking tray and leaving it in the fridge for a bit.
  
  Another important thing to keep in mind is the rice’s starch; this is basically what causes the rice to stick to itself. Starchy/sticky rice is far harder to fry, so minimizing it will make a better result. What I will do is put my uncooked rice in a fine mesh sieve and rinse it for about 2 or 3 minutes before cooking.

• The Meat and Veg: This is where you can really go nuts. Whatever meat or produce is sitting in your fridge, it will probably taste good in some fried rice. Of course, there are still a few things to think about here. I like to start with some kind of salted or cured meat as a base. Chinese-style sausage, bacon, pancetta, ham, etc. (For non-meat-eaters, I also love doing this with the 5 Spice Tofu they sell at my local Asian market, or you can simply skip straight to the veggies). The nice thing about starting with a cured meat is that you won’t have to cook it much compared to a raw meat, and it already has a good flavor to it. If you do start with some raw chicken or pork or beef, you’ll probably want to basically treat it as its own separate dish (including marinating it, if you really want to impress me) and then add it to the rice towards the end.
  
  As for choosing your veggies, like I said, pretty much anything goes. For a good “classic” fried rice I like onion, carrot, green pepper, and frozen peas. Because the actual dish comes together really quickly, I will prep all of my veggies and meat before I do anything else. I’ll chop up everything into roughly equal ~1cm (or smaller) pieces and set it aside so it’s ready to go when I begin frying.

• The Egg: Nothing much to say about this. Take 2 eggs (more for a big batch) and whisk them lightly, little dash of salt in there, and set it aside.

• The Sauce: Here is another spot where you can go a bit crazy. I will always start with ~1/4 cup of soy sauce, about half of that amount of maple syrup, and a dash of some kind of vinegar (usually rice vinegar). Obviously, maple syrup isn’t a requirement, you can use sugar instead, but the important thing is to have a decent balance of salty and sweet flavors in it. Other things I like to add here are: diced garlic, grated fresh ginger, toasted sesame oil, fish sauce, oyster sauce, chili oil, onion powder, Mirin (or another type of cooking wine), the liquid from some kimchi… pretty much anything that you think might taste good in like, a marinade or something. I really encourage you to play around with this part and taste as you go. If you want it hot, add a fresh hot pepper. I don’t have a single formula that I follow here, what I’ll do is just pull out all of my ingredients and FREESTYLE IT until I end up with something I like. It should be very flavorful; almost too strong if you were to use it as a dipping sauce.

• The Garnish: You can’t go wrong with a good green onion. Personally I’m obsessed with Kewpie Mayo, which goes great on this with some Sriracha sauce. If you really want to go big you can fry or poach an egg. None of these are strictly necessary, but if you’re trying to impress someone with your fried rice, they just might put you over the top.

How Do I Fry A Rice?

• Start with a well-seasoned wok. Put it over high heat on the stove and get it nice and hot. Add a decent coating of a neutral oil (canola is fine; I’ve heard people swear by peanut oil but it’s too expensive for me to buy regularly) and when it starts to shimmer, you’re ready to go.

• Add your meat/tofu first if you have it. It should be sizzling immediately. If the heat is high enough you should start getting some good crispy bits in about 2 minutes or less.

• When your meat is nearly ready, add all your veg (except the frozen peas, if you’re using those) and a dash of salt. Give it a few good tosses and once again, let it cook for about 2 minutes or less. The important thing with both these steps is that the wok is hot enough to cook the ingredients quickly. Having everything the same nice small size also helps.

• Now get your rice and add it to the wok. If your rice is well prepared you’ll be able to break up all the clumps and stir everything around. The most important part here is to coat as much of the rice as you can with the oil in the pan. Stir everything around enough and you should notice an oily sheen on the rice. That’s what we want! This is also a decent opportunity to add your frozen peas.

• When your rice is coated nicely with oil, the next step is to spread it out in a pretty thin layer in the wok and leave it undisturbed for about 3 minutes. When you begin stirring your rice again you should be able to identify actual crispy bits on the rice itself. Flip it so the crispy underside is on top and give it a few more minutes of frying.

• Egg time! I’ve seen some chefs swear by cooking the eggs in a separate pan and adding them at the end. I think it’s easier and just as good to do it all in the wok. Take all of your rice and scoop it into a pile on the far side of the wok, leaving a clear space on the near side. What I also like to do here is hold the wok in a tilted position so that the heat from the burner is concentrated more on the side wall than the base of the wok.

• Add the egg to the pan in the space you’ve cleared and swirl it around a bit. It should cook nice and quickly. As it cooks, scrape the bottom parts to the side allowing more egg liquid to cook. Get your eggs to about 80% done, then use your spatula to break them up into little pieces and incorporate them into the rest of the rice.

• Right after combining the eggs, add your seasoning sauce. As delicious as it is, you don’t want to overdo it here. There shouldn’t be any excess liquid in the rice, add just enough to coat everything and NO MORE.

• Serve immediately with garnish! Soak in the adulation of your peers. You’ve really showed them all.

Disclaimer: pocoGRANDES is not an authority on anything but he sometimes likes to speak as one. TAY2 is not responsible for any long or short term effects of this recipe, be they positive or negative.